Killing ich help pls

ladwpwrkr said:
Wow, thanks everyone for the all input. looks like everyone has a lil bit of their own success and you all stick by what has worked. Well, I better get reading....fast.

As for my situation:

dosed yesterday.
80% water change today, then dosed again.
Fish are eating very well again (especially the sicker one).
They seem to be doing better already....Ill keep my fingers crossed though.

I need to go and get a 10 gal QT if I am gonna keep the lil ones out of the dt for at least 30 days!
Click to expand...

Great decision to QT - it will only lead to good things! I'm downright embarrassed to admit how many fish I lost prior to adopting a good QT regimen. Good Luck!
 
I'm in this very position right now. I tore down the DT, and my fishies are in a 10g hypo right now. Im going to give it a shot, but I do have copper if necessary. I was going to leave the DT fallow for 8 weeks. After this is all over with I swear I will QT from now on.
 
fishyness said:
I'm in this very position right now. I tore down the DT, and my fishies are in a 10g hypo right now. Im going to give it a shot, but I do have copper if necessary. I was going to leave the DT fallow for 8 weeks. After this is all over with I swear I will QT from now on.
Click to expand...

Make sure you don't go above 1.009 in the hypo and keep a REAL good eye on PH
 
THATS BAD!!!!!! BUffer it with PH up. Make sure you buffer your water change water to keep the PH up also. You will have to change out water every couple days. RAISE IT SLOW.....
 
Also make sure you feed the fish with food socked in garlic. It is not cure but it will build the ich resistence...
 
nanchil said:
Also make sure you feed the fish with food socked in garlic. It is not cure but it will build the ich resistence...
Click to expand...

That's debatable as well. It could also cause more damage to the fish in the long term.

I think it's pretty safe to say hypo and copper are two proven ways to kill the ich and 6-8weeks of keeping the DT fallow.


Also, are we sure the problem is ich?
 
My clowns are doing soooo much better now! Been keeping them in a bucket, daily water changes, and dosing with rid ich.

Going through sooo much salt though! This is getting expensive!
 
hyposalinity and uv are my go to solutions.i've tried garlic not sure if it has an effect although some swear by it.
 
I use curimine (copper) for all of my new additions, works fantastic. fish act completley normal eat like pigs. I reccoemnd it to anyone wanting to rid themselves of ich
 
fishyness said:
I have a good refractometer but my PH is low, 7.2, nor sure what to do about it tho.
Click to expand...

RBU1 said:
THATS BAD!!!!!! BUffer it with PH up. Make sure you buffer your water change water to keep the PH up also. You will have to change out water every couple days. RAISE IT SLOW.....
Click to expand...

and that is why I chose copper instead of hypo. Just seems to me to be so many more variables to the hypo.

ladwpwrkr, if you are going for a QT tank, get one big enough to house just about any fish you might want in the future. 10 seems small to me and the chance of parameters swinging grows with such a small amount of water.
 
DustinB said:
Also, don't add any ammonia reducing chemicals to the tank when dosing cupramine, it will kill everything.

Good luck.
Click to expand...


my heart just stopped---

I just had to set up an emergency QT tank for ich -

I was using Cupramine

I had an aquaclear HOB filter - using only the sponge.

I was not going to be around continuously- so I used the aquaclear ammonia reducing pack (media bag - I cannot find a link)

so far- I have been able to catch 2 of the fish (the ones that REALLY needed treatment first).

They did not make it - I thought the larger one went and spiked the system and took out the smaller (looked more healthy) fish. I had really thought that the smaller one was looking good enough to make it.

Tank had bubbles around the top in one location (away from power head).

It sounds like I made the water toxic?


I feel so bad. They were my 2 favorite fish.

Now - need advice, obviously full water change and run carbon to get QT ready for other occupants (no carbon during copper treatment - I am talking about to make sure that I remove any toxins from the Cupramine - ammonia media combo) . Any more advice? ---

$!@#$!@$# - thought I was helping keep them safe
 
There are a bunch of posts here stating that the only proven methods to treat crypt are hyposalinity, copper, and the tank transfer method. I also submit that quinine based drugs and particularly chloroquine phosphate are also proven to be effective at eliminating crypt. There are some problems and benefits from using the quinine drugs, but I do believe that they have been proven effective and are used at the hobby and public aquaria level regularly and with success. Dr. Michael Stafford, consulting veterinarian for the American National Fish and Wildlife Zooquarium, recommends this treatment and expressly states that treating cryptocaryon with copper and formalin is "outdated". The Marine Fish Health and Feeding Handbook (2008) (pg. 146-147). Also, Rich Terrell of the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG successfully uses this treatment. Id. Moreover, Bob Goeman and Bob Fenner of wetwebmedia, two very respected people in the hobby, tout this as the prefered treatment for cryptocaryon. Below is a link to a thread that I started to investigate a rather unconventional use of chlroquine phosphate, but within the thread are links to a variety of useful information concerning using this drug to treat crypt.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1891371
 
Last edited:
w16227 said:
my heart just stopped---

I just had to set up an emergency QT tank for ich -

I was using Cupramine

I had an aquaclear HOB filter - using only the sponge.

I was not going to be around continuously- so I used the aquaclear ammonia reducing pack (media bag - I cannot find a link)

so far- I have been able to catch 2 of the fish (the ones that REALLY needed treatment first).

They did not make it - I thought the larger one went and spiked the system and took out the smaller (looked more healthy) fish. I had really thought that the smaller one was looking good enough to make it.

Tank had bubbles around the top in one location (away from power head).

It sounds like I made the water toxic?


I feel so bad. They were my 2 favorite fish.

Now - need advice, obviously full water change and run carbon to get QT ready for other occupants (no carbon during copper treatment - I am talking about to make sure that I remove any toxins from the Cupramine - ammonia media combo) . Any more advice? ---

$!@#$!@$# - thought I was helping keep them safe
Click to expand...

You may want to contact seachem regarding the ammonia filter pack. I don't know if it does the same think as most ammonia chemicals. It may or may not react with the chelated copper in cupramine. See what they have to say, if it's bad then do a 100% change on the QT tank. Use a portion of the main tank's water when you refill it.

The part about carbon is it removes small amounts of the chelated copper, it won't remove it all, just enough to throw the levels off. You have to maintain the .5 level at all times for it to work effectively. Remember to put the fish in the QT, add the first recommended dose to acclimate them to the copper, then the second dose the following day as directed to bring the tank to .5.

Pay attention to your evap water and stay on top of that, mark a line or something. When you do water changes each day, bring the change water up to the .5 level. That way when you change the water, the levels should stay the same.
 
DustinB said:
You may want to contact seachem regarding the ammonia filter pack. I don't know if it does the same think as most ammonia chemicals. It may or may not react with the chelated copper in cupramine. See what they have to say, if it's bad then do a 100% change on the QT tank. Use a portion of the main tank's water when you refill it.

The part about carbon is it removes small amounts of the chelated copper, it won't remove it all, just enough to throw the levels off. You have to maintain the .5 level at all times for it to work effectively. Remember to put the fish in the QT, add the first recommended dose to acclimate them to the copper, then the second dose the following day as directed to bring the tank to .5.

Pay attention to your evap water and stay on top of that, mark a line or something. When you do water changes each day, bring the change water up to the .5 level. That way when you change the water, the levels should stay the same.
Click to expand...


Totally understand about the carbon - many thoughts running through my head at the same time. I was going to run it before I put the copper in - as some insurance for removing any residual "bad" content in the water. There are no fish in it at the moment - so I am going to drain it anyway unless I see a fish in urgent distress. My observations of the QT tank after the fish passed would seem to support the fact that something strange was going on - there are bubbles on the surface, the water is somewhat cloudy - but I could not get a "bad" ammonia reading from my salifert test kit. The fish were gone when I got home - and I had to wait for several hours to remove them. Of course - the media probably kept ammonia from spiking, but the water itself had an odor as well.


Speaking of test kits - what is a good copper one? I do not think what I have is accurate enough.
 
The seachem one is the recommended, I used an API test before without a problem.

BTW, to explain, most ammonia removing chemicals react with the chelated copper reducing it to dangerous levels of Cu+. There are quote a few additives that can do this, water conditioners, ammonia reducers, etc...

You should also use the seachem ammonia alert badge or the seachem test kit for ammonia.

These are all explained here: http://www.seachem.com/support/FAQs/Cupramine.html#faq2
 
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