FWIW im done

[MollyDoll]

ok heres the deal, i just ended the 8 week quarantine tank period for ich with copper. I lost a few fish on the way but i made it. Ive been down the ich road many times but i thot this would end it. a couple days later i think i see my butterfly fish and tang with very small white dots. There extremely small but i think it may be ich, i could be overeacting. MY family and i already agreed we cannot do anything else, and i still havent told them yet since it would crush them and it may not be definite. If it is ich the fish will sadly have to either live or die since we cannot do another quarantine thing for a 4th time. IF it is ich is there any possible way to kill it off early. I know garlic helps the fish and i have been using it for almost 2 years and it seems to do nothing. Advice needed for an aquarist about to give up i also have cleaner shrimp but they havent had much of an effect.

 

[melosu58]

I know garlic helps the fish and i have been using it for almost 2 years and it seems to do nothing.

Garlic: What has been Studied Versus What has been Claimed by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com

If you do keep them in the main make sure of pristine water conditions. This will keep stress to a minimum and hopefully give them a chance. QT and treatment would be better.

 

[MollyDoll]

I know quarantine would be better but I can't, sad but true, im just looking for options to give my fish a fighting chance incase im right.

 

[MollyDoll]

Also thankyou for the garlic link. Advice still needed and wanted.

 

[melosu58]

Well do like I said then about frequent PWC`s and pristine water conditions for them to have a chance.

 

[Innovator]

If you are not going to qt again then all you can do is a fw dip, add them to the tank, and feed a varied nutritional diet. As melosu said, keeping your water quality from degrading is important whether there is disease or not. You can add garlic once weekly along with a Vit. supplement such as Selco. Some recommend Vit. C/B as well. If you do not want to go through another 4wk. qt period (hyposalinity > copper imo) and willing to pay (alot), nothing beats Chloroquine for Crypt (Ich), Amly (Velvet), and Turbellarian (worm) infestations.

 

[MollyDoll]

Innovator, I have never done a fw dip, so how do you do it properly. Also I have zoe, zoecon and vitamin c, will this work as well as selcon? Also what is Chloroqine? I will look it up but I would also like to hear your opinion on it.

 

[Innovator]

It's pretty simple really, just clean a 5g bucket and add about 2g of freshwater. You can use ro, rodi, filtered water, etc. If you use tap make sure you dechlorinate it. Test the pH and make sure it is within range of your saltwater tank (7.8-8.2 depending on your numbers). Also make sure the temperatures are within means, +/-2F. It never hurts to add a drop or two of Prime if you have it on hand. Aerate the water using either an airstone or rigid airline tubing. Once the pH and temperatures are within range, add your fish. They will stress for the first 10 seconds, but begin to relax and return to a normal breathing rate. DO NOT WALK AWAY!!! Monitor the animal for an excessive stress (freaking out) or increased/labored breathing. If the animal begins to show signs then take it out and place it into its destined tank. Usually most fw dips range anywhere from 2-15mins. 5mins is a good gauge. Not sure what exactly is in Zoe or Zoecon (site doesn't state specifically) so I'd stick with Zoe and you can add Vit. C (liquid) to food mixes or soak nori. About 1.5ml should be enough of both.

Chloroquine is expensive, I warn you, but is widely used in public aquariums and associations to eradicate ich, velvet, and turbellarians.
Fishman Chemical, LLC
https://webstore.spectrumchemical.co...&section=10170

 

[MollyDoll]

How affective would you say fw dips are?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Just curious why treating the fish in the quarantine isn't an option?

Seems to me that treating the fish with hyposalinity is a no-cost option and gives you a chance of being rid of it for good.

 

[MollyDoll]

Kurt Nelson, treating the fish in a quarantine tank is not an option because I just ended an 8 week period of quarantining the fish. I used copper and the fish looked good. I put the fish back in and a few days later i notice small white dots on my butterfly fish. I have dealt with ich about 3 times now, the first i didnt keep the fish out of the tank long enough, the 2nd we tried to treat the main tank (bad idea), but it finally recovered and the third time was when we just ended the 8 week period. I thought that we finally got rid of the parasite but i believe that it might be coming back. I was extremely devastated to see this after a short period of them being back in the display. We agreed that we cannot continue to rip apart the tank, so hopefully I am wrong or the fish can fight it off. Any ways to help them survive if they do have ich is greatly appreciated.

 

[MollyDoll]

Also, how does hypo salinity work, do I have to take the fish out of the tank (i am guessing that is a yes but jw)

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Yes... hypo has to be done out of the main tank since you need to drop your salinity down to 1.009.

I can understand your frustration fighting ich as many times as you have, but was wondering if there was some other reason you were giving up on treating the fish.

Here's more info on hypo treatment if you're interested...

ATJ's Marine Aquarium Site - Reference - Hyposalinity Treatment

And of course, the "standard" great articles on ich...

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

 

[lmetcalf]

i heard of a cleaner goby ("neon goby" -Gobiosoma oceanops) that will actually nip ick cysts off fish. not sure how sucessful that would be?

 

[MollyDoll]

I still don't understand why the 8 week period did not work. Putting the fish in quarantine tanks again wouldnt be ideal because we lost fish from the 8 week period and i still have a hipo tang in a quarantine tank dealing with hlle. i am unwilling to quarantine them again because if the ich didnt die in the main tank aftr 8 weeks then will it die after 4 to 6 weeks after treating them with hypo salinity?

 

[MollyDoll]

Also I am trying to stay away from adding new fish to the tank to reduce stress and the chances of adding another parasite, but thank you for the suggestion.

 

[lmetcalf]

i figured that's the case. Good luck!

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I still don't understand why the 8 week period did not work. Putting the fish in quarantine tanks again wouldnt be ideal because we lost fish from the 8 week period and i still have a hipo tang in a quarantine tank dealing with hlle. i am unwilling to quarantine them again because if the ich didnt die in the main tank aftr 8 weeks then will it die after 4 to 6 weeks after treating them with hypo salinity?

8 week with your main tank fishless should have killed all the ich in the main tank. But if the copper treatment didn't actually kill the ich on the fish while in the QT, then that would be how it got back into your main. While copper treatments will definitely kill the parasite, keeping the copper levels at the appropriate levels, for the correct amount of time, is where that treatment seems to run into problems.

 

[NeoCatsy]

I had some fish with ich, I used a natural medication called Microbe- Lift. It is safe for inverts and reef. It is a Ten day treatment once a day. I used it in my main tank with no trouble to my other livestock. The product is 100% all natural. I had good experience with it. It is worth trying. I have included a link for more information.


Premium Aquatics Blog: Microbe-Lift Herbtana - Reef Safe Medicine

 

[MollyDoll]

Neocatsy, how effective was this medicine when you used it? I have heard that all natural medications that are reef safe usually dont work but if you had good luck then I am willing to try it.