ICK--------what to do?

[troublesx10]

i seem to have ick--- little white spots on my fish, my cleaner shrimp are no where to be found, been feeding them garlic in there food, and dosing tank with ick, running 25w uv on my 220g tank---- what next, I have coral and still have 2-3 fire shrimp along with multiple crabs/starfish. only my tangs seem to be affected, blue palate, naso, sailfin, powder blue. not sure how to go about correcting the problem with minimal loss and crazy fluctuations in chemistry

 

[francis1123]

you have a few options. you can either keep doing what you are doing, feeding well, keep clean water and hope for the best. or you can pull and treat, either copper, formaline, or hyposalinity. if you pull and treat you should leave the main tank empty for 4-6 weeks to let the ich die off in the system. even the "unaffected" fish allow the parasite to continue breeding and stay alive.
25w UV on a 220g-for this unit to be effective against the ich parasite you'd need roughly 50gph flow through it. any more than that will do nothing to the ich parasite. this in theory would cycle your system water every 4.5 hours. if you are putting more flow through it, slow it down and this will help. keep in mind UV is not 100% solution against ich, but it will help prevent outbreaks IMO.
good luck
jon

 

[robexcoral]

im havin the same problem would antibiocs work

 

[BNS77]

make sure if you decide to do hyposalinity, that you do it in a QT tank as lower salinity will kill your corals and inverts.

 

[francis1123]

antibiotics won't do anything to ich.

 

[kvn1691]

Give them a freshwater bath. It worked on my powder blue tang

 

[wooden_reefer]

25W UV will have little effect on just making ich population in balance in a 220 gal tank.

All the fish are likely "affected".

It is best to eradicate ich.

Split up your biological filter, a part to support the DT's invertebrates. a part to support the fish in a QT.

This may not work if the nitrification capacity of your filter is marginal; ie if you had not thoroughly cycled your filter medium. This may not work if you use LR as filter and there is a lot of invertebrate growth in addition to nitrification bacteria. This is because treatment against ick in the QT will damage the invertebrates attached onto the LR and cause ammonia surge in the QT. Using LR exclusively so early would be a mistake, in addition to not quarantining thoroughly. If the LR does not yet have invertebrate growth, you may be in better shape.

If garlic and such works to delay serious outbreak, you should use the time to develop another biological filter so that you can separate the fish and invertebrates, treat the fish and let the invertebrates alone, for at least six weeks.

 

[PaxRoma]

The other option is to turn your main tank into sort of QT. Dont dose chemicals or anything and keep up with good nutrition. When I first started and my fishes got sick and stop feeding, I feed them with smaller foods like cyclops and they start eating again. Keep up with water changes, healthy good food and keep the uv running.
With all the fishes that survive with no sign of ich, ich is gone from your tank after a few months. At least the current thinking is that ick is not a chronic disease.
Another important thing is when you got ick, DONT ADD more fish for at least 6 months. Adding new fish even after ick is visibly gone will induce stress and cause new ick episode. You want to wait at least 6 months with a healthy tank to make sure all the ick are gone.
I personally dont go with the chemical route, takes alot of time and the chemicals are just as stress-inducing and dangerous as the ick. The cure sometimes is worse than the disease!

 

[wooden_reefer]

The diatom filter is effective in filtering the infectious phase of ick. Much more so than UV in zapping it. But you have to start using the diatom filter when the infestation is still light. If one or more fish already have many white spots on them, they should be treated for a few days in a QT in order to save them from possible imminent death.

You can use the diatom to simulate the dilution effect of the ocean and then at the same time seek eradication of ick.

You have to separate ALL the fish from the invertebrate, treat the fish decisively and isolate the invertebrates from the fish for at least six weeks. You should develop another nitrification filter (yes another cycle) using another medium (very simple well do) to support the fish for the min of six weeks, better 12 weeks.

A few pounds of crushed oyster shell wrapped by nylon panty hose in a Hang on Top filter box will do as a filter for two medium sized 4" fish in a QT. You can cycle for the nitrification filter for a QT this way. You may need more as you have a 220 gal DT and more fish.

I think you need the extra large model of diatom filter for a 220 gal. Regretably, the diatom filter is not much useful for other purposes and if you had done the proper quarantine. If you had many valuable fish, this may well be the way to go however. A fish club should have one to share for situations like this, but each aquarist may not need one, except in dire situation like this.

If the garlic approach works, it may have the same function as the diatom filter, ie to buy time to plan for eradication of ick.