Recommendations of ich medication...

[daddy01]

Hi,
I had a Sailfin Tang that was ich infested and I just lowered my salinity (gradually) to 1.014 or there abouts for three weeks. Then done a partiall water change, then slowly brought it back up but not to what the original salinty was I kept it at 1.019. That seemed to work for me
Jim

[marie]

There are only 2 sure fire ways of getting rid of ich, neither of which are reef safe. Hyposalinity, where you get the specific gravity down to 1.009 (a refractometer is a must) or copper.

The main tank should be left fallow for at least 6 weeks and for ever after, everything wet should be quarantined or else the above measures are pointless

[justinl]

If you read up a bit on the lifecycle of ick, the solution becomes (at least to me) failry clear . lifecycle in a nutshell: ick floats around in the water column, attaches to FISH and parasitizes it. It reproduces and it's spore-like offspring fall onto the substrate and grow into more ick. yay fun, fun.

So how do we get rid of these ****ers? Well what I would do is give all the fishies a short freshwater dip (5-10 minutes should do it). this will basically explode the ick off the fish due to their intolerance of hyposalinity (lack of saltiness). After that I would throw the fish into QT for a month, add meds if you want.

Why the month long QT for all the fish? Because it takes away the hosts from the ick lifecycle and they die without a proper host (fish). From what I understand ick cannot infect corals or inverts so those can stay in the display tank. PLus I dont think inverts and corals deal nearly as well with freshwater as the fish. If something IS infecting your inverts/corals, it probably isnt ick.

Keep in mind though that before you do any meds or drastic measures, make sure that your diagnostic is correct. Also not all disease-kill procedures are suitable for your particular tank. You have to think before you act.

[Psyire]

I've read where they've found ich to survive 8 hours in freshwater...

[Geofrog]

A while back my tangs had a bit of an ich infestation. Got a cleaner shrimp, and since then haven't had a problem. Won't necessarily get rid of the problem but it should help keep it at bay.

[daddy01]

Hi,
I would like to know what is necessary in a 'Hospital" tank. I too have an outbreak ich and I am setting up a small hospital (quarantine) tank. what is needed in tank, I was thinking using water from established tank and just lowering the salinity, and running just a carbon filter and lights. I bought a mini 3Gal system including light and filter plastic.
Jim

[muck]

Don't forget a heater.

[marie]

Originally Posted by daddy01

Hi,
I would like to know what is necessary in a 'Hospital" tank. I too have an outbreak ich and I am setting up a small hospital (quarantine) tank. what is needed in tank, I was thinking using water from established tank and just lowering the salinity, and running just a carbon filter and lights. I bought a mini 3Gal system including light and filter plastic.
Jim

I found it handy to use one of those hang on back filters and I keep the foam inserts in my sump. when I need the quarantine tank I fill it with tank water, put the foam in the filter and it's good to go

[bulletsworld]

Originally Posted by daddy01

Hi,
I would like to know what is necessary in a 'Hospital" tank. I too have an outbreak ich and I am setting up a small hospital (quarantine) tank. what is needed in tank, I was thinking using water from established tank and just lowering the salinity, and running just a carbon filter and lights. I bought a mini 3Gal system including light and filter plastic.
Jim

I posted a tip they would come in handy here for a hospital tank setup. Then your not working with small condition. As your water regardless of it coming from your main tank will fallow fast! See this other post. http://canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=29141

There is NO reef safe treatment that works for ich.

Only effective treatment for Ich is:
-Copper treatment (use as LAST option)
- Hyposalinity treatment
- Water transfers (Very time consuming & scheduled)
Are the only effective. They are all treated AWAY from the main tank. Both treatments would kill a reef.

To control Ich:
If you notice your fish only have a little ich at a time and dont wish to QT them.
- Feed garlic & ginger,
- Turn out the lights, cut back on light schedule
- get a UV Sterilizer.


NOTE: Using established tank water is NOT advised, as you may be adding free swimming parasites to the new QT tank. People often wonder why there fish get infected faster, thats why. Adding tank water in a bare tank only helps the parasites to find their host (your fish) without having live rock and corals in the way.

NOTE: I have proved this many times. ICH swims to the light! Do your fish a favor.. NO LIGHTS during treatment! If you have a main tank outbreak, turn out the lights for a few days. It may be temporary but it helps! Try it for yourself!


Hope this helps.