Help!!! Ick!!!

[Ruth]

I think the only sure fire way is to take them out of the tank into a quarentine and treat with hypo or copper. Leave them out of your tank and let the tank go fish less for 6 - 8 weeks which should be enough time for the ich parasites to go through their cycle and with no host fish they should die out of your display.
There is no proof that garlic helps but MY theory on it is that it does not hurt and actually seems to entice fish to eat more thereby making for healthier fish that are better able to fight disease and parasites.
There is no reason that you cannot have your lights on while your tank is fish less as the ich parasites do not care if there is light or not. They need a host fish in order to reproduce so your corals will be fine and just keep your regular lighting schedule.
OTOH the ich parasite can and does live in many of our systems it's just that our fish are healthy and able to not let it take over and are able to fight off any infestation of them. If you add a new fish it may be weak from shipping or whatever and is likely to become infected.
This is just my 2 cents worth and based on my own experience.

[deep6er]

Im not trying to be an ass but isnt it icH not ick

[Ruth]

Or Cryptocaryon.

[Myanth]

well - here's an update. Cleaner shrimp have been busy. They've set up a cleaning station under a large ledge. The CBS chases them out once in a while but they come back. Clowns (3) look fine, four stripe damsels (2) look fine but are still scratching, powder brown tang has none and is fine, coral beauty is looking much better - only some on nose and tail - she won't leave the cleaners alone for more than a minute, sailfin goby and scooter blenny have never showed any signs.

And the bad news.

Yellow watchman goby - dead
Green clown goby - dead
Dragon goby - covered, laboured breathing, pieces missing from ends of pec fins and tail fin. I didn't think that Ich (deep6r) deteriorated fins, but he sleeps under a couple of rocks so maybe he is just too stressed to move away from the hermits, CBS, and whatever else may be lurking in the depths.

I will keep you updated.
Thanks

[bulletsworld]

Cleaners can help relieve the fish of matured trophonts (parasite) that attack the gill tissue of the fish & then the exterior body of the fish (fins, ect). Cleaner shrimp won't rid your tank of the parasite (ich) or prevent the free swimming parasites from re-infecting the fish. When just one parasite drops off the fish it begins to reproduce and the life cycle lives on.

If you have no plans of getting a QT tank to do treatment (Only two options; 1. Hyposalinity or 2. Copper.) to rid the parasite.

Then here is some suggestions that you could use to help control it at best.
1. Soak food in garlic (Garlic Extreme liquid - Sells BA $10 bucks)
2. You can also try Ginger, the newest claim of fame.
3. UV Sterilizer - Comes a variety of watts, the larger watts, the better. It will help kill free swimming parasites. Remember only help control. Although some have claimed it cured their problem. I found it definately controlled it and also helped kill other algaes but also kills pods. So pro's and cons like everything.
4. Water Quality - More water changes.

Other things to consider - Make sure you know its ich. It can easily be confused with Velvet and often shows the same signs. The only difference is the salt like speckles with Velvet become larger and when heavily infected with show a smudge appearance through the fins. The fish also will take on a shiny appearance.

Another thing to consider when dealing with Ich or Velvet, the free-swimming parasites are indeed attracted to light. They swim up to the light to attack to the fish. If you notice one day your fish are showing more salt like speckles (ich), keep your lights off for 24hrs. Keep your tank dark. This way the free-swimming parasites will have a hard time finding the fish & most parasites if they don’t find the host (your fish) within 24hrs die (exception - the fish that sleep in one spot, like Gobies, the parasite drops below them & quickly finds them as they lay in the same spot.) Now although keeping the lights off is not ideal for corals, it’s a judgment call you make since you’re not in a position to setup a QT tank. But to note I have never heard of anyone losing their corals yet that have tried this and have indeed said they believed it helped.


Hope this info above helps,


Lee

[howdy20012002]

as far as i have read, ICH is more of a nuisance more than a killer
obviously, if it is affecting the gills it becomes more serious
However, this could be marine velvet. Which is deadly and could end up killling your entire tank if you don't deal with this very quickly, if it is in fact marine velvet.
i lost an entire tank to velvet, thinking that it was ick. the old tank was dead with 10 days.
just my 2 cents worth..
Whatever it is, good luck with it.
Neal
and that is interesting about the light thing and ich..didn't know that

[Myanth]

Thanks again.

New update -

Powder Brown showing signs.

Coral Banded Shrimp definately culprit in de-finning.

Dragon Goby swimming, eating, and breathing normally, visiting cleaners and even chasing the CBS away from his home. (probably how he lost pieces of the fins)

Coral beauty showing only a few spots.

I just started my MH lighting a week ago... could that have spurred the outbreak?

[Ruth]

Lee I had no idea that light contributed to the spread of ich. I learn something new everyday. Thanks.

[bulletsworld]

About two years ago I was interested in a studies that was done on trying to control parasites (Ich & Velvet) that had devastated fish farms ending up losing tons of their livestock due to outbreaks. In their attempts to look for other methods to rid the parasite they tried to flush the parasites with fresh sea water, keeping in near darkness & the transfer method, in their open water containers (a short summary of the study). Although they weren’t completely successful they did find that near darkness had decreased there loses and continued to do this, reporting later that this one farm never had the parasite (velvet) outbreak again. I will post back tomorrow with some articles on this study if your interested?

After I read these articles it occurred to me that it totally made perfect sense. At that time I had a porcupine puffer in a QT that had a mild case of ich when I purchased. I couldn't understand at that time why when I left the puffer for the day it was fine (no lights) but when I came back later in the day (lights on for hours) the fish was completely covered to the point of no return!

Since then I have tested the theory, putting sick fish in large Rubbermaid containers (called the transfer method) with near darkness and found it to be true as a means of control until treatment. As the studies continue to argue if parasites (Ich & Velvet) are indeed a parasite or a form of algae. My thoughts are that the parasite goes towards the light to find a host. I found that you can control velvet & or ich outbreaks for months by ridding the parasite of light. Either way I would not use it for a long-term solution for control by any means, I question long term what state it puts the fish in, but it can help buy you some time while you set up a stable Qt tank.


:0)