Help! Ick!

[ferretmath]

So here's the setup:

20 gallon
One 3 stripe damsel
One domino damsel
One cleaner shrimp
No live rock - only a decoration
Crushed Coral (yes, yes.....I know, but it's working for me)

The two damsels have developed what appears to be ick. Should I put the shrimp in a QT or the damsels in there to treat the fish for ick?? Is it true that this parasite will live in the substrate?? If that is so, should I treat the fish in the main tank so that all of the parasites will be killed off?? Or should I put the fish in a QT to treat them?? I know that the treatment will kill the shrimp, so I just need to figure out who should be where while I treat this.

Thanks everyone!!

[havefun]

I'm by no means an expert but I would put the fish in QT to treat. Your 20G will then need to be void of fish for 6-8 weeks (inverts etc can remain).

Do some reading in the "sick fish" forum here and you'll gain a lot of insight as to how to treat.

Hopefully a more experienced member will chime in here...

[tmkx3]

What makes you think they have Ick? The reason I ask is because I thought I had Ick and it wasn't. What do the spots look like? My fish had white specks but only in the morning( I have read that ick can sometimes do that) I waited mine out about 2weeks and it went away. Must have been something else cause Ick only gets worse not better.

[cmor1701d]

Must have been something else cause Ick only gets worse not better.

That's not necessarily true. Ich looks like salt specs on the fish. On slow moving fish you need to make sure this not accumulated air bubbles from a protein skimmer or other source.
Healthy fish can fight off the parasite or even develop an immunity after repeated exposure that they survive.
Fish seem to become (more) susceptible to infestation when stressed. This could be caused by overcrowding, poor water conditions, poor diet, being harassed by other fish, etc. Removing the cause of stress for an otherwise healthy animal may be all that is needed for the fish to fight off the parasite. That could be several PWC, removing the harassing fish or thinning the tank population, etc. This does not indicate that the tank is free of Ich, only that it is controlled.

To rid a tank of Ich you much remove all fish from the tank and treat them in a separate QT tank. The best method (IMO) is Hyposalinity in a QT.

[melosu58]

Leave all inverts in the main. Do not treat the main. QT all your fish and treat. Leave main fishless for 6-8 weeks.