Treating Ich

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sharon a

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Sep 13, 2004
Messages
18
Location
lake havasu city AZ
what is the best way to treat ick? On the internet they say you should treat the entire tank because if you treat the fish in a QT tank you will just put them back into the ick in the tank once the QT time has ended. I think two of my fish have ick. They look like they have been sprinkled with salt and they itch themselves on everything in the tank. On the internet they say fish dont get ick the ick is in the tank and attaches itself to the fish. What is the best and safest way to treat ick? If I treat the entire tank what do I need to take out of the tank? Do I need to shut the filter off? I bought Ick Guard II. Once the treatment time has ended do I need to empty the entire tank of water and start over? Or do you just give it time to cycle out? How long do I need to wait before I turn the filter back on? It does have charcoal... PLEASE HELP!!!
Thanks sharon 8O
 
sharon a said:
what is the best way to treat ick? On the internet they say you should treat the entire tank because if you treat the fish in a QT tank you will just put them back into the ick in the tank once the QT time has ended.
If any fish are left in the main display while the infested fish was treated, you would be correct. The only effective way to treat for C. irritans is in a quarantine tank but all the fish must be removed and treated as well, not just the fish exhibiting signs. Any fish remaining in the display will feed the parasite and the lifecycle will continue. Only by removing the fish from the dispaly for treatment and leaving the tank fallow for 4-6 weeks will the parasite die off. No fish, no food source, the parasites life cycle is broken.

I think two of my fish have ick. They look like they have been sprinkled with salt and they itch themselves on everything in the tank.
Could also be velvet. Ich (C. irritans), would have a sugar sized look to it while velvet would have a salt and pepper appearance and can often be more difficult to see.

On the internet they say fish dont get ick the ick is in the tank and attaches itself to the fish.
Fish bring in the parasite and most are quite susceptible to it. It's one of the more common problems aquariust face. Once a tank is left fallow long enough and all fish are treated for the parasite effectively, it will not re-occur unless re-introduced from an unquarantined animal.

What is the best and safest way to treat ick? If I treat the entire tank what do I need to take out of the tank? Do I need to shut the filter off? I bought Ick Guard II. Once the treatment time has ended do I need to empty the entire tank of water and start over? Or do you just give it time to cycle out? How long do I need to wait before I turn the filter back on? It does have charcoal...
The two only truely effective treatments for C. irritans are copper (preferabley Cupramine) and >>hyposalinity<<. Both must be performed in a quarantine tank and all fish in the display must be treated. If you are unsure if it's C. Irritans (ich) or Amyloodinium (velvet), choose the Cupramine as it will treat both effectively.

Once the fish are out of the display and undergoing a proper treatment, leave the main display fishless for about 6 weeks. The parsite will die off naturally and there will be no need to remove anything else or add damaging chemicals to the display.

Cheers
Steve
 
My QT tank is not big enough for all the fish, especially for that length of time. It is only 10 gallons. If I do treat in my main tank.... what would I do after the treatment time has ended? Would I do a complete water change or 50 % water change? I dont have any live plants or live rock, corals or etc. Just 11 fish, one starfish and 5 hermit crabs.
Sharon
 
Don't do it. It will kill off your star, crabs, and saturate your substrate if you use copper. If you use hypo it will still kill your invert and may hurt your biological filer. Also if you use hypo, it will not be effective if its marine velvet. The meds advertises as "reef safe" are not strong enough to kill the parasites. A qt with the fallow time for the main is really your best option.
I treated the majority of my stock (see below) in a 40 gallon qt tank for a similar situation.
What is your stock?
 
this is what is in the tank.... one koran, one coral beauty, one blue damsel, one blue hippo tang, three green chromis, two 3stripe damsels, one raccoon butterfly, one choc chip starfish and five hermit crabs. crushed coral on the bottom. no live rock. no live coral. no live plants. Fluval, skimmer, bio balls, 2 power heads and bubble wand.

that equals 10 fish - 1 starfish - 5 hermits
thanks for the help
sharon
 
quarryshark is right, do not treat the main tank with a med! What you describe does sound like ich, IMO. Being a fish-only tank with only a few inverts, if you absolutely cannot qt them, you could do hyposalinity treatment in the display tank. It would not have long term affects on the tank like medications would. I treated my hippo in a cycled qt using hypo; the biofilter stayed strong enough, no detectable NH3. It is a 6 week treatment and you would need to get a refractometer for the accuracy needed to achieve sg @ 1.009 or 13-16ppt. You could put the shrimp / star, etc. in a 10g tank for that period. Directions for hypo:
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/hyposalinity.html

Also you need to be sure it is ich as hypo won't cure velvet, as quarry stated.
 
Thanks for all your help and advice. I really appreciate your opinions.

I had 2 tanks about 7 or 8 years ago. One was 45 Gal and the other 55 Gal. I had everything. Seahorses, crabs, puffers, clowns, anemones, live rock with all the little creatures that come along with it and one reef tank. I was not careful at all. I used water straight from the tap that I mixed with instant ocean. I NEVER checked the water levels. I never did water changes I just added new water when it was low. The only thing I did check was the salinity with a hydrometer. And I never had any parasite and I never had a sick fish or a death of any kind. I had those under gravel plastic grates. One penquin water filter. That was it. It was like a freshwater tank with the way it was set up.

So now I have this tank and I am so careful. I Check the levels all the time. Use RO water. Let it sit for a few days before a water change. I have a Fluval and a skimmer. Bio balls and power heads. And it seems like I have had so many things go wrong. I think maybe because of where I lived. I was in Los Angeles. And the LFS was great. They used QT tanks for their new fish. They treated their fish. I would buy a fish from them and never QT it. I think that they LFS here is not doing what they should. And it is the only store here.

I will do either a QT tank and treat the fish. Or try the hyposalinity treatment in the main tank. I just dont think the fish will get along in a QT tank. In the main tank they all have their hiding places. And some of the fish dont get along. My QT tank is only 10 gal which I use for new fish which is "one at a time" so in that small space I am afraid the little fish might get "beaten up"...

It puzzles me..... :roll:
Thanks again
Sharon
 
I see your dilema, that is a lot of fish to deal with. If you do the HYPO treatment, you can lower the salinity over the course of a few days per those instructions. This will give you a few days time to find a refractometer. Perhaps you can borrow one from a fellow aquarist or even buy one online. I find that glass tubes and swing arm hydrometers are off by .004-.005, which won't get the job done. In other words my hydrometer read 1.009 in my qt; I used the refractometer and it read 1.014 - the hypo would have failed as ich can survive above 1.009. So I had to lower it another .005. Anyway good luck and let us know if any other questions come up.
 
Well against your advice.... my husband is treating the main tank. He took the Fluval completely off the system and put another type of filtration on. He removed everything from inside the tank except the fish, bubble wand, bubble stone and the power head. He is treating with "Ick Guard"... He said after a month or two we will set up the tank from the beginning with new everything. The hermit crabs and starfish are in the QT tank. I tested the water and the levels are where they should be. I hope all the fish come out alive. I feel so bad for them scratching themselves all over everything. They must be suffering. I will let you know!!! thanks for everything... sharon :lol:
 
He is treating with "Ick Guard"...

Dissapointing, after all that useful advice. This is risky to put it mildly. It can be very detrimental to the fish long-term and worse yet it probably won't work. If a med could actually cure ICH without affecting the balance of an established system we would have been quick to tell you about it.

He said after a month or two we will set up the tank from the beginning with new everything.

That will not cure the ICH either, the only thing that will do is clean up the mess from the ICK Guard. The fish could still be hosts and carry it right back to the clean system.

Sorry if this sounds harsh, just trying to help you avoid destroying your system with nasty meds, plus all the work and headache that goes along with that plus a possible retreatment :idea:
 
Second srgetz's remarks.
You want to see how well "meds" like this works? Spend some time reading through some past posts in this category. Many failures documented. The right way is more work, but very effective.
Good luck. :|
 
The "Ick Guard" seems to be working. The fish are starting to swim around again. And the "white spots" seem to be getting fewer and fewer. How long should I continue to treat? It has been since Tuesday Oct 5. The bottle does not say how long to continue treating. It just tells how much of the product to use with each dose. Maybe since we removed everything from the tank except for the fish and "somewhat turned the main tank into the QT tank" it just might work. I am wondering when the treatment time comes to an end.... should I give them a freshwater dip to remove any leftover medication? I plan on draining the tank completely and starting over from the beginning once the Ick is gone. Also what should I do to the rocks? They are not live rocks. Will the Ick stay on the rocks? They are pretty porous. Should I use something on them to clean them? I was thinking of Bleach and then letting the sit out in the sun. Or do they need to be washed at all? And the substrate is crushed coral. Is rinsing it out enough? It is weird to me that the smallest fish in the tank (blue damsel and green chromis) seem not to be affected at all. They must be tuff ones. I have not seen any white spots on them what so ever. And they have been active and eating the entire time.
thanks........ sharon
 
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