Preferred ich treatment

[Mebbid]

Well It's for sure now. My DT is now the sad owner of an Ich population. Leave it to me to learn the hard way to do things properly. I am wondering what everyone's preferred method of treating marine ich is? I've read up on it and from my personal standpoint I would prefer to go with either a hyposalinity treatment or a tank switch and clean out every 3 days.

If I choose the hyposalinity treatment I will have a 40g tank within a few days that should have plenty of space to house my 4 fish. Otherwise, I have two 15g tanks to use for the tank switch method.

1 - Does anyone have any thoughts on either of those methods for treating ich?

2 - How long should I leave my DT empty before putting my fish back in it?

3 - Has anyone tried any other methods that seemed easier or less stressful on fish?

4 - What's the easiest way to deal with ammonia / nitrite when doing a hyposalinity treatment?

5 - Would it be a good idea to add some sort of sand substrate to make my scooter blenny more comfortable in the hospital tank since he likes to bury himself at night?

6 - If I choose the tank cleanout method would a 15g tank be okay with ammonia levels if it gets a 100% water change every 3 days?

 

[TheTodd]

1 - I think hypo is less stressful. You just need to be sure that readings are correct, which means ideally you use a refractometer. I've never done the switching tanks method. Seems like that would be stressful.

2 - DT should be fallow 6-8 weeks to be sure everything is dead. There is an article somewhere that shows the percentages of what should be dead bard on weeks...not sure where I saw that though.

3 - Hypo or copper in QT, plus fallow DT is the only proven cure for treatments. Healthy/strong fish in stress-free tanks with pristine water can often live with Ich in the tank. I've always seen that as preventative more than treatment and its really how every tank should be in a perfect world.

4 - You will need to watch water parameters and change water as needed. A lot depends on tank size and bioload of the fish in there. Same basic answer for #6. Three days with multiple fish is probably not likely.

5 - I'm not sure about the Scooter...ideally QT is bare bottom so you can siphon out waste and so that Ich has less to cling to when it comes off your fish.

 

[tonedogz]

Personally I perfer a copper treatment. I use cupramine which is made by seachem, it works great and is a less harmful form of copper then other brands.

 

[Mebbid]

Thanks for the reply. I sadly can't afford a refractometer for doing the hyposalinity treatment so was wondering if one of the glass thermometer style hydrometers would be accurate enough to check the salinity for that treatment.

Also, I have a medicine called quick cure that contains both malachite green and formalin which is supposed to be an effective treatment for marine ich. Would that be an effective substitution for copper based meds?

 

[Bala shark]

Well It's for sure now. My DT is now the sad owner of an Ich population. Leave it to me to learn the hard way to do things properly. I am wondering what everyone's preferred method of treating marine ich is? I've read up on it and from my personal standpoint I would prefer to go with either a hyposalinity treatment or a tank switch and clean out every 3 days.

If I choose the hyposalinity treatment I will have a 40g tank within a few days that should have plenty of space to house my 4 fish. Otherwise, I have two 15g tanks to use for the tank switch method.

1 - Does anyone have any thoughts on either of those methods for treating ich?

2 - How long should I leave my DT empty before putting my fish back in it?

3 - Has anyone tried any other methods that seemed easier or less stressful on fish?

4 - What's the easiest way to deal with ammonia / nitrite when doing a hyposalinity treatment?

5 - Would it be a good idea to add some sort of sand substrate to make my scooter blenny more comfortable in the hospital tank since he likes to bury himself at night?

6 - If I choose the tank cleanout method would a 15g tank be okay with ammonia levels if it gets a 100% water change every 3 days?

1- a very special combo that always works wonder to have your fish ich free in 3days, turn up the temperature to 30 C or 86 F add rid ich or contra spot, mix aquarium salt with your tank water then add it to the tank turn off all the lights close your tank with a sheet or blanket after 24hrs remove the sheet but keep the lights of have your air pump running at max for the full 3days add more inch meds every 24hrs over dose is better than under dose your babies will be ich free after the 3rd day aeration and heat is the two most important factors to curing ich and speak of serious experience.

2- I recommend 72hrs and longer if possible the ich virus life cycle is 48hrs in this period it needs a host (fish) to infect and reproduce, so by turning up the heat and adding medicine you speed up its life cycle and the meds can kill the infection, salt is only a sanitizer and distress or for the fish use caution to much salt and you risk burning your fish.

4- ammonia is easy to take care of but it's difficult to neutralise if your tank is active after a power shortage for a few days, what I recommend is anti ammonia bag you replace every 2nd month which you keep in the tank permanently another is a liquid form of anti ammonia you keep for dark days when you have no power, but you can add a few drops bi-weekly, always take aeration in consideration I have videos up on YouTube my 92l tropical fish tank the benefits of over over aeration is your fish won't suffer of a oxygen shortage or high ammonia level, there is one more thing you can get is nit river bacteria it is good germs which eats fish wast and left over food I add it once a week a few drops.

5- substrate mmmm fine black gravel or white its easier to maintain and to cultivate some good germs.

6- not advice able you running some serious risk of disease and high stress on your fish

 

[Mebbid]

1- a very special combo that always works wonder to have your fish ich free in 3days, turn up the temperature to 30 C or 86 F add rid ich or contra spot, mix aquarium salt with your tank water then add it to the tank turn off all the lights close your tank with a sheet or blanket after 24hrs remove the sheet but keep the lights of have your air pump running at max for the full 3days add more inch meds every 24hrs over dose is better than under dose your babies will be ich free after the 3rd day aeration and heat is the two most important factors to curing ich and speak of serious experience.

2- I recommend 72hrs and longer if possible the ich virus life cycle is 48hrs in this period it needs a host (fish) to infect and reproduce, so by turning up the heat and adding medicine you speed up its life cycle and the meds can kill the infection, salt is only a sanitizer and distress or for the fish use caution to much salt and you risk burning your fish.

4- ammonia is easy to take care of but it's difficult to neutralise if your tank is active after a power shortage for a few days, what I recommend is anti ammonia bag you replace every 2nd month which you keep in the tank permanently another is a liquid form of anti ammonia you keep for dark days when you have no power, but you can add a few drops bi-weekly, always take aeration in consideration I have videos up on YouTube my 92l tropical fish tank the benefits of over over aeration is your fish won't suffer of a oxygen shortage or high ammonia level, there is one more thing you can get is nit river bacteria it is good germs which eats fish wast and left over food I add it once a week a few drops.

5- substrate mmmm fine black gravel or white its easier to maintain and to cultivate some good germs.

6- not advice able you running some serious risk of disease and high stress on your fish

Sorry, the tank I'm having problems with is my saltwater reef tank That is some good advice about the ich treatment for fresh fish tho. I would have never thought to black out the tank as a treatment method. I've read Ich tends to drop off of the fish in darkness. If only marine ich could be taken care of the same way fresh ich can *le sigh*

Do you have a readily available link to your youtube videos?

 

[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

 

[ivan_dalmatia]

I used Cupramin by Seachem, just have to move your inverts and corals to another tank for 2 months (to be on the safe side) and treat your fish for a week or two and then use double the recommend amount of Cupriesorb by Seachem if you want your corals back, run frequent tests for copper before adding your corals back to your DT

 

[Kelekun]

hi, I got in my aquarium, ich (at least I think) and my three fishes (two clown fishes and one blue face fish) died in one week. I am a beginner but I got advised to use just once a "medicine" based on malachite green. I have only corals at the moment. They are fine and all other parameters are in the safe level.

Do you think it is enough to wait for a couple of weeks before to put other fishes inside?
I was told that by this treatment in one week everything should be ok to host new fishes

Thanks a lot for all advises you can give me on this

Michele

 

[tonedogz]

You need to wait 6 to 8 weeks for the ich to die off before putting fish back in the tank. Do not treat the main tank with the corals. The only two things that work are copper and hypo and neither can be done in a main tank you need a hospital tank.

 

[Mebbid]

hi, I got in my aquarium, ich (at least I think) and my three fishes (two clown fishes and one blue face fish) died in one week. I am a beginner but I got advised to use just once a "medicine" based on malachite green. I have only corals at the moment. They are fine and all other parameters are in the safe level.

Do you think it is enough to wait for a couple of weeks before to put other fishes inside?
I was told that by this treatment in one week everything should be ok to host new fishes

Thanks a lot for all advises you can give me on this

Michele

Agreed, leave the tank empty for at least 6 weeks. After that you will need to quarantine any new fish before it goes into your tank to prevent you from getting ich again even if there aren't any other fish in the display tank

 

[Airgoose2222]

I had the same problem in my DT from adding a puffer. Took everyone out leaving only dry rock and sand. The fish I had were separated into two other tanks (couldn't fit all in one tank). Hypo salinity for all and copper treatment. Never did anything with the DT in case I want to add corals later. Left everyone out of the tank for two months. It was tough to be patient as I wanted the fish in my DT, but it would have caused me to do that over and over with the ich never going away. The fish have been back in the tank for a few months now, and have not had any problems since (knock on wood). All new fish go into a QT tank before adding. Never going through that again! Good luck!!

 

[tonedogz]

your not suppose to do both copper and hypo its one or the other