New spectrum--ick shield food

CrayolaViolence

New member
Even though I engage in pretty strict quarantine methods and medicate all fish for disease whether I see it or not, I had an out break of Marine Velvet in two separate tanks. The only connecting factor between the two (and I have 6 in all) were the fish were fed live fresh clams from the grocery store (normally I freeze them first, but decided to toss these in freshly crushed and live). I have no proof that was what did it. It could have very well been the disease just lay dormant in the fish for several months then for whatever reason broke out. The point is, my one tank is a fish only, which I promptly dosed with CP (I did lose one fish, the one that didn't even look ill in fact), the other tank was my reef tank.

Trust me, I was not looking forward to catching those fish and medicating them. I knew it would be a couple of days before I could have the help to do so, so I got out my ick shield pellets since the fish were eating.

These fish--every fish in the tank--were covered and I do mean COVERED in spots. Fins, body, eyes, all over. This came on sudden and without warning. No itchy fish, no weird behavior, just boom, total outbreak.

I have used ick shield before *in a quarantine tank*--there is no substitute for quarantining but when s**t happens it happens--in combination with CP in the water (both products use CP as the active medication.) Anyhow, since the fish were eating (key point here they were eating like pigs still) I decided to get this food into them.

Anyone who has tried this product has probably run into the issue of being able to get enough food into the fish. It comes in a pellet, sinks, and if it gets on corals or nems or shrimp get them they will most likely suffer and probably die. And in my honest opinion, you almost can't get a fish to eat enough to do any good. My attack on this problem was to crush the food up, mix it with mysis shrimp, clams (my fish go insane for clams), and oyster eggs, then let it set for a while. Through out the day (I work at home so this isn't possible for a lot of people) I would drop tiny bits into the tank. Just enough for the fish to snatch up as soon as it hit the water. I wound up feeding about 10-20 times a day. And no that's not an exaggeration. I mean it when I say tiny amounts, small pinches at a time so there was NO left over food floating in the tank.

Within 24 hours of the first feeding the spots were 95% gone. Now I'm not completely green, so I know this means jack crap, because of the lifecycle of the parasite, so I kept feeding, and kept feeding, and kept feeding. I'm on day 4 now of the food and still no new spots, no spots at all in fact. The fish that are in CP were slightly slower to show improvement. Their appetite is still off, and the emperor looked the worst of any of them and now he's already clear except for a few faded pigment areas. I am now feeding them the medicated food, and have seen a vast improvement in the last 24 hours.

Because the reef fish responded well to the food, I'm leaving them in the tank for treatment. I'd rather not have to rip my tank apart and try and cram 15 fish into a 40 gallon tank (talk about stress). I will if they have another outbreak, but I'm cautiously optimistic.

The reason I am sharing this is NOT to discourage quarantining new fish, but to offer hope to those who have an outbreak for whatever reason, that they may actually be able to deliver real medication to the fish without tearing apart the reef tank. And for those who absolutely can't quarantine, for whatever reason, it might be a good way to treat in tank as a precaution, when new fish are introduced.

The key things about this food are--some fish love it--some hate it--either way you're going to have a hard time getting them to ingest enough. Many, many, many, many small feedings are the only way.

Crushing this food into a powder then make a paste allows for you to get more medication into the fish and makes it more likely picky eaters will consume it. (Don't soak with water soak with actual food like oyster eggs or something) Then marinate the mysis or whatever you feed for a couple of ours, refrigerate the rest. The longer it marinates the more medication will soak into the food. (at least that's my theory.)


Anyhow, if the outbreak resurfaces I will post here to let you know it didn't work as hoped. But if it does work---well I'm not even going to get too hopeful. I would just love to not have to pull all my fish, mess up my tank, and try and pack them into a QT where they will be severely over crowded.
 
So are you going to feed them the food the recommended 21 days? I think this food would be great for a QT tank but the warnings kind would make me scared about the anemones and corals making sure they get none. I think you have a solid plan and I would love to hear the results.

Here is the info on warning and feeding for anyone thinking about trying.
Feeding Instructions
Daily Feedings: Feed 2X (twice) daily. Do not overfeed; fish should eat the food within a minute.

Treatment Period:
Marine Aquariums:
Feed ICK SHIELD pellets for at least 21 days.
Freshwater Aquariums:
Feed ICK SHIELD pellets for at least 10 days.

Note: Continue feeding your fish the treatment for the full treatment period even if your fish seem recovered.

The full treatment cycle is needed to disrupt the parasite lifecycle and reduce chances of a new outbreak!

After treatment, use fresh filter media to reduce remaining residue of ICK SHIELD.

Advisory:
Food must not be consumed by anemones or coral. However, it will not harm invertebrates (such as shrimp, crabs, mollusks & others that do not have a symbiotic relationship with algae).

Coral & Planted Tank Feeding Method:
Use a baster or other means to carefully place pre-soaked pellets on a cleared feeding area away from corals.

Siphon or otherwise remove uneaten food from tank promptly so that food is not dispersed to corals.

Do not broadcast or mid-water feed ICK SHIELD; avoid any method allowing food to disperse and be ingested by coral.

If you have clownfish/anemones, watch and ensure clownfish do not return to anemones with pellets!

When Feeding:
Turn OFF pump/powerhead and protein skimmer during feeding to avoid scattering of the pellet.

Recommend: Fish under stress are vulnerable and may be given pellets as prevention; stressors include changes to environment or adding new fish to the tank.

Note: Treatment not effective if fish are not eating the pellets.
For fish that are not eating, ICK SHIELD Bath Solution Powder is a preferred treatment.
ICK SHIELD fed to newly acquired fish kept in quarantine tank for the full treatment cycle is recommended for prevention.
ICK SHIELD Advantages:
Allows for treating fish without dosing the water, so it's safe for reef tanks.
Kills the most damaging feeding stage of the parasite (Trophont) while in gills and below the skin.
 
So are you going to feed them the food the recommended 21 days?

That is the plan. Like I said, making sure it's not broadcasted and all the food is consumed by the fish is the trickiest part. I feed my shrimp at night so they won't be all out for the food falling into the tank if it slips by.
 
Update: It's been over a week now with the fish in my coral tank on ick shield food. So far--no casualties. All spots disappeared within 24 hours of first out break.

I did lose one fish in my fish only tank, where I am treating with Cloroquine phosphate powder--not the food. He didn't even look ill, but sadly was gone the next morning (by TOD he looked horrid). My emperor was doing great for the first 4-5 days, but has been hiding for the last three, although physically appears healthy, but has stopped eating on me. The other two fish in the tank are eating. Time will tell.

The fish eating new spectrum ick shield food in the reef tank are eating like pigs and snarfing up the mash I make. I am still feeding tiny amounts each day--many, many times a day. They still get their daily clam (frozen then thawed no more fresh) and happily stare me down through the glass waiting for food.

The only negative I have discovered is my nitrates are SUPER HIGH right now. I'm not sure if this is because of the clams I have been feeding--the fact my skimmer was dialed down (now corrected) or because of the impossible to avoid food dispersement when feeding. I suspect, it's probably a combination of all three. Skimmer is up, I'm doing 9 gallon water changes a day, so we will see if they will come down or not. The corals don't seem to care, but I noticed an extreme drop in growth and some tissue loss on one acropora frag. I've never had nitrates this high before, so I can only assume it's something recently changed or added which can only be a few things (listed).

Anyhow, this is an updated report. So far, no shrimp, hermit or snail deaths that I can account for where my CUC has come into contact with the food that was missed. It's not very much because I feed so little each time, but on occasion a few pieces slip past.

I have the skimmer dialed back up, so skimming is in over drive, hopefully that will also help. Normally I dump a bucket every few days, but for the past several weeks the bucket has been dry. I suspect I forgot to turn the skimmer back up when I did regular maintenance.

Anyhow, that's my most recent update on my ick shield adventure.
 

Similar threads

Back
Top