Problems with Ick

[JokerGirl]

It's a shame that I just found this thread.

Personally, I would've left the fish alone, but it's a little late at this point in time. Sometimes, sensitive fish will develop a few ick lesions randomly, and they usually will resolve on their own if the fish is healthy. Feeding foods laced with garlic oils usually helps out as well by boosting their immune system.

I'm not sure what fish you have, but I certainly wouldn't put your mandarin through hypo, or any of them for that matter. If the ick isn't getting worse, then continue to feed garlic.

Mandarin gobies are very sensitive fish. They do not have scales, so any sort of medications are toxic to them, but they also do not take stress well. Mandarin's have a high resistance to getting ick and usually don't get it.

How many ick spots do you think your Tang has? Are you willing to keep all of your fish in QT for 6-8 weeks (the amount of time it takes for all the Ick parasites to die)? Is your QT set up to handle all those fish for that amount of time?

 

[stingythingy45]

Garlic would have done very little if anything.
You are taking the correct steps nanz.
Don't let anyone sell you snake oil.

 

[JokerGirl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11658207#post11658207 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by stingythingy45
Garlic would have done very little if anything.
You are taking the correct steps nanz.
Don't let anyone sell you snake oil.

Garlic has long been proven to have health benefits, not just to fish, but to people as well.

One of the benefits being an anti-parasitic and mild anti-biotic.

 

[Nanz]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11658222#post11658222 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JokerGirl
Garlic has long been proven to have health benefits, not just to fish, but to people as well.

One of the benefits being an anti-parasitic and mild anti-biotic.

I took the Mandarin out of the QT and put it in my Mantis Tank.. No mnatis in there yet just millions of pods and snails. Im still waiting on a smithi mantis, hehe.. Anyways.. I think he is going to spend some time in there until I can figure out if he is infected. The tank has nothing but inverts besides the goby so I think he will be ok. If he infects the tank its ok because in time it will be a mantis tank.

My display tank is empty and will be for 72 days. Hypo with the following fish will start tonight when I get home from work.

• Powder Brown(gold rim) tang
• Maroon Gold Striped Clown
• Sailfin Blenny
• Watchman Goby
• Fairy Wrasse

 

[Nanz]

To Freshwater Dip or Not?

This is a quote I got from this link:
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/marineich.html

Freshwater dips are generally ineffective in the treatment of marine "Ich" infestations. Trophonts burrow deeply into the epithelium where they are generally protected from external influences. Colorni (1985) found that even after 18 hours in freshwater, infected fish still have trophonts attached in the same positions as they had held before the freshwater treatment. The trophonts later detached and completed their life cycle as normal.

Trophonts penetrate the epithelium which causes a loss in osmoregulatory capability. Infected fish are less able to cope with a sudden and drastic change in the ionic concentration of their environment. This is likely to cause further stress to the fish which will impair their ability to acquire immunity to the parasite.

What do you guys think about doing a freshwater dip of the fish before the hyposalinty treament? From what I gather it will just stress the fish out more and possibly kill them as well as not completely remove the trophonts.

 

[Cope]

Just go hypo. It sucks but is proven effective. This way you can be sure you're DT is free of ICK. Now the hard part is QTing ALL new fish.
Good luck
Cope

 

[stingythingy45]

I'm over 5 weeks into hypo and I don't think you'll need to do any freshwater dip.As a matter of fact I'm convinced it stresses the fish and has little impact on Ich.
Very much like"Garlic".

 

[JokerGirl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11661282#post11661282 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by stingythingy45
I'm over 5 weeks into hypo and I don't think you'll need to do any freshwater dip.As a matter of fact I'm convinced it stresses the fish and has little impact on Ich.
Very much like"Garlic".

Yeah because you know so much about "biology".

 

[stuccodude]

another garlic non believer.

 

[Dack77]

Heh, this topic amuses me every time I read it. We know, without a doubt, what the life cycle of ich is. We also know what can and will kill it. The two known cures are copper (not safe for some types of fish such as tangs, etc) and hyposalinity, neither of which are good for reef tanks. There are others that have been partially tested, but nothing on a reef tank and what happens to inverts, etc. Garlic has never been proven to cure ich. It may help keep the fishes immune system on par, but that alone will not kill ich. Then when the next stress episode happens, you will see a small or possibly larger outbreak.

You are doing the right thing by putting them in QT. Do the hypo, and leave the DT empty for the entire time. Then reintroduce them back into the DT after 6 weeks.

Things I have tried without any success: Chem Marins Stop Parasite, kick ich, and garlic. None of which ever helped. My first bout with it I lost a pair of black ocellaris clowns, an orange spotted goby, a potters angel, 2 blue reef chromis, and I am sure I am missing some others. I just cant think of them all right now as it was some time ago.

I had to do hypo to get the ich to die. I could not do copper because I had a purple tang.

Please read this thread and the links provided in the thread to get a better understanding of ich.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=282934