Parasite-Disease Identification trivia time :-/ ich?

[rockfanmidsouth]

I have a reef setup thats a few months old - I have slowly added live rock, fish and corals. All have been purchased from two LFS's that I know and trust. ALL BUT ONE - I added a baby regal tank last week from a chain petstore and ALL WAS OK - I asked the guy how long he had been in the store - a week and a half - he was tanked alone - he looked healthy - very active, no scaring or tissue damage. Thought I made a good choice - He adapted quickly to his new home and got along great with his tank mates, royal gramma, firefish, osci and tomato clowns, blue side fairy wrasse, couple of snails. a sally and a two rose tips... I came home this evening and he looked like this (pic below) I think this is ich - I immediately netted him and put him in my Hospital tank upstairs (yes I should have kept him in there FIRST for a week or two :headwally Just got this tank set IN CASE something like this happened... So now what? What can I use to treat him and do I treat my reef tank or just watch for more infection? My other fish SEEM to be ok, they are not showing signs but..................... Any advice would be greatly appreciated... Thanks all.........

 

[nck1992]

It will be OK if the tang is eating well. but if you want to treat, use copper based medicine like cupramine in your hospital tank. The reef tank cannot be treated by copper based medicine. Based on my experience, I would say that Ich seems like common cold. come and go...

 

[Rendos]

There are lots of ich treatments out there.
Copper is one (and the one I prefer). When using copper, please get a good copper test kit to go with it. You must maintain copper at certain levels for it to be effective, and you CAN overdose copper. Seachem Cupramine is my preferred copper. It is ionically charged and stays in solution longer than non-chelated copper. It is effective at lower levels. Copper is normally dosed to a level of 1.5-2.0 ppm. Cupramine is recommended at a level of 0.3-0.5.
Metronidazole is another treament. It is a medication that is added to the fishes food and works internally.
Hyposalinity is an option.
There are also products like Kick-Ich or Stop-Ich. I think these treatments are less effective than the others listed above but some people report great success with these products.

Good luck!

 

[spieszak]

Once you have a fish with ich, you have a tank with ich... all fish even those that show now signs have to be acted upon as though they have it. Reef safe ich treatments are generally thought of as a fallacy. There are stickies in the disease forum you should read through to generally educate yourself on ich and your treatment options, and they will generally answer all your questions... once you've read them, you will likely have more specific questions, and those specific questions are likely to get more attention than a general "call for help" Good luck with your fight

 

[rockfanmidsouth]

There are lots of ich treatments out there.
Copper is one (and the one I prefer). When using copper, please get a good copper test kit to go with it. You must maintain copper at certain levels for it to be effective, and you CAN overdose copper. Seachem Cupramine is my preferred copper. It is ionically charged and stays in solution longer than non-chelated copper. It is effective at lower levels. Copper is normally dosed to a level of 1.5-2.0 ppm. Cupramine is recommended at a level of 0.3-0.5.
Metronidazole is another treament. It is a medication that is added to the fishes food and works internally.
Hyposalinity is an option.
There are also products like Kick-Ich or Stop-Ich. I think these treatments are less effective than the others listed above but some people report great success with these products.

Good luck!

ok, probably swinging by at lunch time to pick what you suggested, yeah I keep a lower salinity in the HT - when I checked last night it was 1.022 - should I lower it more? The reef tank stays around 1.024 to 1.025 - I have read that the corals do better in the higher salinity but it also increases the chances for disease among fish. NOW i remember WHY I stopped this WONDERFUL STRESS FREE hobby so many years ago.. LOL J/K but its frustrating how quickly everything can go to crap... LOL Turbo theTang looked ok this morning - but man is he TICKED OFF - lol

 

[rockfanmidsouth]

Thanks

 

[SNAKEMANVET]

I had good success with hypo treatment.That would mean removeing all corals and inverts.If you go that route take it slow dropping the salinity to 1.009 and maintain it for 12 weeks.

 

[Logiq]

Yea good luck I just got a clown tang from there I usually don't get the more expensive fish from there but it too look really healthy then the next day it had some sort of leasion on its side not too big but I knew I had to keep an eye on it. It got bigger by the day the my wife woke me up to let me know he took a nap at the bottom of the tank that scar bust open I have no idea what it was but know my scopas tang I got from Memfish a while back last year seems to have the same thing. The second day I got the clown tang I noticed my scopas was missing. I thought it disappeared but I found it hiding behind some rocks. He looked ok but he was just acting funny this was Sunday yesterday I noticed a similar leasion or pimple looking thing on his side and the white spots indicating ich. This really sucks so I know how u feel. I don't want to bother the fish because I think it's just gonna make matters worse so I'm just gonna let nature take its corse I didn't have my uv hooked up but I just hooked it up so maybe just maybe the fish gods will hear my prayers. I have bought cheaper fish from them like blennys and anthias and had success I won't just smash them just vow not to buy an expensive fish there again I'd rather get it from one of our locals. That just my experience

 

[nck1992]

I always said to my wife "I will not buy anything from them again". But I always buy from them. Because there is no place to buy after work. Weekend? It‘s not for my hobby but for my family. Anyway good luck for everybody.!!!

 

[rockfanmidsouth]

I always said to my wife "I will not buy anything from them again". But I always buy from them. Because there is no place to buy after work. Weekend? It‘s not for my hobby but for my family. Anyway good luck for everybody.!!!

Oh no I believe you may have misunderstood - I have never had any problems with any fish I have purchased from Memfish - the regal came from Petco the new Olive Branch location - he is being treated in my hospital tank and doing well - no one else in the Reef tank is scratching or showing signs of ich - soooooo I am hopeful - for now.

I do not have a Uv hooked up - do u find that it is that beneficial ? . Thanks

 

[nck1992]

I also meant petco.

 

[rockfanmidsouth]

I also meant petco.

OH! lol ok Poor lil guy runs and hides from me everytime I go check on him now. He was happy in the reef tank and now he is in solitary

 

[rockfanmidsouth]

Update on "Turbo". He is eating well, active, and showing no signs of ich.. Sooooo a couple more days of treatment and he can go back into "general population"