stupid ick

P

Petstorejunkie

New member
okay this one has really ****ed me off for the last time.
18W Uv sterilizer
happy stinky skimmer
salinity 1.020 (and falling to 1.016 over the next 72 hours)
pH 8.2
no NH3 or NO2
nitrate below 12.5
temp: 77 degrees farenheight
lots of place for the fish to hide and swim
no agression between tankmates
diet includes mysis squid clams nori organic shrimp scallops krill and spectrum pellets


previously soaked food in metronitazole

i ran copper at 15 for about two weeks and have cut it back to 10, and this stupid ick keeps rearing its ugly head!

the bulb in the uv is brand new, as well as the pump it has been on the tank for 40 days

i am stopping the copper because i dont want it to start to cause negative effects on my emperor angel and puffers, and cowfish from long termed use.

okay the life cycle of ick is 28 days, there has been at least a reading of 10 for the copper for months now and the uv has been on for more than a month. no new fish have been added and no drastic temperature changes
what the heck is going on?!
i am stumped and so are all of my co workers



***!
 
Good god....that is some stubborn ick!

Perhaps going up w' the temp and down with the salinity (sounds like you are doing that part already).

That or the tang/angel/puffer police are sneaking into your house late at night and dumping more "aquacultured ick" into your tank as punishment for having fish in less than 10K gallons.

Seriously, when you do find out the fix let us know the cure to uber ick.

Best of Luck
 
no cowfish dont leech toxins, unless they freak out and die, and mine is the happiest fattest most well adjusted critter in existance. hopefully someone will know what to do
i am considering using kick ick, but is it better than copper and a UV? and does it come in small bottles? the only ones that we have in treats thousands of gallons and is expensive
 
How often were you measuring your copper levels? Maybe something in your tank was absorbing the copper, so it was never potent enough?
 
In the passed ive tried uv, copper, marine-max, water changes, hyposalinity, Kent RXp, u name..... still ICH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just noticed a few days ago it was back, DAMN! When I did the hypo it seemed to go away. I had the salinity down to 1.010 for almost 3 months, thought it had died off then raised it back to 1.025. . . .It came back.

Ich is THE ONLY THING about this hobby that ticks me off. Well besides $$$
 
I know this is not in common practice by everyone, but do other people ever use Garlic Extract as a solution for Ich?

I know personally it solved the problems in two of my nano setups, both 20 Gallons. In both situations I recieved the tanks in much dismay, two friends that thought salt water upkeep is buying new stuff and not fixing problems. Both tanks had fish already semi covered in Ich. As the advice by a fishy friend of mine, I started using Kent Marine Garlic Extreme, adding it to the frozen food I was using as the diet. ( Marine Cousine, Emerald Entree ) I did this because I was told that Ich is a parasite that attaches to the fish and bleeds them, falling off to lay more eggs in the substrate. He said the garlic extract would be comsumed in the food the fish ate, causing the fish to sweat a smelly garlic like smell that the Ich does not like. If the Ich does not obtain food in the tank over time ( In my case about two weeks, there has been no sight of Ich since. )

I have later on added other fish to the tanks, and have never had another problem with Ich.
Anyone else that has tried this?
 
The only problem with any of these solutions is that they are not proven. For all we know in your situation the ick may have gone away on its own for some other reason.

I think hypo and copper are the only two that are actually proven to work. Copper works, no doubt about that, so I bet the dosage was incorrect. Copper is easily absorbed by rocks and such, to it may have been ineffective.
 
If you have a test kit and have used it think its safe to say that you have covered the copper route.

You can also try just going nuts w' water changes... 10'ish percent. Figure the salt costs on that for hypo'ish salinity at less then 40 cents a day. So you can either send the money to starving kids overseas or do a bunch of water changes...
 
GAH!!!!! ICK i hate it ....#$@* it !!!!....lol umm yea i had it every other month in my 120cause of my tangs but since i got a UV it went away uve got me stumped better try the kick ich

peace
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6621816#post6621816 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by spotfin
How about formalin?
Click to expand...
i havent tried formalin, but doesnt it effect the biological?

update...
i have dropped the salinity to 1.015 and raised the pemp to 82
i am running th copper at 20mg/L for the next 3 days, then 3 days at 15 and then gradually down to nothing. so far the spots are slowly dissappearing, but that of course doesnt mean that they are gone for good. i am doing a 5 gallon water change every 24-36 hours, with a gravel siphon to keep those little buggars from living in my substrate, and hopefully stirring enough of it up to help the UV do its job.
i dont use garlic because my fish are already piggish yet coexist happily, but when i add garlic to the food they are like a couple of cheerleaders dating the same guy, especially when it comes to krill!
they recieve lots of marine C and zoe in their food which is supposed to boost their immune system. i am going to maintain the hypo salinity thing for at least 6-8 weeks. and see how that does, hopefully my emperor wont get hole in the head in the meantime.
could there be something rendering the copper ineffective, yet still testing out at the right amount? kind of like when you use ammolock, and the test kit reads the ammonia is off the roof, but the product bound to the ammonia and made it not harmful?
that is the only thing i can think of.
i will keep everyone updated. sorry to hear that others suffer the way i do, but it does make me feel better to know i am not alone. glad this isnt a reef tank
 
oh just so you know i am NOT usjing ammolock
supplements to the tank are prime,
seacure copper and kent superbuffer dkH
instant ocean salt and tap water
 
lowering my salinity and then uping my temperature to 82degrees until it cleared up, then knocking it down to 80 for good helped my tank conquer it
 
I don't think that anything will falsify your copper reading. The only problem would be if you tested for it immediately after you added it, and then it was absorbed by your substrate or rocks. Have you been testing your tank on a regular basis?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

C
Help with fish illness diagnosis
Replies
4
Views
191
Dr. Reef
Dr. Reef
Coral Dilema
Using an old new tank?
Replies
2
Views
180
Reefing102
Reefing102
P
Clownfish is lethargic and not eating
Replies
9
Views
231
leebca
L
E
Long time Reefer looking to start anew.
Replies
12
Views
2K
FOX-FACE fanboy….
FOX-FACE fanboy….
A
FS: Leemar Tank w/ Stand
Replies
0
Views
261
AQUA951
A
Back
Top