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jmrugo

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Ich has hit a percula clown. First one died a few weeks back from what looked like velvet. Now this one is sick. All other fish healthy. I have no quarantine or hospital tank and, frankly, have no room for one. Is there ANYTHING that I can do to save the tank, or do I just wait and pray?
 

ChrisRD

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If the main tank is infected, there's no assurance that other fish won't get the parasite eventually. Unfortunately, about the only thing you can do to be sure you're rid of it is to setup a hospital tank and treat all the fish. You'd have to leave the main tank fallow during the treatment period (4-6 weeks). You can wait it out and see what happens, but other than treatment/quarantine, there's no sure way to know you're done with it.
 

WATERMAN R 83

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try to feed with a garlic suppliment or a vitamin additive, what kind of foods do you feed? and how often?

the only way a fish can get ick is if it is stressed out. even if there is ick in the tank, a fish can resist it as long as it's healthy. so i guess my advice is to feed w/ garlic because it helps with the imune system!

hope i could help!
 

ChrisRD

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WATERMAN R 83":1upk4836 said:
the only way a fish can get ick is if it is stressed out

FWIW... ...personally, I've not had a lot of trouble with ich over the years so I'm no expert, but there are some people on this board who know a lot more about it than I do who might argue that point.
 
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Anonymous

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Garlic and vitamins are reported to help ich, but there really doesn't appear to be any evidence that they actually help. Its the cyclical nature of ich, combined with the fact that fish can fight off the parasite themselves, that makes is seem like a whole slew of 'cures' work. By all means feed garlic if it makes you feel like you are doing something, but don't expect miracles. Stay away from any 'reef safe' ich products - they don't cure it and they aren't reef safe.
Healthy fish can get ich, but they usually fight it off faster and more effectively than stressed fish.

jmrugo,
A little more info on your system and fish would be helpful - how big, how long set up, when the clowns were added, what else is in the tank, etc.
In the meantime, you can do a search on hyposalinity as a treatment for ich in the reef tank.
 

jmrugo

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Thanks all for the responses. I believe I may have stressed out the fish when I did a massive rockscaping change last Friday.

I used to have a ten gallon hospital tank but any fish I put in there seemed to die overnight. I had two clown originally. One died of what looked like velvet a couple of weeks ago. I replaced it with a new clown, now the other old clown is dead (died last night. Very fast). I want to add another clown but now I am skittish.

Tank is 75 gal. FOWLR. Aqua C Remora skimmer. 2-3 inch live sand base. Population includes 6 green chromis, fox face, sailfin tang, lawnmower bliney, a cardinal, cleaner shrimp, crab and snails. Tank is a rebuild of an older one, and has been up and running about 2-3 months.

First clown may have been victim of poor water replacement technique, i.e., temp and salinity.

I am afraid if I do set up a hospital there is no way I can remove all the life without stressing them to the max.

I may just try to maintain a stress free tank for a while and see what happens.

Feeding brine shrimp plus along with freeze dried shrimp-algae and a flake food.
 
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Anonymous

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Sorry for the loss. I wouldn't add anything to the tank for a while, and I wouldn't remove the current fish unless they are sick.

It almost sounds to me like you have brook - which and look like ich and velvet. Brook often kills clowns but leaves other fish untouched.
 

garagebrian

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If at all possible setup a hospital tank, once ich hits a tank it will stay most of the time unless you remove all the fish. Even healthy fish can serve as hosts for ich(it might not appear sick). Once a fish gets stressed, boom the Ich takes it.

I agree with the other posters, don't add anything else until you handle the ich. Unfortunately if you can't do a hospital tank for treatment, any new fish(that are obviously stressed) added to the tank will be likely to get ich right away.

Good luck, my tank went through ich once and it was terrible.

B.
 
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Anonymous

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jmrugo":2cru9zq3 said:
I should clarify. LFS recommended Coral Vital for Ich, which appears to have hit my foxface.

Coral vital is snake oil.

There are only two proven treatments for ich - hypo-salinity and copper. However, if your water parameters are good and stable and you feed well, often fish will fight off the disease themselves.

If you are going to treat, don't mess around with any 'reef safe' treatment - they simply don't work. A small q tank and the proper medication is a much better way to go.

Its a hard choice, and one only you can make.
 
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Anonymous

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ChrisRD":1qu3bmbr said:
WATERMAN R 83":1qu3bmbr said:
the only way a fish can get ick is if it is stressed out

FWIW... ...personally, I've not had a lot of trouble with ich over the years so I'm no expert, but there are some people on this board who know a lot more about it than I do who might argue that point.

This is indeed, an erroneous statement. Almost any fish can contract the disease, especially if the there is a high concentration of theronts in the water column.
These urban myths that surround the pathogen are proving tough to squelch. :roll:

Jim
 

Oceans Ferevh

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If you’re worried about stressing out your fish by trying to catch them try using a trap. My tank is suffering from ich too. I’m in the process of removing my fish to let the tank lay fallow. I have a trap that I bought from Dr. Foster and Smith online. Here’s the link,

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... 004+113169

You can make a trap to, but this one works good. Just put food in there for a few days until they are used to going in there, then start trapping them. Easy as pie :D If your stressed about space try buying cheap 10 gallons and partitioning them in half. It will be less stressful for the fish if they are separated in smaller confines. Plus you can fit a 10 gal anywhere in the house (or apartment). Good luck Bud! :lol:

P.S. Make sure you use tank water from your main tank in the Hospital tank. Less stressful :)
 

Chucky

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I guess freshwater Ick is entirely something else - but darkening the tank entirely for two to three days works wonders. The freshwater Ick parasite needs light to reproduce. Deny them light, problem vanishes. I hardly ever have Ick, because whenever a new addition brings it in, I wipe it out utterly.
Of course, I am sorry that I am ignorant on whether or not this will

a) work for saltwater Ick
b) kill whatever corals,etc. in your main tank that needs strong light!!!
 
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Anonymous

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Chucky":1wi31sj5 said:
I guess freshwater Ick is entirely something else - but darkening the tank entirely for two to three days works wonders. The freshwater Ick parasite needs light to reproduce. Deny them light, problem vanishes. I hardly ever have Ick, because whenever a new addition brings it in, I wipe it out utterly.
Of course, I am sorry that I am ignorant on whether or not this will

a) work for saltwater Ick
b) kill whatever corals,etc. in your main tank that needs strong light!!!

Yep, freshwater and saltwater are two very different critters and making the tank dark does nothing for saltwater ich.

:D
 

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