Mandarin with ICH? How to treat?

[Gogandantess]

Ok well I've had mandarins that eventually died due to ich. My question is if a tank was infested with ich, the usual regular fish like tangs, clowns, etc would be treated with hypo or copper. What's the proper way to treat a mandarin? Would it be hypo I assume? Would the mandarin starve to death in a hospital tank with no pods? Just wanted to know what experienced reefers would do in this scenario. I don't keep mandarins anymore by the way.

 

[Sk8r]

here's a thread discussing the problem. http://www.reefcentral.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=9869127
THere is no 100^% good answer. I think I would try the 'transfer' method of dealing with ich, ie, using two small full-salinity tanks, completely changed out and cleaned and dried daily, with daily changed filter floss, bare glass tank, and several times a day target [pipette] feeding of mandy from bottle of Tigger-pods. Read further in the section on treatment.

I might add, water quality plays an enormous part in mandys and ich. I've been reefing since the 70's, and have seen only ONE mandy with ich, and that in water where the alkalinity was incredibly far off. It was a wonder the fish was alive. [It was not mine.] The alkalinity had blitzed the slime coat that normally protects it.

 

[ozzyvega]

Ihad this about five months ago w my mandarin I slowly lowered my SG and on about day four he was ich free. No ill effects on coral or the other fish.

 

[Gogandantess]

Thanks Sk8ter.

 

[Sk8r]

The kicker is that treatments that will get the ich also wipe the pods, but if you can get the mandy to realize that a lab pipette is a source of them, you'll do fine. Look to Edmunds' Scientific to be able to get a pipette, or use a piece of glass tubing: stick in bottle of pods, put thumb over top, release in front of mandy. They're so fearless a fish they'll rapidly get the idea.