ICH, please help!

[KJ5432]

My dominate female percula clown has ich. My coral beauty has one white "spot" on its dorsal fin. I was out of town for few days and first noticed that the dominate percula clown was covered with white spots when I returned after about 2 days. So last night I first put minced garlic in the tank at its normal "dinner time". It didn't seem to like/eat it. So I then marinated frozen mysid shrimp with garlic juice (is this the same as garlic extract, because the grocery didn't have "extract"). As usual, the fish went monkey nuts and ate the heck out of the shrimp as usual. This morning there was no noticeable change in the appearance of the clown.

I can't use copper-based meds in my reef tank, obviously.

So how can I get rid of my ich problem? Should I continue soaking the shrimp in garlic juice? Would that be sufficient in handling the problem? Should I buy something from my local fish store? I doubt I have enough time to wait for something I could order off of the internet because of shipping time.

What would you do?

 

[bhanson]

There are many diseases that look similar to one another. You should try to post a picture of your fish to make sure it is really ich. If you are sure it is ich (Cryptocaryon irritans) you will need to treat in a quarantine tank. The methods that work will kill inverts and corals. There are products like Kick Ich that are "reef safe" but I have used it and it does not work IME.

You will probably hear people tell at some point about hyposalinity treatment for Cryptocaryon irritans or "saltwater ich". At a salinity of 15 ppt or 1.011 SG ich fails to attach and hatch this will kill the ich. Most fish accept salnity swings if the changing happens gradually. Inverts will not live in this lowered salinity so it would have to be done in a QT. IMO copper treatments can be harsh to the fish but I guess either way can be hard for our aquatic friends.

In short:
If it is ich you will see the spots (which are tomites) as they encyst into the skin of the fish. At some point they will fall off and become free swimming and at that point you will not see the spots however they will return to the fish to continue the cycle. Crypto has a three stage life cycle only during one stage will you actually see them as spots on your fish.

Hope that helps

 

[Tackett]

There are many diseases that look similar to one another. You should try to post a picture of your fish to make sure it is really ich. If you are sure it is ich (Cryptocaryon irritans) you will need to treat in a quarantine tank. The methods that work will kill inverts and corals. There are products like Kick Ich that are "reef safe" but I have used it and it does not work IME.

You will probably hear people tell at some point about hyposalinity treatment for Cryptocaryon irritans or "saltwater ich". At a salinity of 15 ppt or 1.011 SG ich fails to attach and hatch this will kill the ich. Most fish accept salnity swings if the changing happens gradually. Inverts will not live in this lowered salinity so it would have to be done in a QT. IMO copper treatments can be harsh to the fish but I guess either way can be hard for our aquatic friends.

In short:
If it is ich you will see the spots (which are tomites) as they encyst into the skin of the fish. At some point they will fall off and become free swimming and at that point you will not see the spots however they will return to the fish to continue the cycle. Crypto has a three stage life cycle only during one stage will you actually see them as spots on your fish.

Hope that helps

I have hypo'd my tanks many times with inverts in the water with no ill effects on them. You just have to make sure you do it SLOWLY or risk osmotic shock to your sensitive inverts.

Treating in a quarantine tank will not solve the problem. The problem with any parasite or disease lies in the fact that the pathogen lives in the main tank water, removing the fish to a quarantine tank and treating will cure the fish, but the problem will remain in the main tank and your critters will just get sick again.

The best way to treat a disease is to prevent it. Good quarantine habits are a MUST in order to prevent diseases from making their way into your display. Quarantine FIRST, and you will not have to deal with this.

Ok off of my soapbox and back to the problem.

Hyposalinity, lower the temperature, lower the PH, SLOWLY.
These three things are usually enough to kill off 90% of common pathogens without medication. It is not a incredibly safe solution, but as far as a case like this goes when you have to treat your ENTIRE display, it about the only way to do it.

Prevention, prevention, prevention.

cant stress it enough.