Trigger seems to have ich when it came home.....

[Minkota]

Ok, so I purchased a Pink Tail Trigger last night. When I looked at him at the store he looked very good he was eating and everything. The person at the store bagged him up and I went home. When I got home I drip acclimated the fish, and after about an hour I placed him in my Quarantine Tank and left the lights off for about another hour. When I turned the lights on, I noticed the fish was covered with white specs (I am assuming it is Ich). Has anyone else ever purchased a healthy looking fish and got it home to find it may not be?

 

[S3Reefer]

What you want to do is mash up 1 garlic clove to liquid (blending is prefered)

Next go to the lfs and ask for Metronidezole and focus.. it should be a powdery substance.

Add 4 of those little spoons it comes with, of focus. And 1 metronidezole to the garlic substance.. put whatever food you feed into the same container with the garlic and medicine. Mix it up. And feed once a day.. this has worked 2 times for me within 4 days..

Continue feeding for 10 days. Or until the ick goes away.

 

[S3Reefer]

Its allright if the garlic is chunky. The fish will eat the garlic pieces.

 

[TheTodd]

Stress can bring out Ich. Stress lowers the immune system, so its possible to look great at the store and have those spots appear later. Those white spots are only visible on the fish for a very short period if time. Even with no treatment, they will fall off. The bad thing, and where most people make a costly mistake, is that the fish suddenly looks great, but you still have live Ich in the tank in your sand and rock and it can still be in the gils and places you can not see. It will reappear in the future. Garlic helps boost immunity, so nothing wrong with that, but it IS NOT a cure.

The ONLY two proven treatments are copper or Hyposalinity in a QT. Then, while your fish are being treated in QT, you leave your DT fallow for six weeks. The DT Ich will die off, as they have no host. The QT fish will be cured and when you add them back in your DT, you have a clean, Ich-free system. Again, this is the only way to CURE your fish and rid your DT of Ich. All other store-bought things are "treatments", which either help the fish recover more quickly or boost immunity. They DO NOT cure anything.

 

[TheTodd]

I just looked up SeaChem Focus and that only treats fungal and bacterial infections. Ich is a parasite, so that would do nothing to help, as far as I can tell.

The garlic idea is not bad. There are liquid products available as well. Just understand that garlic does not cure , or even treat, Ich. It is purely to help with boosting the immune system.

 

[Minkota]

I wasn't really looking for information on a cure, I am aware of everything already mentioned and I already have the fish in QT being treated with copper as I do with EVERY fish I buy. I was more looking to find out how often this situation occurs as it is the first time it has happened to me. Thanks for the information though.

 

[TheTodd]

Sounds good. Good luck with it. It stinks to get a fish and have it come down with something later, but that's where QT saves the day.

 

[S3Reefer]

Thanks Todd. I was just sharing my experience.. my tank has been free of pick for 9 months just from the garlic and those supplements.. but I probably got luck? Lol

 

[mr_X]

Garlic is not a miracle cure for ich. I would use the Hyposalinity method. It's the safest and 100% effective.
As for the Ich showing up when you got it home, it could simply have been due to the LFS keeping their salinity a lot lower than you would. Sometimes they keep the SG down around .017 or so to keep parasites subdued. As soon as they hit the higher salinity, they appear to bloom.

 

[TheTodd]

+1 to Mr X

The garlic keeps their immune systems stronger, so they are better able to fight it off, but it does not mean that Ich is not in the tank. You could have it in there, add a fish with low immunity and it would pick it up and come down with symptoms. The Trigger probably had it from the LFS, but you never know.

 

[melosu58]

Read these

An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure: A Quarantine Tank for Everything by Steven Pro

Marine Ich/Cryptocaryon irritans - A Discussion of this Parasite and the Treatment Options Available, Part I by Steven Pro

Marine Ich/Cryptocaryon irritans - A Discussion of this Parasite and the Treatment Options Available, Part II by Steven Pro

 

[dlsrks]

Most of my fish in my 140 gallon tank has parasites or ick. I don't have a QT set up right now. What should i use that I can put directly in the tank and how much? Besides a few fish, I only have a Kenya tree frag, pipe organ coral and some hermit crabs. One more question. Can they develop this from not enough live rock or not enough CUC in the tank? Already lost a queen angel. Don't want to lose my other fish. I have no LFS. Closest one is about a 2 hour drive.

 

[Minkota]

Most of my fish in my 140 gallon tank has parasites or ick. I don't have a QT set up right now. What should i use that I can put directly in the tank and how much? Besides a few fish, I only have a Kenya tree frag, pipe organ coral and some hermit crabs. One more question. Can they develop this from not enough live rock or not enough CUC in the tank? Already lost a queen angel. Don't want to lose my other fish. I have no LFS. Closest one is about a 2 hour drive.

I would not recommend adding anything to your display tank. check craigslist for an inexpensive tank to use as a QT. How many fish do you have? Quantity of rock will have no affect on disease, it can show up when a fish is stressed or when a fish is added to the tank wiithout being quarentined. CUC can stay in the display tank while fish are in QT, leave display tank fallow for minimum of 6 weeks.

 

[dlsrks]

I have a 20 gallon tank I'm setting up for a QT. Can I fill it with the tank water and use to right away?. I have a all the equipment already including a nano protein skimmer. In the tank, I have

2-Banggai cardinals
2-PJ cardinals
2-blue green chromis
2-black clowns
1-filefish

 

[Minkota]

I have a 20 gallon tank I'm setting up for a QT. Can I fill it with the tank water and use to right away?. I have a all the equipment already including a nano protein skimmer. In the tank, I have

2-Banggai cardinals
2-PJ cardinals
2-blue green chromis
2-black clowns
1-filefish

That's a lot of fish for just a 20g, are they small?

 

[dlsrks]

No. pretty much grown. What size tank do I need? There's a bunch on Craigslist. But I need to know if I can use the tank water or should I put in new saltwater with a bacteria supplement?

 

[Minkota]

No. pretty much grown. What size tank do I need? There's a bunch on Craigslist. But I need to know if I can use the tank water or should I put in new saltwater with a bacteria supplement?

I personally would try to find a 55g, you can use the water from your display tank and replace the used water with new and consider it a water change for your display tank.
You can put a sponge from your display tank into the new QT to give you a biological filter, just don't put it back into the main tank without sterilizing it first. And remember no rock or sand in the QT, use pieces of PVC for hiding structure.

 

[mr_X]

The tank water has hardly any bacteria in it. It will not support fish. You will need a bacteria colony sufficient to hold the bio load. you can use the tank water, but don't expect it to sustain them.

 

[Minkota]

The tank water has hardly any bacteria in it. It will not support fish. You will need a bacteria colony sufficient to hold the bio load. you can use the tank water, but don't expect it to sustain them.

That is why I mentioned putting the sponge from his display tank in the QT.

 

[mr_X]

That is why I mentioned putting the sponge from his display tank in the QT.

I was speaking to the OP.