What ich medication is best for reefs?

[streetjudge79]

i've got another outbreak of ich. What do you guys with larger systems use to medicate it with and have had success? I tried kick ich last year and it was worthless. The medication alone is $ 50.00 which is crazy and it didn't do a darn thing.

 

[clayspst]

there are reef safe ich meds, which in my opinion dont work very well at all. When i get ich in my 180 i just keep feeding (all my foods have garlic in them)and keep the stress low most fish pull thru. I have a full bottle of the reef safe stuff here

 

[billsreef]

Reef Safe Ich Medication is an oxymoron. If it's reef safe, it is also ich safe. I've yet to see a so called "Reef Safe" ich med whose rate of success is any better than simply sitting outside your tank and flipping a coin.

The only sure treatments are not reef safe, and will involve needing to get all fish out of the tank for 4 to 6 weeks and treating them in a QT.

 

[jimbo78]

reef safe ich medication is an oxymoron. If it's reef safe, it is also ich safe. I've yet to see a so called "reef safe" ich med whose rate of success is any better than simply sitting outside your tank and flipping a coin.

The only sure treatments are not reef safe, and will involve needing to get all fish out of the tank for 4 to 6 weeks and treating them in a qt.

+1

 

[sponger0]

Its called a hospital tank with copper or hypo

 

[gasman059]

SNAKE OILS-- there's not such a thing

 

[verz36]

i also had that problem and tried many medications that were reef safe and nothing worked..i lost many fish and ended up giving the other fish away.. you need to leave your main tank for 2 month minimum without any fish.. the ick will die off in your main tank and just like billsreef said quarantine your fish...

 

[mrx66699]

Here are some good articles on the issue..... put them in your bookmarks for future use as they will help you drudge through the pointers as the advice comes out of the woodwork lol..... happy reading.......

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.php
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-10/sp/feature/index.php
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/11/mini
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/12/mini
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2004/1/mini
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2004/2/mini
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2004/3/mini

 

[streetjudge79]

Well a hospital tank is out of the question as the wife won't allow any more. So I guess I'm screwed! I picked up a Powder blue tang yesterday and he's already covered in ich.

 

[mrx66699]

they are very susceptible......I would always QT a powder before putting it in they are soooo susceptible and if your DT already had a strand of ick in it I would never even have put a powder in the DT ....keep feeding often and hope for the best...if hes not eating try live brine or live black worms.....anything live

 

[streetjudge79]

He's picking at algae on the rocks and some caleurpa I put in.

 

[mrx66699]

keep putting it in and often along with some meat lol

 

[Rogger Castells]

I sort of disagree with just closing the case on a medicine for ich, I understand that many many medicines that claim to cure it have wound out being snake oils and unfortunately the nature of the decease and the corals is similar and it has been hard to find an specific cure but it is not impossible, it was not long ago that it was inconceivable to raise a hard corals but thanks like pioneers that tried and tried we now have the knowledge to reproduce them and sell them like candy in little jars at "Frag Swaps"
I remember the time that all my Xenia died overnight and i was able to figure out that it was the traces of fluke tabs in my fingers that has caused the extermination of a single coral in my tank, before that it was almost a pest that no one know how to get rid off.
We must continue to try new products it is the only way to get the solution to this old decease, I know that some of you are going to argue and even post links of 25 articles that contradict this but, like I said, it is not impossible!

 

[mrx66699]

I have to agree with Roger its out there just has to be unlocked....

 

[streetjudge79]

There has to be a way! And why is it that Tangs are so much more prone to it than other fish. I've kept lots of fish that never showed signs, yet my blue tang I had for 3 years was constantly fighting it off. Powder blues seem to be the worst! This is the second one I've had where he had a major outbreak in the second day I owned one.

 

[milspec]

Some fish just don't have the slime coat as others. I had a powder blue tang that had ich for a year until he got stronger and healthier and was able to keep them off. In that year none of my other fish including tangs that were (healthy and fat) showed signs of it, maybe none that I could see.

I would just feed them keep stress down and wait it out. It will come and go as the Ich goes through their life cycles and become less and less until it's gone. You can try the garlic stuff if you feel you have to do something.
Get some cleaner shrimp in there.

It's more about a stable tank, healthy fish and a little luck at this point.

 

[jpsika08]

Dr.G's is releasing a new product in which you feed the fish to protect it against parasites including crypto, I think it just came out or about to, anything is worth a try.

It's called Dr.G's anti-parasitic Rx frozen fish food.

 

[billsreef]

Dr.G's is releasing a new product in which you feed the fish to protect it against parasites including crypto, I think it just came out or about to, anything is worth a try.

It's called Dr.G's anti-parasitic Rx frozen fish food.

The active ingredient is Chloroquine. It is very good as a medicated bath for several protozoan parasites, as well as malaria. However, it's known to be a problem for inverts and biofilters. While incorporating it into feed will minimize exposure of the rest of the tank, there will still be a margin of risk.

 

[nivram]

Dr.G's is releasing a new product in which you feed the fish to protect it against parasites including crypto, I think it just came out or about to, anything is worth a try.

It's called Dr.G's anti-parasitic Rx frozen fish food.

It's been out for a while. I tried it a while back. My fish didn't seem to want to eat it.

 

[billsreef]

It's been out for a while. I tried it a while back. My fish didn't seem to want to eat it.

Haven't ever used Chloriquine as a feed additive, but I've used kilo's of the stuff in the typical bath scenario. It is known to cause some fish to go off their feed a bit.