Can cleaner shrimp cure ich?

[xenon]

My tang has ich outbreaks and after 3days it clears up but comes back again.

I got 2 cleaner shrimp a few days ago and my tang goes right up to them and lets them pick the ich off him and they are clearing up his ich way faster.

I know ich can also live on the rocks, but would the cleaner shimp eat it off the rocks also?

[Slamajama]

cure, no...help...i think so, i have seen cleaner shrimp (the 1s that actual work) clean ich off

[xenon]

Well I already know it helps..

My tang used to rub himself on the rocks to try and remove the ich and now he goes to my shrimps instead.

[GuOD]

My tank got ich awhile ago and I have 7 cleaner shrimp

All the fish have lived through it and show no signs of ich at this point. It comes back occasionally but gets picked off very fast I guess.

[xenon]

Ok so cleaner shrimp may not cure ich but it's safe to say they can keep it under control and help the fish fight it off easier.

[littlefish72]

yes.......that is the best way i've ever heard it put..........when they have ich just keep them well fed and maybe add some garlic to their food

[archie1709]

Ich is such a headache. If you don't have inverts and corals, you can try the hypsalinity route. It's work-intensive but it does help.

I also bought a couple of cleaner shrimp which plucked out some stuff from them. But once you know the stages of c irritans, you will definitely realize the size of the task.

Believe it or not, I also fed my tang tiny finely chopped garlic to help their immune system while I try to figure things out for them. It won't hurt to have cleaner shrimps to pluck things out of them, though. It's probably like scratching yourself during a chicken pox outbreak. It is not the solution but it definitely feeeeels good. I can't think of a much less nastier example off the bat. Sorry

[greenbean36191]

Ok so cleaner shrimp may not cure ich but it's safe to say they can keep it under control and help the fish fight it off easier.

No. There is no evidence that they can do either.

[Kigs]

Here's an article hoping this myth spread by nubs and bad LFS employees would dissipate.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.php

[PogoMonogo]

Ich is not curable, per say. It is constantly in your tank. However your fish is strong enough to fend it off. Ich shows its face when stress, water conditions, ect, weaken your fishes immune system enough that they cant fend it off; like a cold sore. The cleaner shrimp are able to keep it in check generally, hopefully until the issue causing the outbreak is put under control.

[Cody Ray]

IMO it is better to remove the fish to a QT aquarium and allow the Ich in the tank to die off.

[tangyreefer05]

Would it be wise to keep cleaner shrimp in a QT? along with a little LR and live sand (unless you were treating the water)

[tangyreefer05]

I just read that it should be bare bottom with only smooth items like pvc piping. However my main question about ich is lets say I bring home a fish, put it in the QT and 2 weeks go by and he shows ich. Well it is good that It didnt get introduced to the main tank however what do you do now. Since the ich is always hatching new ones to search for a new hosts, what do you do to save the fish in the now infected qt tank?

[kfowler]

Originally posted by PogoMonogo
Ich is not curable, per say. It is constantly in your tank. However your fish is strong enough to fend it off. Ich shows its face when stress, water conditions, ect, weaken your fishes immune system enough that they cant fend it off; like a cold sore. The cleaner shrimp are able to keep it in check generally, hopefully until the issue causing the outbreak is put under control.

Sorry but this is completely not true. Ich is very curable and can be permanently eliminated from your tank. The parasite must have a host to survive. If your tank is fishless for 6 weeks and you properly treat your fish in QT, your tank will be Ich free.

[kfowler]

Originally posted by tangyreefer05
I just read that it should be bare bottom with only smooth items like pvc piping. However my main question about ich is lets say I bring home a fish, put it in the QT and 2 weeks go by and he shows ich. Well it is good that It didnt get introduced to the main tank however what do you do now. Since the ich is always hatching new ones to search for a new hosts, what do you do to save the fish in the now infected qt tank?

This is why I run hypo on all fish I introduce.

The link kigs gave is an excellent read on the subject.

[tangyreefer05]

Thanks kfowler, I read his methods and he does go into detail. I have had experience with all methods and actually had all bad results however I was treating my main tank and lost a lot of my fish. This was awhile ago anyway so you think it is wise to keep your QT tank at 1.009-1.008 at all times, so any parasites on newly introduced fish will die.

Sounds like a good method to me...I suppose you could just wait it out for 30 days.. however, what if a sneaky parasite stays hidden, which would make sense to use the hypo method on all newly introduced fish.

xenon - my advice to you would be to remove the fish and put them in QT tank(s) and use the hypo method, allowing the ich in the tank to mature and die off from no fish to host on. Only real downfall here IMO is that the QT tanks could cause more stress on the fish, thus making their ich even worse, but the hypo method should work, Make sure its not below 1.008 and not higher than 1.009, from my experience I think my salt was getting to 1.011 and the ich was still living (having a cheap salt meter and controlling salt in 90gs made it more difficult, and not having a auto top off system or not toping it off every 12-24 hours, the salt would raise. I also had heat problems, anyway best of luck to you.

[littlefish72]

Only on Reef Central can someone suggest that a cleaner shrimp can help with ich and get called a noob and a bad LFS employee

[Kigs]

The question was if it could cure ICH...which, it cannot. There might be some prevention roles they play in the aquarium. Why continue on the idea when it is not true? Healthy food and cleaning agents might help prevent, but not cure. =\

[davidryder]

Originally posted by littlefish72
Only on Reef Central can someone suggest that a cleaner shrimp can help with ich and get called a noob and a bad LFS employee

?

[delafe]

Originally Posted by Kigs

The question was if it could cure ICH...which, it cannot. There might be some prevention roles they play in the aquarium. Why continue on the idea when it is not true? Healthy food and cleaning agents might help prevent, but not cure. =\

Replying to an insanely old thread since I found it on google. Figured I would throw my 2 cents in for future google users:

Can cleaner shrimp or cleaner wrasses cure ich? No. BUT they can help.

The goal of ever reef tank owner is to have a stable, balanced enclosed ecosystem. Marine ich has several stages in its life cycle. The goal is to reduce the parasite load of your tank at every stage and to give your fish a chance to recover.

Using a filter sock, filter feeders, corals and active skimming can help a bit in removing the free swimming stage. Probably not much, but some. (UV is a bit question mark as to effectiveness)

Cleaner shrimp remove and eat the stage where the parasite is in a cyst. This greatly reduces the number of parasites that will return to your substrate each time it goes through its cycle.

The other benefit of cleaner shrimp is that they also will help clean out the gills. Most fish that die from ich die because of suffocation. So this is a good thing.

Finally, I have been wondering how much sand sifting animals could help kill/eat the stage where the parasite is crawling around at the bottom of the tank...

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[gentledental4u]

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