Best Way to get rid of Ick - Sick of this

[SoulFish]

Ok I've tried this to no evail. I cannot get Ick out of my live rock tank. I'm feeding the fish Spectrum A+ parasite food bought a cleaner shrimp which is worthless. And have a UV running 8hrs a day plus 20% water changes per week. Honeslty I'm sick of this profanity removed. How can I get this parasite out of the tank or kill it without killing the live rocks, sand and mushrooms?

BTW I tried Ick attach (100%) organic didn't really cure it, but got ride of it for a day or so, and I did the full course treatment. All it did was give my tank algae blooms and make my skimmer do overtime.

HELP PLEASE

[kau_cinta_ku]

only proven ways to cure ich are:

1. hyposalinity

2. copper

3. tank transfer

each of those methods need to be done in a sepearte tank, need to treat all fish, and need to leave the main tank fishless for 6-8 weeks.

[otrlynn]

Read the "sticky" at the top of this thread, "New First Time..." and look under the section, "Solving common problems". There is a wealth of information about ich. But, it comes down to the solutions Kau_cinta_ku listed above...

[kzickovich]

the only way to get it out of your tank is take all the fish out and put in a qt tank for 6-8 weeks leaving your tank empty except for inverts and coral (ich don't attach to them) at week 8 all the parasites will be dead no food no life

[inachu]

Originally posted by kzickovich
the only way to get it out of your tank is take all the fish out and put in a qt tank for 6-8 weeks leaving your tank empty except for inverts and coral (ich don't attach to them) at week 8 all the parasites will be dead no food no life

Glad I am getting a second tank!

[inachu]

Originally posted by kau_cinta_ku
only proven ways to cure ich are:

1. hyposalinity

2. copper

3. tank transfer

each of those methods need to be done in a sepearte tank, need to treat all fish, and need to leave the main tank fishless for 6-8 weeks.

How long should fish stay in a hypo salinity with copper? Or is it one or the other?

[jettster]

can be one or other imo hypo would be better for fish

[Michael]

Originally posted by kau_cinta_ku
only proven ways to cure ich are:

1. hyposalinity

2. copper

3. tank transfer

each of those methods need to be done in a sepearte tank, need to treat all fish, and need to leave the main tank fishless for 6-8 weeks.

sams right about this, out of interest how many fish have you got in there

[eisaiasjr]

Hello:

I have been working on a step by step, easy to understand QT procedure... This is what I have come up with; any feedback or corrections are appreciated:

You shoud ONLY use this procedure for fish, NEVER use Hyposalinity on invertebrates or Sharks or rays!

This procedure was put together in order to cure and prepare fish from most normal, commonly encounter internal and external parasites. Ich, Brookynella, Flukes, Tapeworms, and Flatworms


QT tank: This is the tank you will use to house the fish while they are in quarantine.

- I am currently using a 14 Gal Biocube, however any tank between 10-20 gallons will do the job very well.
- This tank can easy house 1-2 fish while in QT
- The tank should be barebottom, NO Sand, NO live rock, NO UV steralizer, NO Skimmer
- Cut 2-3 PVC pipes of differrent sizes ranging from 1.5" to 4" so that the fish can hide/sleep in them.
- You will need a heater (50 or 100w) in order to keep the temperature of this tank between 80-82 degrees at all times.
- This tank should have some sort of mechanical or biological filter, I use Bioballs from my other tank on the back chambers as well as a sponge filter (NOT a polyfilter)


Treatment Tank: This is the container you will use to treat the fish while you do the dips.

- I use a small 2 gallon bucket, I fill it up half way to the 1 Gallon marking I have made with a permanent marker.
- The container should have an AIRSTONE as well as a heater set to the SAME temperature of the QT.


Prepared RO-DI water: This is RO-DI water that has been complemented with pH buffer in order to raise the pH to 8.2

Hypo Salinity Water: This is water you must have prepared before hand, it should be roughly 2/3 RO-DI water and 1/3 normal saltwater. You MUST check the water to make sure you have 1.009 salinity and 8.2 pH, use a REFRACTOMETER to adjust salinity and any pH buffer to adjust to the correct pH

Equipment List:

- QT tank (10-20 gals)
- Treatment Tank (2 Gals)
- Large Airstone (not the ones from skimmers)
- RO-DI water unit
- Refractometer
- pH Tester (chemical or digital)
- Formalin
- PraziPro


Procedure:

1) DAY 1 - Upon arrival have the QT set at 80 degrees with "normal" water parameters of 1.023 salinity and 8.2 pH

2) DAY 1 - Acclimate the fish as you would any fish normally

3) DAY 1 - Over the course of the next 48 hours add prepared RO-DI while simultaniously removing the water from the QT; I generally use 2 "Aqualifter" pumps, which are very slow and very cheap. 1 to extract the water from the QT, 1 to add the prepared RO-DI water to the QT.

4) DAY 2 - On my 14 Gal Biocube I replace around 10-12 gallons of water (TOTAL) I generally do it in 2 sittings each time I use a 5 gallon water container (the red gas containers); each container takes around 3 hours to empty out and replenish. Then ill wait 24 hours until I start doing the next 5 gallon container.

NOTE: once you know you are getting close to the 1.009 salinity mark you should test the water using your refractometer in order NOT to go under 1.009 since this would be very dangerous for the fish

5) DAY 3 - Wait at least 24 hours after you are done loweing the salinity or order to make sure your new fish have correctly acclimated to their new conditions

6) DAY 3 - Grab your Treatment Container and fill it with 1 gallon of water from your QT while simultaniously adding (your previously prepared) Hyposalinity water to your QT

7) DAY 3 - Place the Heater and the airstone in the treatment container and add 1 ml of formalin for every gallon of water (in this case 1 ml total). Wait 30 minutes for the temperature and the airstone to do its job and then gently scoop your fish from your QT and place it in your Treatment container, watch the fish during the entire duration of the dip which should be 30-45 minutes and then return him to the QT.

NOTE: You should monitor your fish at all times while in the treatment container, in the even that it starts darting constantly for more than 15 seconds or it lays on it side and does note move for more than 30 seconds you should remove the fish IMMEDIATELY and return him to the QT.


8) DAY 3 - We now start adding medication to the tank. Add 1 ml of PraziPro for every 4 gallons of water in your QT (on my 14 gal I add 3.5 ml); or 1 teaspoon for every 20 gal of water.

9) DAY 6 - Repeat steps 6-7

10) DAY 7 - Replace 50% of the water with your prepared Hyposalinity water, make sure you test your salinity and your pH after you are done. DO NOT ADD PraziPro after this change of water.

11) DAY 9 - Repeat steps 6-7

12) Day 14 - Replace 50% of the water with your prepared hyposalinity water, make sure you test your salinity and your pH after you are done, however this time you will ADD PraziPro to your tank in the previously described measure (1ml for every 4 gallons of water)

13) DAY 21 - Replace 50% of the water with your prepared Hyposalinity water, make sure you test your salinity and your pH after you are done. DO NOT ADD PraziPro after this change of water.

14) DAY 28 - Replace 50% of the water with your prepared Hyposalinity water, make sure you test your salinity and your pH after you are done. DO NOT ADD PraziPro after this change of water. You may continue to run your fish on hyposalinity for an addional 2 weeks if you like.

15) DAY 29 - Start raising your salinity by 0.002-0.003 per day, This should take you about 1 week to get back to "normal" 1.024 levels

16) DAY 36 - At this point you can either leave the fish in QT for an additional 2 weeks to make sure everything is treated or move him to your DT.


I hope this helps answers some of the questions some of you may have about QTing and treating. (I know I had many)

Regards,

Estefano

[bsagecko]

I recommend hypo and Cupramine if you are going to use copper

Dont use formalin or copper unless hypo doesnt work

[R.W.]

I heard that if you do copper and hypo it will be deadly to the fish. Its one or the other.