Possible New Cure for Ick?

[Humuhumunuku]

This whole thing started about a month ago. Ich doesn't work in teams meaning they don't all jump on and off at once. You may see heavy loads vs lower loads but I've seen the cycle work on this tang. All is gone. None of the other fish have ever had a trace of ich.

Once again, you have never seen ich, unless you've used a microscope. What you have seen is one of many possible reactions the fish can have to the parasite. Ever notice how every spring, all the flowers start to bloom? Are they working in teams? No, they are all independently responding to the same environmental ques.

 

[wrxreefer823]

I've actually been dosing with a bit of ginger and soy sauce... I then take the infected fish, roll it neatly into some nori I get from the LFS, along with some avacodo and rice, and THEN I put it in the QT tank. I think it has something to do with the rice pulling the parasite off of the fish... not really sure.

 

[tang named junkyard]

Let me rephrase. The fish is having 0 reaction to ich and is now in thrive mode, not survive mode.

 

[jason2459]

many fish can survive with crypto"ich" and it has nothing at all to do with garlic or ginger or any supplement. Many people just freak out every time they see what they think is ich. They dose something into the tank. Seven days later they start seeing the white spots go away and think its what they are dosing. Then they don't see it again for months to years. Doesn't mean it is killed at all or not irritating the fish at all.

 

[jason2459]

What I love are these reefsafe cures and the directions always say to keep dosing until you no longer see the white spots anymore and viola it worked. Forget the entire life cycle of it and that normally you will never see it.

 

[goldmaniac]

many fish can survive with crypto"ich" and it has nothing at all to do with garlic or ginger or any supplement. Many people just freak out every time they see what they think is ich. They dose something into the tank. Seven days later they start seeing the white spots go away and think its what they are dosing. Then they don't see it again for months to years. Doesn't mean it is killed at all or not irritating the fish at all.

+1

whenever I would see white ich spots on my fish (usually tangs) I'd dose my crushed garlic regimen into the tank, but I additionally pay close attention to the tank for the next few days and watch carefully. Invariably, I usually tune up the water parameters while doing this, and this helps the fish recover on their own, as well.

EDIT: this would include a water change, for example.

I do believe that leaving things be is the best course of action with ich. If the fish is healthy enough to be swimming around and eating, keep the status quo UNLESS there's a stressor that you can remove from the tank (i.e. a new fish, or a bubbling pirate ship, or some drastic type of water flow).

If you have a 500 gallon tank and 40 fish at risk in the display, then my thinking would be limited and it might be worth it to QT, but i'm talking about average setups.

 

[567234ta]

I had a horrible case of ich in my tank, removed the fish to a QT using the same water, used the hypo method at a slow drop to the recommended SG, after 6 weeks i have not seen ich since.

 

[goldmaniac]

I had a horrible case of ich in my tank, removed the fish to a QT using the same water, used the hypo method at a slow drop to the recommended SG, after 6 weeks i have not seen ich since.

great! glad you could get the fish out with QT. i always botch it and freak everything out.

 

[mess7777]

This just in : Ginger and Garlic haven't worked since 2003 when this thread was started. All that happens is the fish develop an immunity over time. Any new stressors can cause another outbreak, especially with the new fish coming in. Think about it, doesn't it make more sense that all the new fish are getting ich from your tank, instead of the odds that all the new fish being added ALL have ich.

Anyway, this thread is super old and there are countless sources of great reliable information that say what does and does not work for ich.

I personally live with it, because I am not set up properly, I have also lost 4 fish because of this practice. Right now, I haven't seen ich in about 6 months, but I also haven't added any new fish.

Best of luck, and do what works for you....but please people let's not start spreading information that ginger or garlic does anything more but placate scared hobbyists into believing it works when the skin simply cleared up as a natural part of the ich cycle.

 

[tang named junkyard]

So now we are to believe that even though our fish show no signs of ich they still have it. So it's a form of aquarium AIDS.

 

[billsreef]

Ich can exist as a subclinical infection. Meaning those trophonts are living in places like the gills where us humans won't see them

 

[Humuhumunuku]

So now we are to believe that even though our fish show no signs of ich they still have it. So it's a form of aquarium AIDS.

or tuberculosis
or herpes
or malaria
or mad cow
or hepatitis
or shingles
or rabies
or any other number of diseases with long incubation periods.

One wonders how Snow or Pasteur or Koch ever convinced anyone about the germ theory of disease.

 

[moe458]

I just noticed today my powder blue tang has white spots on it. After doing a couple of research i didn't found much until i landed on this topic/article/research.

I got a couple of clowns, powder blue tang, corel beauty and a yellow tang. 3 star fishes.
I added a tea spoon mixed with with pellet of white spectrum and mixed it well and added to the tank. It's day 1 lets see how things roll in next few days, will provide update later.

 

[moe458]

I just noticed today my powder blue tang has white spots on it. After doing a couple of research i didn't found much until i landed on this topic/article/research.

I got a couple of clowns, powder blue tang, corel beauty and a yellow tang. 3 star fishes.
I added a tea spoon mixed with with pellet of white spectrum and mixed it well and added to the tank. It's day 1 lets see how things roll in next few days, will provide update later.

Seems like the p. blue tang was acting up. I gave it a freshwater dip for 5 mins and it seemed like it was shocking for her...I did setup a QT and moved here there will slowly drop salinity on it in next 48 hours. let's see how things roll

 

[moe458]

Seems like the p. blue tang was acting up. I gave it a freshwater dip for 5 mins and it seemed like it was shocking for her...I did setup a QT and moved here there will slowly drop salinity on it in next 48 hours. let's see how things roll

Day 3 - I guess it's already feeling much better. Been mixing some garlic and ginger with her food and she's feeling much better. I see her moving around quite a bit now and started eating as well. Did a 10% water change this morning..all parameters look fine (amonia: 0, nitrites=0, nitrages=5, ph=8.0 salinity 1.023) I am going to skip the salinity drop and keep her in QT for a bit and monitor her. Seems like the garlic and giner mix working great...i also fed her a small pintch of vitamin c ..lol she kinda likes it..lol:dance:

 

[daniekor]

Ginger

Ginger

I think people need to stop using the word "œCure" as this is most likely a treatment not a cure. Even in the medical community things are rarely cured, just treated.
This does seem like a great treatment if it's working, but we don't know the long term effects on the fish. Somebody once told me to take sour cream for a cold sore and I thought it was a joke, but I tried it once and was amazed that after 2 days it was gone and it even took away the pain. Normally they would last a week or so.
Don't listen to all the skeptics who thing doctors are God and the rest of us are brain dead. They have no vision!

 

[led stony]

Tryied ginger and no luck

Tryied ginger and no luck

I have a powder blue tang that eats good buy has ick. It has been 5 weeks now so i tried this ginger and no change after a week. I even added fresh garlic and vitamins .as a food soak every day on dry and pellet food. He still has it.

 

[DgenR8]

If the Ginger isn't working for you, start looking here [ich] for time tested and proven treatment options. I'm not saying that Ginger is a dead end, but if you've been battling ICH with Ginger and gotten nowhere, I'd say it's time for a different approach.

 

[rockytop47]

Well, I have nothing to lose since my gold rim tang has ich. I think it is related to the stress of capture at the LFS, transport, acclimation and being in an unusual new home. I got some Nori from the Asian market down the street, going to re-constitute it in water along with some garlic and ginger. She has about 6 or 7 spots on her fins, is extremely active and eats brine/spirulina like a champ. She grazes my rock work, and the shells on my mexican turbos. I will keep everyone posted on how this works for me. Thanks for the interesting thread that has been going now for NINE+ years!

 

[MrTuskfish]

Stress can't cause ich unless ich is already in the tank. Just because ich disappears for a while doesn't mean its gone. I think every ich-myth I've ever heard is on this thread. I hope folks with ich problems will use one of the methods proven to work (check the disease forum). Of course, if a good QT regimen is followed, ich doesn't have to be a problem.