IME, kick ick does actually work on some level. I used it years ago with success. That said, today I am of the opinion that it's snake oil and would not trust it under any circumstance.
I would not hypo any tank with inverts. Snails and hermits will die which may or may not be too big a bioload for your tank to handle. Corals don't particularly like it either. I did try it once and only saw a slight bleaching until I raised the SG level too fast a week or so later.
Hypo can kill ick but some strains are resistant. This is my current regamin. It's designed for clowns but I can adapt it for larger fish by simply switching to a larger tank.
It's not the only way to do it but it has worked for me.
Whatever regamin you decide to use, stick with the plan from start to finish and to not switch method mid course. Good luck.
Disease Prevention
The three most important things I know on this subject are:
1. Quarrantine
2. Quarrantine
3. Quarrantine
Supplies for QTs
- 10 gallon aquarium
- Power Filter rated for 40-50 gallons
- 50W heater
- Glass thermometer with suction cup
- Two 6" ceramic tiles or one 6" flower pot (for shelter)
- 50 gallon salt mix
- Two 5 gallon buckets (one for clean water one for dirty or medicated water)
- Glass canopy or 1 sheet of "eggcrate" lighting grid
- 1 pair small diaginal cutting pliars (for cutting the eggcrate to size.)
Optional items
- Aquarium stand
- strip light fixture (PCF if you plan to keep corals/anemones)
- Pre-Fabricated water syphon or 1/2" clear tubing from home depot.
Recommended Medications
- 1 bottle of Kordon's Formalin III
- 1 bottle of Cupramine
- 1 bottle of Amquell
Set up the system and allow it to run for at least 24 hours so the temperature can stabilize. If temp adjustments are needed, adjust to the thermometer; not the heater dial.
When you are ready to add the fish, it is generally accepted practice to float the bag for 15 minutes to allow the temps to stabilize. Drain 50% of the water into a waste water bucket and refill the volume you took out with water from the QT. You should repeat this process two or more times. When you are ready to add the fish, dump almost all the water into the waste water bucket and pour the fish into the QT. I avoid using nets wherever possible to avoid scraping or rubbing off slime and scales. These kinds of minor damage can make fish more succeptable to infection.
I usually set the tank temp for 75-78 degrees F unless it's a specamin like A. latezonatus that requires cooler temps.
If you have a particularly fragile fish like A. chrysopterus or A. nigripes, I recommend setting the specific gravity to 1.009 in advance. Use a refractometer. Swing arm hydrometers can be grossly innacurate. Hypo-salinity will kill many of the paracites that live on our fish. It's referred to as osmotic shock therapy. As the title suggests, you want to shock the organisms you are trying to kill with a sudden change in osmotic pressure so they literally explode. This is not the case when returning to regular salinity. This should be done of the course of a few days. To do this I like to allow the QT to evaporate naturally. Instead of using fresh makeup water to keep it at the same SG I add saltwater to slowly bring the salinity back up.
Quarrantine should be performed for a minimum of one month after purchase or the last symptom of disease. Whichever is longer. I usually end up quarrantining fish for 90 days. 30 for inverts.
*Invertebrates and some scale-less fishes will not survive hyposalinity.
With clowns, the diseases you will want to be most cautious of are Brooklynella, Amyloodinium and Ick (in that order.) With fish that I know to be succeptable to brook or amyloo I automatically add Formalin III to the system. Otherwise, I look at their breathing, behavior and skin (in that order) a couple times each day. The hypo-salinity may well knock out any of these three diseases before they have a chance to take hold. However, I highly recommend having the above recommended meds on hand. If the hypo doesn't knock it out, you probably have a very aggressive case on your hands and time is critical.
*Please do not blame me if you loose fish with these methods. These methods have greatly improved survival rates of my fish but they're not 100% effective. It takes experience to properly diagnose diseases and even more experience to diagnose them early. ~
Common Disease Treatment
Compliments of MarinaP on Reef Central I have a new regamin for treatment of certain diseases. I have not tried this in the exact sequence mentioned but it does fall in line with what I believe to be best practices. I have modified her regamin slightly to fit my own preferences.
*Wear gloves and eye protection whenever handling formalin or bleach.
*Do not use activated carbon/charcoal while medicating.
For Amyloodinium or Ick:
*For all procedures: Use water that has a specific gravity (SG) of 1.009
**Do not mix medications.
***Be sure that temperature is the same in all holding vessels.
Day One
1. Slowly lower SG to 1.009
2. Perform a formalin dip per directions on the bottle.
3. Remove fish from formalin dip and place in an unused quarrantine tank that has been treated with cupramine per the recommendations on the bottle.
4. Set up a second quarrantine tank (QT) with the same SG and temperature of water as the first QT.
Day Two
1. Place fish in second quarrantine tank that has been treated with cupramine per the recommendations on the bottle.
2. Clean first quarrantine tank and all related components with a 10% bleach soln then set it back up. It is OK to soak the filter pad in bleach soln then rinse thoroughly before re-use if desired.
*Repeat process for days three through six.
Day Seven
1. If there are no further external symptoms, add fish to a quarrantine tank with a SG of 1.009 with no medications for at least 28 days.
2. Add a fresh filter cartridge with carbon to the filter.
3. Perform 20% water changes and or use Amquell as directed.
4. It is OK to use Prazi-Pro as directed after the first week as a prophylactic treatment or if internal paracites are suspected.
*Remember to discard activated carbon while in use.
For Brooklynella
- Follow the same regamin but substitute a formalin bath between formalin dips instead of using cupramine. ~
