Ich treatment. Please Help!!

[schmilnik]

Hi, I have a FOWLR and my blue tang has ich as well as my sharpnose puffer, what should I do to treat this? Can I use meds and if so which ones? Thanks!!

 

[Fluff]

This may help.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/article_view.php?faq=2&fldAuto=50

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Puffers are highly sensitive to copper treatment, so I wouldn't go that route. Here's another good resource...

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/cryptpuffs.htm

 

[cmor1701d]

Please read and follow the Hyposalinity article.

Here are some more very good ICH articles
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2003/mini1.htm
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/dec2003/mini2.htm
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/jan2004/mini3.htm
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2004/mini4.htm
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar2004/mini5.htm

How big is your tank?
How long has it been set up?
How long have had your livestock?
What else is in the tank?
Did you QT the livestock before adding them to the tank?

 

[lando]

IF you have ich in the main I would NOT consider dosing any type of medicine or treatment. The best option is to initiate a hypo tx in a QT tank and let the main go fishless for 6-8 weeks. If you opt to "ride it out" then I suggest you raise your temp to around 82-83 and SLOWLY drop your SG in the main to around 1.017. This will help speed up the life-cycle of the parasite. Ensure a high quality diet with suppliments of HUFA's and amino acids as well as garlic to keep the fish healthy. Treatment for ich can be a double-edged sword...the parasite tends to make itself known during times of stress for the fish, yet most treatment options also cause stress on the fish. Just take it slow and know there is no quick fix for this.

 

[schmilnik]

ok so I did a 30% water change today and I talked to the owner of my LFS and he said that ich-attack is the best solution because it is all herbal so i started that today... should I refrain from using this?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Herbal solutions don't kill parasites. People claim to have success with it because the life cycle of ich makes it look like it's gone after 7-10 days. Additionally, many cases where herbals "worked" may not have been ich to start with. Read those articles that cmor gave you and realize that there is no easy fix.

Here are a couple more articles written by a well respected author...

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.php
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-10/sp/feature/index.php

Ich-attack probably won't do any harm, but it also won't do any harm to the ich.

 

[melosu58]

ok so I did a 30% water change today and I talked to the owner of my LFS and he said that ich-attack is the best solution because it is all herbal so i started that today... should I refrain from using this?

This will do nothing to take care of the problem. Your LFS wants to make money. Those articles had some good advice on them esp the one Fluff gave you. The others were good also.

 

[cmor1701d]

You really need to set up a QT tank and treat the fish (all of them) separately. The best cure is hyposalinity IMO.

You should get in the habit of using your QT tank to quarantine any new livestock for a month before adding it to the main tank. That pretty much eliminates the major cause re-introducing the Ich parasite in the future.