Moving Live Rocks, Treating Ick

[jassz]

I was just reading that dropping salinity to below 1.010 is a good way to treat ick. Would this be better than the blue medicine? Would it kill it off the rocks etc as well, and get rid of it for good?

[Myka]

Personally, I don't treat ich unless the fish is in a QT before it heads to the display tank. If it gets in the display then it's on its own. I am sure to feed a high quality diet with vitamin drops and garlic. I haven't had an ich outbreak since...hmm, since under gravel filters were the in thing.

In your case, if you're insistent on treating it I would use hyposalinity (you need a refractometer to do this) instead of medication. Many medications actually cause permanent damage to a fish's immune system, and god only knows what else. In your case, I would move as much rock out as possible (since hypo will damage the nitrifying bacteria) into a container with a heater and powerhead (it's fine with no light...will lose coralline, but it comes back fast), then use hypo on the tank with the remaining rock. I wouldn't worry about the rock containing more ich since ich can't attack unless the fish is stressed or otherwise compromised. Plus, if you ever add another wet thing (rock, coral, fish, inverts, etc) to that tank you will be reintroducing ich anyway, so who cares? Most if not "all" tanks have ich present, it just isn't attacking the fish.

[PuffLuv]

A couple things you might consider...

Many medications actually cause permanent damage to a fish's immune system, and god only knows what else.

I'm just asking here...has it been proven that 4 weeks or so of hypo, doesn't negatively impact the fish's health in the longer term?

Plus, if you ever add another wet thing (rock, coral, fish, inverts, etc) to that tank you will be reintroducing ich anyway, so who cares?

I'd like to think that by using a quarantine tank, it greatly reduces the chances of reintroducing ich. Also, by using a quarantine tank you could prevent other parasites that kill faster such as the protozoans that cause brooklynella. Also, if in the future you decide to setup a reef tank and add corals, you might prevent parasites from entering your display and attacking other corals which may have taken years to grow.

That being said, like Mindy was leaning toward, I don't think ich is a huge problem to deal with, and the extra precautions may not be necessary. (keep the water quality pristine, feed garlic & selcon, etc., mixed opinions on UV sterilizers...)However, I don't think ich is always the main concern.

I was just reading that dropping salinity to below 1.010 is a good way to treat ick.

I would personally aim for 1.0085-1.009 to compensate for any evaporation.

Again, just my $0.02

Matt