Opinions of Kick Ich?
- Thread starter nikonosis
- Start date
greenbean36191
Premium Member
We know plenty about ich. It's probably one of the most studied marine parasites. Unfortunately, most hobbyists are oblivious to the work that's already been done. Almost all of the treatments available in the hobby have already been tested scientifically. Hypo DOES work for all but a few strains and copper works for all of them. Other than tank transfer they're the only methods shown to work significantly better than no treatment. Of course they only work if you do them correctly. If you don't keep the treatments at theraputic levels for long enough then no they don't work.
Imidazoles, which are the active ingredient in kick ich are treatments for anaerobic protists and bacteria. The only study that suggested that they have any effect on Cryptocaryon was done before people realized that fish often recover from ich even without any treatment. That's why people who haven't tried it say it doesn't do anything. It's kind of like people taking antibiotics for a stomach virus and saying the medicine cured them.
UV will kill the parasite if it passes through. The trouble is you can never get all of the parasites on a recirculating system.
Richard parry
New member
An old girlfriend of mine tried kickich. Shame she didnt do so BEFORE i met her, but thats another sore story!
dragonforce
New member
^lmao
Richard parry
New member
I told her i thought something smelled fishy
boxfishpooalot
Active member
I dont like "cures". I prefer to let the fish fight it off by feeding them plenty of nutritious foods.
Think about it, if a fish gets ich in the first place and it stays with the fish, the fish obviously is not strong enough to fight it off. How do we fix that? Feed your fish.
Or there are enviromental factors like having a faulty hydrometer and having some sort of outrageous SG reading. Or the noobie who dumps in fresh top up water without a gradual addtion. So many factors
Think about it, if a fish gets ich in the first place and it stays with the fish, the fish obviously is not strong enough to fight it off. How do we fix that? Feed your fish.
Or there are enviromental factors like having a faulty hydrometer and having some sort of outrageous SG reading. Or the noobie who dumps in fresh top up water without a gradual addtion. So many factors
Im sure this will be unpopular on RC but try Mark Weiss, Coral Vital. Its probably the vitamins that strengthen the fish and they fight the ich off on their own but it works. I got a new angel out of a system that had ich(all the SW tanks at petco are on the same sump). The angel had no spots but was scratching, I only used the coral vital and it never developed ich. I also have other sucess stories with it. I know other people think its snake juice but I like it.
boxfishpooalot
Active member
scratching does not mean ich always. It could be brook which is a bacterial infection.
absolutely, 3 years in april...............and while ozone may not kill the ich parasite , it does help the overall purity of the tank which in turn puts less stress on the fish which helps them fight off disease and parasites, at least thats my take from my tanks point of view........
FLReefGirl
New member
I never tried kick ich but I used Kent RX-P with success. I used the RX-P in combo w/ soaking spirulina enhanced brine shrimp in Garlic Xtreme, raising the temp to 84, and did a slight hypo of 1.021. I did this combo for 2 weeks. W/ the RX-P you can leave your PS on (watch it for the first hour though, it foams up & pulls a lot water out) and it doesn't effect you inverts. All I can say is the ich was bad but in the end everyone is alive and ich free.
Was it the RX-P or the total combo, I don't know. All I know is the tank is ich free. I hope this helps.
Was it the RX-P or the total combo, I don't know. All I know is the tank is ich free. I hope this helps.
nikonosis
New member
It definately didn't have any affect on the corals and everytime I would dose it, the ich would go away but it would come back the next day. I used the entire bottle and still have a dang ich problem. I tried catching the fish in our tank to quarantine them but the only fish I can catch are the clowns and the yellow tang. Our royal gramma, powder blue, foxface, and lawnmower blenny are impossible to catch without taking the tank apart. All the fish have been fed with garlic soaked food non stopped and they are all eating like crazy, they are all fat, and they they don't act like they have ich at all.
These are the toughest fish I have ever seen. We have had ich for a little over 3 weeks now and still haven't lost a single fish. I spent 2 hours trying to catch that damn powder blue. He was quarantined in copper for 3 weeks before going into the display and causing our ich problem. I hate that fish!
I almost wish all the fish would just die so we could start all over but NONE OF THEM WILL DIE.
The biggest thing I hate about kick ich is having to leave the skimmer off for around a week. In the time it was left off our nitrates got up to 20ppm and now I am fighting with cyano and diatoms while trying to lower the nitrates. I have had to 2 water changes in the past week because of it.
These are the toughest fish I have ever seen. We have had ich for a little over 3 weeks now and still haven't lost a single fish. I spent 2 hours trying to catch that damn powder blue. He was quarantined in copper for 3 weeks before going into the display and causing our ich problem. I hate that fish!
I almost wish all the fish would just die so we could start all over but NONE OF THEM WILL DIE.
The biggest thing I hate about kick ich is having to leave the skimmer off for around a week. In the time it was left off our nitrates got up to 20ppm and now I am fighting with cyano and diatoms while trying to lower the nitrates. I have had to 2 water changes in the past week because of it.
Hmm.. I've seemed to come upon the same dilemma as you! With all the SPS it would be impossible to remove all my fish. My tank has not had ich since 1998 when it was a FO and it's been running as a reef for about 7yrs. I recently added some healthy wrasses, but I am uncertain that was the cause. I started feeding nori, red and purple seaweed on the clip everyday just before the outbreak. I use to only feed it every once in a great while. The LFS said now that the tangs (4) are bumping into each other (twice a day) at the clip this may have caused the outbreak and spread. It just a stab at the cause. It's all the tangs (4) that have it right now of the other 20+ reef fish.
I have no where to place the LR that is covered with SPS so removing 20+ fish (mostly small) is not an option.
I've stepped up the garlic rations and am feeding it mixed with food. It's fresh minced garlic (as small as possible). I've also added Beta Glucan to the food and am looking for other helpful ingredients...
Have you read this thread?...
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showt...highlight=water changes help ick&pagenumber=1
I picked up a jug of the Kick-Ich and am tempted to start that, but I agree with the skimmer being off may cause a lot of other issues. I've had cyano before and it was a major battle.
I have no where to place the LR that is covered with SPS so removing 20+ fish (mostly small) is not an option.
I've stepped up the garlic rations and am feeding it mixed with food. It's fresh minced garlic (as small as possible). I've also added Beta Glucan to the food and am looking for other helpful ingredients...
Have you read this thread?...
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showt...highlight=water changes help ick&pagenumber=1
I picked up a jug of the Kick-Ich and am tempted to start that, but I agree with the skimmer being off may cause a lot of other issues. I've had cyano before and it was a major battle.
samson78945
New member
im using the kick ich right now and it seems that the problem is being killed off from wut i can tell.
iamwhatiam52
New member
Used it 3 times, heavy dose, no skimmer, even repeated treatment. Each time the ick came back. Then the most suceptable fish died, and no problems for over a year now.
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