Possible New Cure for Ick?

[NHReeftank]

that poor tang musta been in bad shape...

 

[wmam]

He was.......... Now he's all over the place. If you have ever had or seen a kole tang and how they usually act with sucking on everything to get a bite of algae. It's a trip. He seems to be doing well now but when I first let him back into the main tank after bringing him back from the edge (a little cpr using powerhead for air and squeezing his sides a little) he would run and hide when he saw me coming. My wife and I would laugh and think he was thinking "Oh No. Here comes Doctor Frankenstein"

 

[marineways]

hey I dont know what some of these peoples problems are but I think what you did was great and I learned something.
I want to try it when the problem comes my way but ich isnt too common in my tanks but my store probably has it occur more often
Thanks for all the in-put

 

[wmam]

If you are talking about what I did........... Just remember when you handle a fish you will be wiping their slime coat off and that will sometimes make things worse so use a dose of stresscoat after you do handle them. JMO.

 

[melev]

This is wandering off topic briefly, but one guy recently posted that he bought some medication for his tank (don't remember the name). For some crazy reason he either smelled it or felt the need to taste it, and it tasted spicey. It had cayanne pepper in it, and he was shocked to think he bought some kind of salsa for his tank. It was to kill parasites.

Then today a guy showed me a bottle of Melafix (or some name similar) that the LFS told him would help his Naso heal from pop-eye. That stuff smells like Tea Tree Oil.

Some of these 'cures' may be bogus, or they may be simple herbal remedies, but interesting nonetheless.

 

[wmam]

melev,

LOL.... O.K. .......... You bring the TEXAS TEA (Big letters for TEXAS) and I will bring the "Tar" from the Tar Hell State. Now if we could just find someone to bring some other ingredients from their States we will make a bona fide tonic to cure ick.

Don't laugh........... I heard that tar and oil based products help with dandruff. Hey ick looks like the fish has dandruff............. Ummmmmmmmmmmm?

 

[wmam]

LOLOLOL ...... I meant Tar "HEEL" State.

 

[Teddy Ballgame]

For my Ich problem, I have been dosing my tank with garlic drops and putting in the food. Ginger seems like it would do the same thing, boost the immune system of the fish. My corals have not reacted to it in any way. In addition, I have been dosing pima and mela fix to help the healing process. They are both derived from natural plant oils. As with any "natural" cure, there are going to be skeptics. I for one think they're worth a shot over some artificial medication. The idea is to keep everything as natural as possible, just like when we get sick. Haven't your grandmothers told you to drink lots of orange juice to fight a cold. The vitamin c in oj will help your immune system....on the same note, aryuvedic medicine has been parcticed in India and China for centuries. They have all kinds of "cures" that we would think are crazy. But now look how many people incorporate ginseng and other roots in their diets!
Either way, it is not correct to say there is a cure for anything, everyone has different results. We should however use this forum to help fellow aquarists with any of our own experiences...which means I will be trying ginger in my next feeding.
Good luck, ich sucks.

 

[Andrew]

This whole thread is hard to believe. Im sticking with garlic.

 

[Shawnts106]

I was kinda werry at first too... then I tried it because my yellow tangs had a case of peper ich... I had just quarintined them in a 10 gallon for 1 week... using quick cure and garlic... it seemed to be gone... I put them back in the display and they got it again..... sooooooo, I tryed the Genger, took a chunk of root, blended it up really smushy and liquidy... soaked flake food in it and algae strips... feed it for 1 day... maybe 3 to 4 times in one day.... and tada! No more ich... I still look to make sure... the only thing I did was just add genger... soaked food and added a little bit of the accual gengar liquid in the tank... everything is great now.. no more ich problems and this was about a month ago!

 

[Thales]

I have a PBT tang with a low level ich infection. In have been using ginger and garlic for two weeks with no effect.

 

[wmam]

Lefty,

Would you mind explaining how you are using it? I mean, are you blending it and soaking it and what kind of ginger? How often? What kind of food stuff you using?

 

[ROBERLEA]

reply

reply

I have a PBT tang with a low level ich infection. In have been using ginger and garlic for two weeks with no effect

are you using fresh ginger or dried ?
i have found best results by soaking food the night before

also its odd that a problem such as ick would be a low level infection for two weeks without spreading rapidly
is there any signs on any other fish
most ick infections have killed its first fish after 7-10 days
in my experiance
have you also introduced any fish in the last month

 

[Thales]

Fresh minced ginger, soaked with mysis and cyclop-eez flake in the ginger juice for at least 1/2 hour before feeding. I am not doing it anymore.

Roberlea,
In tangs it is often the case that a low level infection can persist, and pop up from time to time. The only other fish that showed signs were a pair of skunk clowns that were beating the crap out of each other. They cleared up in 3 days - before I started feeding ginger.
IME most fish do not die from ich. In fact, in the 20 or so years I have been involved in aquaria, I have never had a fish die from ich and have only had one infection get to the point that I needed to move the fish to a q tank for treatment.

 

[Poseidon's Vortex]

I know I will probably get lamblasted by the Einstiens in here but who cares I will ask this question anyway..

Has anyone ever wondered if the ICH actually resides in the FOOD we fee our fish? The eggs are there already just waiting to explode when warmed up.. Like some cryogenic nightmare?

I sure have... Is it possible that one of the reasons adding ginger (whether some think it works or not) to the FOOD actually is killing the parasites in the FOOD first?

Another source I have also wondered about is FRESH WATER. I saw one guy mentioned he did a water change and after that ICH.. Could they also reside in certain FW sources more than others??? So that just adding some FW to your tank system could introduce it?

Granted they are probably hatching and growing in the tank environment as well after they appear and the juice from the mixture kills them as well..

I have nothing to back this up no test, slides, DNA, nothing this is just a hunch I have about one possible source of ICH being in the foods we feed.

One reason I came to this possible conclusion is I changed the FOOD I feed from simple BRINE shrimp cubes to the fancy FORMULA 1s and 2s...Seems like the ICH that I got all started back when the FOOD change was made. Could be coincedence Im not saying anything is sure, just a thought.

A Scientific test (if not done already) could be made on the foods to see if the eggs can survive freezing temps in frozen foods?

This seemed one reason that maybe the eggs might NOT be in the food and my theory is flawed..

Any info on temps that eggs and live crypts can survive? I see alot about HIGH temps around, but how about FREEZING?

Since our food is mostly frozen. (does not include RAW foods some people use)

I have been battling ich for about 2weeks now with nothing working, Im about to do the Ginger thing and see what happens.

 

[ROBERLEA]

hi just a note if your gonna try ginger try one slither of fresh ginger chopped as fine as you can soaked overnight in thawed frozen brine shrimp or mysis the fish don`t seem to eat the ginger so if is soaked overnight i think whats working gets drawn out of the ginger into the food
worked for me 25 days and still no signs of ick

 

[billsreef]

Has anyone ever wondered if the ICH actually resides in the FOOD we fee our fish? The eggs are there already just waiting to explode when warmed up.. Like some cryogenic nightmare?

Unless your feeding live fish, it's not possible. Also the slow freezing and defrosting will disrupt any live cells and kill them from the formation of ice crystals.

Another source I have also wondered about is FRESH WATER. I saw one guy mentioned he did a water change and after that ICH.. Could they also reside in certain FW sources more than others??? So that just adding some FW to your tank system could introduce it?

Marine ich (Cryptocaryon irritans) is strictly marine. As such it cannot survive in FW, therefore FW could not be source.

 

[sesegal99]

All right here we go. I just noticed my Purple Tang and my Hippo Tang are showing sings of Ick. The hippo much worse than the purple. All other fish appear fine and very healthy they are

3 GREEN CHROMIS (Chromis atripectoralis)

1 YELLOW TANG (Zebrasoma flavescens)

1 FLAME ANGEL (Centropyge loriculus)

1 SIX LINE WRASSE (Pseudocheilinus hexataenia)

1 BICOLORED BLENNY (Ecsenius bicolor)

2 OCELLARIS CLOWNFISH (Amphiprion ocellaris)

2 YELLOW ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œCITRONââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ CLOWN GOBIES (Gobiodon okinawae)

2 RAINFORD GOBIES (Amblygobius rainfordi)

In seeing this thread the other day I'm opting to do my own experiment. I have never used ginger before. I was able to get the hippo tang and quarantine him.

I will feed both the display and the quarantine prime reef flakes soaked in ginger to see what happens to both and will also monitor the other fish.

I will post results.

 

[sesegal99]

Oh ya, my first feeding i grated the ginger really fine, washed down the grater into a small container with some aquarium water and let it sit for 45 mins. Then fed. This is how I will administer the food for the next few weeks.

 

[sesegal99]

FWIW :

I also have a nice case of the flu. I am also gonna try fresh ginger tea for myself w/ no other medicine and see what happens to me.