Maybe ich? how to treat in a reef tank?

[Snoopybdb]

fist i'd like to say i'm sorry i don't have a pic, i asked the fish to hold stil but they wouldn't co operate!! I have 3 fish in a reef tank. i think that the yellow tang and the firefish have ich. both have a few white spots on their sides and fins. not alot. they aren't showing signs of ich(no appetite, "scratching") but i think it is ich. how can i treat this without damaging all my coral. i'd rather loose $60 worth of fish instead of about $300 worth of coral. any help is greatly appriciated TIA

 

[Phyl]

According to the experts you can't fight ich in your main. The chemicals that are effective aren't reef save and the chemicals that are reef safe aren't very effective. I was having a hard time getting a pic of my fish but a video was worth a thousand words. Typical ich will look like it is going away only to come back stronger a day or two later. Spots move frequently, fish doesn't look the same 12 hours later. Luckily my fish was still in QT so I was able to treat him with hyposalinity. That worked great for him and he looks better and better every day. He's finally stopped twitching. He's always had a great appetite though (that didn't seem to suffer with the ich IME).

Can you catch your fish and QT them? That would be the best action. Then you could either do hypo or cupramine depending on which tools you have on hand/have access to and which treatments your specific fish tolerate best.

Good luck. It isn't any fun losing fish nor corals.

 

[Snoopybdb]

that's the problem..i don't have a qt tank. now i wish i did. i don't know what to do. i don't want to watch the fish suffer, but i really don't have the money to set up qt tank right now. i read on a post i think that you can try to treat with hypo salinty and warmer temp. does this work and is it something i can try in the main tank?also read a post about kick ick... even if the reef safe chemicals aren't very effective i think it might be work trying them instead of letting the fish just suffer.

 

[sango]

Its time to buy a qt tank.

 

[Wooster]

true but the facts are facts, it has worked for some but a qt is the way to go.

hope everything comes out alright.

 

[Phyl]

You can't do hypo on a tank with corals or inverts. The lower salinity would kill them. Raising the temperature with the fish in the main (86* to be effective) would shorten the lifespan of the parasite making them multiply faster thereby killing your fish faster. You probably wouldn't be doing your corals any favors there either. You can either hope and pray that it goes away or you can put them in a trash can with a power head and a heater and lower the salinity very slowly to 1.009. For best advice on how to do that use the sick fish forum. Those guys are the greatest.

 

[Snoopybdb]

i went to the lfs today and they didn't have kick ick, but they did have something else that is reef safe called stop parasite. the guy there says it works really good.

 

[lando]

i went to the lfs today and they didn't have kick ick, but they did have something else that is reef safe called stop parasite. the guy there says it works really good.

I have not used this but my LFS says it works well. Kordon also makes a product called Ick Attack that is 100% organic and reef safe. I think the best method is to still remove the fish to QT and Tx. Leave the tank fallow for at least six weeks. YOu can try the other reef safe products and give us a review.

 

[quarryshark]

i went to the lfs today and they didn't have kick ick, but they did have something else that is reef safe called stop parasite. the guy there says it works really good.

Stuff like this has mixed results at best. The problem with "reef safe" treatments is that they are not strong enough to kill the parasite. If a drug is strong enough to kill the parasite, then it is strong enough to kill corals and invert and the opposite also applies.
Honesty your best bet would be to qt the fish, and leave the main fishless for 6 weeks, this would solve the problem without resorting to putting meds in your main.
As a side note, a 30 gallon tank is going to be way too small for a Tang.