New Life Spectrum Ick Shield

[Newms118]

Alright boys and girls, just added NLS ich shield powder to my QT tank. Did 600 mg into 15 gallon (the 40 mg/gallon dose). Here goes nothing.

So I'm checking in. I'm on day 11 with having the water containing Ich Shield. My bio filter in my QT tank (15 gallon) is still not fully there (constantly battling nitrites, thank god for prime) and have been needing to do full 100% water changes to drop them down, with adding back the Ich shield each time. I started at 40 mg/gallon, then bumped to 45 mg/gallon, and now I'm at 50 mg/gallon. I wasnt treating Ich, I think mine was Uronema. The chromis that had the spot/potential Uronema was definitely doing worse up until I added the Ich shield, but has since slowly recovered. The spot is mostly gone, the redness is faded significantly, and it looks like its more of just a wound with very faint pinkness around it (the core of the wound isnt deep red/blackish anymore). I'm wondering now if this spot will ever fully disappear (i.e., all the redness will go away completely). Otherwise, if the chromis stays like this, I'm debating just doing a freshwater dip and then putting it in a bath on its on with a high dose Ich shield for a few hours. I just dont want to shock the fish if its actually getting better, albeit slowly.

I can absolutely confirm that the Ich Shield will kill flasher wrasses. My McCosker flasher wrasse seemed fine, but ended up losing him two days ago. He ended up getting pretty thin and even though he kept eating, he seemed to be struggling the last day. This happened before my 14 day period with live aquaria so I was able to get a different fish sent to me. Since the new fish has been added, I've reset my clock and now have another 30 days to go.

Currently in the QT tank:
1 black axil chromis
1 firefish
1 chalk bass
1 neon blue goby
1 pink bar goby

And I love all these fish, such different personalities.

If anyone's got any tips for the Uronema, by all means let me know.

 

[Salty150]

So I'm checking in. I'm on day 11 with having the water containing Ich Shield. My bio filter in my QT tank (15 gallon) is still not fully there (constantly battling nitrites, thank god for prime) and have been needing to do full 100% water changes to drop them down, with adding back the Ich shield each time. I started at 40 mg/gallon, then bumped to 45 mg/gallon, and now I'm at 50 mg/gallon. I wasnt treating Ich, I think mine was Uronema. The chromis that had the spot/potential Uronema was definitely doing worse up until I added the Ich shield, but has since slowly recovered. The spot is mostly gone, the redness is faded significantly, and it looks like its more of just a wound with very faint pinkness around it (the core of the wound isnt deep red/blackish anymore). I'm wondering now if this spot will ever fully disappear (i.e., all the redness will go away completely). Otherwise, if the chromis stays like this, I'm debating just doing a freshwater dip and then putting it in a bath on its on with a high dose Ich shield for a few hours. I just dont want to shock the fish if its actually getting better, albeit slowly.

I can absolutely confirm that the Ich Shield will kill flasher wrasses. My McCosker flasher wrasse seemed fine, but ended up losing him two days ago. He ended up getting pretty thin and even though he kept eating, he seemed to be struggling the last day. This happened before my 14 day period with live aquaria so I was able to get a different fish sent to me. Since the new fish has been added, I've reset my clock and now have another 30 days to go.

Currently in the QT tank:
1 black axil chromis
1 firefish
1 chalk bass
1 neon blue goby
1 pink bar goby

And I love all these fish, such different personalities.

If anyone's got any tips for the Uronema, by all means let me know.

Well, remember you are almost doubling the recommended safe does, as per the instructions.

So, to say it kills is not true - as if you were using the recommended safe does - it more than likely would not.

 

[Newms118]

Well, remember you are almost doubling the recommended safe does, as per the instructions.

So, to say it kills is not true - as if you were using the recommended safe does - it more than likely would not.

True, but I've had to do it bc the chromis spot hasnt completely gone away. I need to take another pic of it to post here for people to see, maybe its scared or something. I just figured that if Uronema was completely gone, all the red/pinkness would go away.

 

[Dmorty217]

Don't know the dose for Urenoma for CP but it's for sure higher than for ich. I think that it's actually higher than for velvet which is what I dose all fish for that I receive

 

[Newms118]

Don't know the dose for Urenoma for CP but it's for sure higher than for ich. I think that it's actually higher than for velvet which is what I dose all fish for that I receive

I'm thinking about doing a freshwater dip to see if that is any help. I will have the pH and temp the same, but was thinking about adding in some metronidazole or even a higher amount of the ich shield to see if that may help. Do you have any experience with having additives in the freshwater dip?

Ill post a pic of the fish later tonight so people can see what I'm dealing with. Its just so strange, if this is really Uronema, how has this fish survived for so long? It went at least 2 weeks before I had the Ich shield in the water. Maybe its something else.

 

[Dmorty217]

I don't freshwater dip fish much and never with meds and a freshwater dip together. Last time I did a freshwater dip the griffis pair I did it to laid on the bottom of the tank after for 10-15 mins... That was stressful on me too, so I try to not do it unless I suspect flukes. I have never dealt with Urenoma so I won't be of much help

 

[Newms118]

I'm thinking about doing a freshwater dip to see if that is any help. I will have the pH and temp the same, but was thinking about adding in some metronidazole or even a higher amount of the ich shield to see if that may help. Do you have any experience with having additives in the freshwater dip?

Ill post a pic of the fish later tonight so people can see what I'm dealing with. Its just so strange, if this is really Uronema, how has this fish survived for so long? It went at least 2 weeks before I had the Ich shield in the water. Maybe its something else.

So here are the pics of the fish, before and after current treatment (50 mg / gallon Ich Shield).


Taken on June 2:

Taken on June 7 (125 mg Metro-Plex in water for 1 day):

Taken on June 9 (Removed Metro-Plex, added 40 mg/gallon Ich Shield):

Taken today (June 22; 50 mg/gallon Ich Shield added on June 19):

So every time I added medication, I did a 100% water change, so its not just adding drug again and again. Clearly there has been progress, but the spots have more or less kind of moved a bit, and its hard to say whether they are getting dark again or not.

It sucks that this fish does not eat medicated food (mysis+metroplex+focus), it gets maybe a bit and then wont touch the rest.

 

[Salty150]

So here are the pics of the fish, before and after current treatment (50 mg / gallon Ich Shield).

So every time I added medication, I did a 100% water change, so its not just adding drug again and again. Clearly there has been progress, but the spots have more or less kind of moved a bit, and its hard to say whether they are getting dark again or not.

It sucks that this fish does not eat medicated food (mysis+metroplex+focus), it gets maybe a bit and then wont touch the rest.

Have you tried New Life Spectrum Ick Shield or Hex Shield food?

Or their Thera A food?

 

[Newms118]

Have you tried New Life Spectrum Ick Shield or Hex Shield food?

Or their Thera A food?

The medication I've been using is the New Life Spectrum Ich Shield. Haven't tried the Hex Shield food or Thera A food.

Even if I had the food, i dont think the chromis would eat it, its very picky with what it eats.

I just wish I new what disease I was treating, if this is Uronema, than this fish is a BEAST for living this long and fighting.

 

[Salty150]

The medication I've been using is the New Life Spectrum Ich Shield. Haven't tried the Hex Shield food or Thera A food.

Even if I had the food, i dont think the chromis would eat it, its very picky with what it eats.

I just wish I new what disease I was treating, if this is Uronema, than this fish is a BEAST for living this long and fighting.

Yeah, they made a Ick Shield food also - some fish eat it, some don't.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Can you dose ick shield powder concurrently with prazipro?

 

[Dmorty217]

Can you dose ick shield powder concurrently with prazipro?

Yes

 

[Newms118]

Yes

You said previously you've treated lots of fish with NLS Ick Shield at a dose of 60 mg / gallon. I'm currently using the same dose to treat my QT tank (I was doing this previously but had to restart due to a new fish being added), and the fish have been in the drug for 6 days so far. My question is, is it common to still see fish flashing during the treatment? I ask this because right now I have one fish that continues to do it, even though I dont see any signs of ick. The fish have received two rounds of Prazipro back to back so I dont think it would be any other type of internal fluke or gill fluke. Would this be a sign that the meds have worn off and that I need to change the water and redose?

 

[Newms118]

So here are the pics of the fish, before and after current treatment (50 mg / gallon Ich Shield).


Taken on June 2:

Taken on June 7 (125 mg Metro-Plex in water for 1 day):

Taken on June 9 (Removed Metro-Plex, added 40 mg/gallon Ich Shield):

Taken today (June 22; 50 mg/gallon Ich Shield added on June 19):

So every time I added medication, I did a 100% water change, so its not just adding drug again and again. Clearly there has been progress, but the spots have more or less kind of moved a bit, and its hard to say whether they are getting dark again or not.

It sucks that this fish does not eat medicated food (mysis+metroplex+focus), it gets maybe a bit and then wont touch the rest.

So I can update this fish saga. Turns out that red spot came back in the region that still kind of pinkish in the last pic. The original spot looked normal but it was as if the spot migrated. Fed up, I decided to dip the fish in Paraguard to see if that would help. I followed the instructions on the bottle for the 1 hour dip, and put the fish in the bath after making sure temp and pH were closely matching the QT tank.

Aaaaaand it did the trick. When I took the fish out, the spot seems much better, it wasnt dark red, more light pink. The spot then disappeared and all that is left is more like a scar. You can see where the wound was but the color is back to normal. So I dont think this was Uronema in the slightest, more like some sort of infection. Strange but whatever.


So all those that say Paraguard is not to be trusted and it doesnt work, thats absolute CRAP. It worked, and cured the fish when nearly a month of NLS Ick Shield did NOTHING. So please include this dip as a viable treatment if you were planning a formalin dip. Because yeah, fish is alive and well.

 

[Dmorty217]

You said previously you've treated lots of fish with NLS Ick Shield at a dose of 60 mg / gallon. I'm currently using the same dose to treat my QT tank (I was doing this previously but had to restart due to a new fish being added), and the fish have been in the drug for 6 days so far. My question is, is it common to still see fish flashing during the treatment? I ask this because right now I have one fish that continues to do it, even though I dont see any signs of ick. The fish have received two rounds of Prazipro back to back so I dont think it would be any other type of internal fluke or gill fluke. Would this be a sign that the meds have worn off and that I need to change the water and redose?

What sort of flashing? Body scratching off something in the tank, or more toward the gills? Head shaking, or weird mouth moments? (Repetitive, abnormal movements) what rock or substrate wise do you have in the tank? How old is the CP your using?

Scratching if not caused by flukes would indicate the med isn't at the proper dosage

 

[Newms118]

What sort of flashing? Body scratching off something in the tank, or more toward the gills? Head shaking, or weird mouth moments? (Repetitive, abnormal movements) what rock or substrate wise do you have in the tank? How old is the CP your using?

Scratching if not caused by flukes would indicate the med isn't at the proper dosage

NLS Ick Shield was purchased in June of this year, and is kept in a drawer out of light, so I wouldnt expect it degrade this quickly.

So in the QT tank there is some PVC pipe. The fish (chalk bass) is brushing near the chin/under the mouth. I have another fish (chromis) that will twitch sometimes, also sometimes protruding its mouth. I took the protruding (like if it was spitting something out) as maybe a yawn. Sometimes the chalk bass would do this as well but not as often. Honestly I thought the chromis twitch was a sign that the drug was in the water, so just some side effects.

For dosage, I have 15 gallons in a 20 gallon tank. I used a mg scale to weigh out the proper dosage: 60 mg / gallon in 15 gallon is 900 mg, ended up putting 913 mg. I mixed the drug with tank water in a cup, then poured it into HOB filter. Then rinsed out cup with tank water at least 3 times incase residual drug was still present.

I know the drug is light sensitive. The tank is in my kitchen on an island below some typical kitchen fluorescent lights (at least several feet away from the tank. Would this lighting be sufficient to degrade the drug? I figured not since the fluorescent lighting would be no where near as powerful as my LED on the DT tank, and the lights are far away from water surface.

Additional questions:
1) So I have a screen door net acting as a cover to make sure that no fish jumps out (I lost a pink stripe goby to suicide). So water droplets can stick to the top due to bubbles or splashes from the HOB filter. Since these droplets are out of the water, do they pose a problem if they recontact the water? I'm just wondering if they could harbor the Ick and then drop back down when I move the screen for feedings.

2) When a fish fights off Ick, will it leave pimples/scars behind or are scars/pimples (not the white spots) signs of Ick buried in the fish? I have a clownfish that went through Ick treatment and when I looked today I noticed the pimple/marks on the fish.

 

[Newms118]

NLS Ick Shield was purchased in June of this year, and is kept in a drawer out of light, so I wouldnt expect it degrade this quickly.

So in the QT tank there is some PVC pipe. The fish (chalk bass) is brushing near the chin/under the mouth. I have another fish (chromis) that will twitch sometimes, also sometimes protruding its mouth. I took the protruding (like if it was spitting something out) as maybe a yawn. Sometimes the chalk bass would do this as well but not as often. Honestly I thought the chromis twitch was a sign that the drug was in the water, so just some side effects.

For dosage, I have 15 gallons in a 20 gallon tank. I used a mg scale to weigh out the proper dosage: 60 mg / gallon in 15 gallon is 900 mg, ended up putting 913 mg. I mixed the drug with tank water in a cup, then poured it into HOB filter. Then rinsed out cup with tank water at least 3 times incase residual drug was still present.

I know the drug is light sensitive. The tank is in my kitchen on an island below some typical kitchen fluorescent lights (at least several feet away from the tank. Would this lighting be sufficient to degrade the drug? I figured not since the fluorescent lighting would be no where near as powerful as my LED on the DT tank, and the lights are far away from water surface.

Additional questions:
1) So I have a screen door net acting as a cover to make sure that no fish jumps out (I lost a pink stripe goby to suicide). So water droplets can stick to the top due to bubbles or splashes from the HOB filter. Since these droplets are out of the water, do they pose a problem if they recontact the water? I'm just wondering if they could harbor the Ick and then drop back down when I move the screen for feedings.

2) When a fish fights off Ick, will it leave pimples/scars behind or are scars/pimples (not the white spots) signs of Ick buried in the fish? I have a clownfish that went through Ick treatment and when I looked today I noticed the pimple/marks on the fish.

To help with my question 2 above, here are some pics of the clownfish. I'm betting its Ick that didnt get wiped out (I had a small piece of live rock in the tank I treated, probably absorbed the drug :headwallblue: ).

 

[monkiboy]

...I know the drug is light sensitive...

there are folks who regularly test CP levels in quarantine systems showing that 400w MH and LEDs light has no affect on CP levels. they run the lights 8-12 hours a day over these systems. you can read more over on reef 2 reef's CP primer thread if interested.

 

[Newms118]

there are folks who regularly test CP levels in quarantine systems showing that 400w MH and LEDs light has no affect on CP levels. they run the lights 8-12 hours a day over these systems. you can read more over on reef 2 reef's CP primer thread if interested.

Well thats great, means I can scratch my kitchen lights degrading the CP off the potential issues list. Are they using an HPLC to quantify it?

 

[monkiboy]

Well thats great, means I can scratch my kitchen lights degrading the CP off the potential issues list. Are they using an HPLC to quantify it?

well that is one experience but seems like good info from a public aquarium employee who is regularly testing CP levels. he is using a hach spectrophotometer.