My plan for ich treatment

[ccampo]

I lost one of my clown fish today, it was covered by very small white spots and everything leads to ich, so here's my plan according to some reading about that, the remaining fishes seem to be doing good so far, so to prevent any problem I'll quarantine all fishes (1 clown, 1 yellow tang, 1 blue damsel and 1 "3 stripes"/domino damsel) and start the ich treatment.
All water parameter are good, only a little bit of Nitrates (10) but that has been like that for a long time now, also the only addition to the DT was an anemone on Jan. 29th so I think this was the culprit here?

Here's my plan:

a. I'll give all my fishes a fresh RODI water bath for 3-4 minutes
b. Put all of them in a 10g QT tank after the bath

and here are my questions

1. What medication should I dose to the QT tank and how much? here are the options I found:
Copper sulfate
Marex from Aquatronics
what else? or is there a better product based on my fishes, I've read that copper is not good for tangs?

2. My QT will be just a 10g tank with no LS or LR, just a few pieces of PVC for hiding places, I'll also install an air pump and perform frequent water changes to avoid ammonia, so how frequent should I perform the water changes and how much water ? anything else needed for this QT tank? a pump, HOB skimmer, filter, what?

3. My DT will be fish-less for at least 6 weeks, but all my CUC (blue legs Hermit Crabs, Snails and Peppermint shrimps) and one anemone will remain in the tank as it looks like ich doesn't affect them, is it true or should I also quarantine them ?

4. Is there anything I can dose my DT with while the fishes are in the QT? or just let it rest and wait for the ich to starve with no hosts to propagate after 6 weeks?

5. I'm I forgetting something or more suggestions?

 

[tribal21]

I would say to hypo the fish..I am going through that right now...I have tried different meds none helped..I didn't give a fresh water dip..Just hypod the display tank..I have put this off for some time and tried to treat with meds,no luck.. I just hypod the display to kill all the ich for the last time I hope..

Hope this helps..you should find plenty of reading on hyposalinity..

 

[alprazo]

You may want to consider adding formalin to the dips.

http://www.nationalfishpharm.com/

 

[Gwynhidwy]

1. Look into Cupramine by Seachem. The different treatment options have their respective good and bad sides. You'll have to decide what you think will work best for you.

2. Sounds like a good plan. In addition to the air pump, a sponge filter is usually useful, or a HOB, just make sure that you don't have any chemical media in any filters you use as they can affect your medication. You might use an ammonia alert badge so you aren't continually testing your water. Its a little plastic thing that sticks to the inside of the tank and changes color depending on how much ammonia (they make them for pH too) is in the water so you know when you need to change some of the water.

3. Do NOT put your invertebrates into the quarantine! They will be killed by any effective treatment. Just leave your DT alone with NO FISH for at least six weeks, eight is better.

4. You don't need to add anything to the DT. The parasite will die off without a host (has to be a fish).

5. Just make sure you stick with the treatment that you choose. Don't switch from one medication to another and don't treat with two things at once unless you are sure they won't interact.

 

[Schwe]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11912493#post11912493 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by alprazo
You may want to consider adding formalin to the dips.

Formalin is another form of formaldehyde, a carcinogen and pretty nasty stuff. Why not just FW dip to relieve the discomfort on the fish and then hypo? I don't see why it is necessary to go to extremes right away.

Just my .02

 

[paulamrein]

IMO a fresh water dip may do more harm than good. You have to match ph and temp exactly. It also really doesn't help the fish due to the fact that the cysts are covered and protects the parasite from outside influences. So for me, I would nix the dip. Hypo salinity is the treatment I always use, no fuss or mess as far as testing if doses are correct. A good refractometer and 1.009 is all you need. Draw a line where the water line is at 1.009 and then just top off when evaporation happens. And water changes would be top off to line than take out a percentage than replace with premixed water at 1.009. The percentage and frequency of the water change will show up on the tests. I test once a day.
Dont dose the DT with anything and leave it fallow for 6 weeks with all inverts left in DT. And that's it. As long as the fish are eatting there is nothing to change. No extra test kits, if you do use copper be sure to get the correct test kits. (some kits will read different products inaccurately due to the different types of copper meds.
10g is small, not ideal for all those fish, but it's doable and if you seed the sponge on the sponge filter for a little while in the DT there should be enough to start bio, but doesn't replace water changes. If you have a RO unit it will help, it's a great investment if you don't.

 

[niles1967]

agreed. hyposalinity works 100% of the time if it is indeed Ick. No stress on the fish either. Check the water parameters DAILY and perform water changes very often. Any biological filitration will go into "hibernation". I like to add a little Prime every so often to help.

Contrary to lots of opinions, the salinity can be dropped very quickly and will have no effect on the fish. By quickly I mean .023 to .009 over a two day period. Good luck.

 

[Mark NJ]

Just following along. The hypo treatment for ICH is new to me and I'm a little confused. (as usual) . I just discovered two of my tangs covered in tiny white dots and the purple tang is losing color. This is the first time for anything like this in 10 years. There is no way that I know of that I can remove these fish with all the live rock in my tank. I also have corals, mostly mushrooms and softies and LPS. Also have a frag tank with LPS but the whole system is interconnected. So here is the question.
IS there any way that I can slowly reduce the salinity down to the hypo salinity level in the entire system corals inverts fish and all? Or do the fish have to be quarantined in a separate tank for this treatment. Secondly how long does the salinity need to be at that level to be effective?
Thanks

 

[Mark NJ]

Another thought. Would introducing ozone into the system help? Haven't used the generator in awhile but could have it all up and running again in an hour or so if it would make a difference. Sorry to barge in but I did a search for ICH and here I am.

 

[Schwe]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11914318#post11914318 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by paulamrein
IMO a fresh water dip may do more harm than good. You have to match ph and temp exactly. It also really doesn't help the fish due to the fact that the cysts are covered and protects the parasite from outside influences.

What I have read on FW dips and hyposalinity is that inverts and c. irritans do not regulate their osmotic pressure as fish do, and if the SG drops too much, they die. Isn't the idea of the FW dip not to cure the ich, but provide some relief from the ich on the surface of the skin?

I am dealing with ich myself at the moment and FW dipped my Ocellaris that had the ich most apparent on their bodies.

First drop in the dip:

Right after the dip:

 

[Mark NJ]

WOW!! That's an incredible difference. My problem is that I have a 75 gallon tank full of live rock and corals. I can't catch these guys. I think I am going to have to move the rock and corals to buckets. Then catch the fish, dip them in FW and move them to a 40 gal breeder and set that up as a quarentine tank. At that point I can reduce the salinity down to 1.009 in the QT. Easier said than done LOL. I figure I can return the corals and rock back to the Main tank and in 4-6 weeks I can return the fish. I understand that without fish as a host for that period that the Ich parasite will die off is that right? Thanks for your help.
Mark

 

[DSP]

Plan on having no fish in the display for 6-8 weeks.

A nice easy way to catch the fish is to move a bunch of your sand so that you have a low spot in the tank, drain all of the water out of the tank, and the fish will swim into that low spot making them very easy to catch. You can leave all of your rock and corals in place if the water is returned within an hour or so. I recently did this with 15 fish in my 210. I needed a lot of trash cans for the water, but it was FAR easier than taking appart my rock.

 

[Schwe]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11918533#post11918533 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mark NJ
Just following along. The hypo treatment for ICH is new to me and I'm a little confused. (as usual) . I just discovered two of my tangs covered in tiny white dots and the purple tang is losing color. This is the first time for anything like this in 10 years. There is no way that I know of that I can remove these fish with all the live rock in my tank. I also have corals, mostly mushrooms and softies and LPS. Also have a frag tank with LPS but the whole system is interconnected. So here is the question.
IS there any way that I can slowly reduce the salinity down to the hypo salinity level in the entire system corals inverts fish and all? Or do the fish have to be quarantined in a separate tank for this treatment. Secondly how long does the salinity need to be at that level to be effective?
Thanks

You cannot hypo your DT. It will kill all of your inverts, and I am not 100% but probably your corals as well.

These two links helped me understand the process immensely:
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/marineich.html
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/hyposalinity.html
I printed both out and highlighted important information to keep on hand right next to my QT tank.

I tried to catch my fish without moving things in the tank but had no luck. All of those hiding spaces we try to make in our LR really do get utilized by those darn fish! I had to break down all of my rockwork to get the fish out and take about half of it out.

You need to keep SG at 1.009 for at least 4 weeks after the last ich spot is visible. If ich ever shows up again during QT, you need to extend hypo for another 4 weeks.

 

[ccampo]

Thanks a lot guys.