fighting ich

[MRICKEN1012]

anyone know the est way to fight ich. I got it in my FO tank...I have a clown trigger and a SS puffer, they both have it.

[stuccodude]

garlic extreme worked for me but others will say you must qt and hypo but not everyone has a qt tank, i was told galic gets in there system and ich dont like garlic? good luck

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by stuccodude
garlic extreme worked for me but others will say you must qt and hypo but not everyone has a qt tank, i was told galic gets in there system and ich dont like garlic? good luck

IMO---I think there is alot of misconception about ich and garlic.

to understand the treatment of ich you need to understand its life cycle first. would suggest you read part one and part two of these articles:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.php

the most prefered method is the quarantine tank and hyposalination---that part is correct.

[A.T.T.R]

para guard.

wont hurt the lr and works great.

i use it in two ~1200 gallon fo systems and have tested it in a few reefs

[RobNJ]

if its a FO only system, why not drop the salinity for a few weeks, will knock it right out.

[marduc]

If you are running FO (absolutely no inverts of any kind, if it is FOWLR forget this!) then you can do the hyposalinity in the main tank. I highly, highly suggest you use a refractometer for measuring salinity, the swing arms ect. are too inaccurate.

regardless of whether done in the display or a QT tank, you need to slowly lower the salinity to 1.009 - 1.010 and keep it there. The cysts lie dormant for a month or so, and the hypo WILL NOT kill these, make sure to keep the salinity below 1.010 for 6 weeks to be certain of eradication.

Hypo is about the only certain method of eradicating this. Of course if you ge t a new fish withou8t quarantineing it prior to addition to your display after the hypo, this will negate all the work.

[steri]

Garlic Xtreme used with my food and the combination of using a UV sterilyzer for a month did the trick for me. I lost no fish.

If you do this though, you need to keep the UV strerilizer going for 4 weeks though, even if the ich appears to go away in one week. This is to catch the ich parasite in the free swimming stage of it's cycle which would cause the parasite to be exposed to the UV.

[bertoni]

UV doesn't work with marine ich. There are lots of tanks that have had horrible ich problems with UV. The infections can become less intense or go away, and usually does, as fish develop an immune response. Often, though, the parasite is still present and will return when a new fish is added or some stressful event occurs.

[wooden_reefer]

Originally posted by bertoni
UV doesn't work with marine ich. There are lots of tanks that have had horrible ich problems with UV. The infections can become less intense or go away, and usually does, as fish develop an immune response. Often, though, the parasite is still present and will return when a new fish is added or some stressful event occurs.

I have the same experience.

A 15W UV has little impact on ich on a 55 gal, I mean even the rate of spread. UV has limited effect on even the waterborne phase of ich.

One may experiement with a very large UV in a very small tank; say 15-30W in a 10-20 gal, UV might be effective against ich then.

UV is effective in reducing the incidents of external bacterial infection in fish, so I always use it when adding new livestock in QT and briefly in reef tank (I accept the negative in a reef tank for the duration).

[wooden_reefer]

I haven't had a case of ich in twenty years.

QT for six to eight weeks as a procedure.

During QT, don't just observe for ich, assume ich and treat actively to eradicate the last ich organism.

[karlyhui]

Correct me if I am wrong I have heard Hypo kill live rock though in the display tank.

Is this accurate?

[marduc]

Originally posted by karlyhui
Correct me if I am wrong I have heard Hypo kill live rock though in the display tank.

Is this accurate?

This is correct, any inverts will be overly sensitive to salinity changes (bacteria will do just fine). This is why I mentioned if it was FO (fish only) then the hypo could be done in the display, and that if it was FOWLR (fish only with live rock) it was out of the question.

[Victor1046]

try feeding mysis or other soaked in selcon and garlic works for me!

[Brandon M]

Originally posted by wooden_reefer
I haven't had a case of ich in twenty years.

QT for six to eight weeks as a procedure.

During QT, don't just observe for ich, assume ich and treat actively to eradicate the last ich organism.

This is the best advice I've read concerning ich and preventing it

[Brandon M]

Originally posted by Victor1046
try feeding mysis or other soaked in selcon and garlic works for me!

This will not get rid of ich, hyposalinity and letting your display tank go fishless for 4-6 weeks is the best cure.