My first case of ICK....

[bobbbm]

Welp I broke a rule and brought a rock home from Aquahut... The reason I bought it was It had a beautiful GBTA attached to it that I just had to have....

Now my Beautiful new dragonett has white spots all over him :( and the rock also had Aptasia :(


The other fish look fine but I guess I should start setting up a hosp tank...

[Spracklcat]

Sorry Bob, yep, get that guy out of there, and feed your tank garlic and beta glucan. Believe it or not, I just read an article today at work describing using mango kernel extract to boost immunity in fish ( a research article, not some shmo saying it was a good idea).


christine

[billsreef]

Christine,

Can you point me in the direction of that article? It sounds interesting :)

[drej424]

Good luck with it, Bob. The only thing that worked for me was taking the fish out of the tank for 8 weeks to break the ich cycle. I do have a diatom filter you could borrow if you want to try it.
Denise

[Freed]

Can you post a link please? More than likely mumbo jumbo but if not then it would be very beneficial.

[DgenR8]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9831070#post9831070 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by billsreef
Christine,

Can you point me in the direction of that article? It sounds interesting :)

I'd like to read that, too. More importantly Bill, I hope you will tell us what you think about it after you read it.


Bob.
It seems that many people get insulted when I tell them to get familiar with ICH, so they know what kind of foe they are battling, by following this link and reading [ich]

I don't mean to insinuate anything other than knowledge is important in winning this fight, and it's best to avoid "reef safe miracle cures"

[bolt696]

I know you bashed the stuff I purchased in the other thread, but the ich is gone from the 2 or 3 fish that had it in just 5 days.

[Freed]

More than likely that is only the life cycle of ich you are seeing. After a few days of being on the surface of fish and being visible, the ich will fall off and then start their next life cycle in the sand/substrate. The days that you see the ich and then run to the LFS and buy the "miracle cure" and then proceed with the meds is when the ich are getting ready to drop off anyway. The ich usually comes back in stronger numbers now and the "reef safe" cures usually kill some of your corals.

[DgenR8]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9831308#post9831308 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bolt696
I know you bashed the stuff I purchased in the other thread, but the ich is gone from the 2 or 3 fish that had it in just 5 days.

Bolt,
That post indicates to me that you never followed the link, and are not informed regarding the life cycle of the ICH parasite. It would have appeared to have been eradicated if you had done absolutely nothing.
Familiarize yourself with your enemy, that's your best defense.


[ich]

[bolt696]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9831397#post9831397 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DgenR8
Bolt,
That post indicates to me that you never followed the link, and are not informed regarding the life cycle of the ICH parasite. It would have appeared to have been eradicated if you had done absolutely nothing.
Familiarize yourself with your enemy, that's your best defense.


<a href="http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.htm" target="_blank">Marine Ich/Cryptocaryon irritans - A Discussion
of this Parasite and the Treatment Options Available</a>

I did read it, but I didn't think they just drop off that fast. My clown was covered and the other 2 just started to get it. and now all gone. I will read it again.

So lets say the cycle dropped off and went back to the tank, do you think my UV would hopefully get a handle on it?

[bolt696]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9831391#post9831391 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Freed
More than likely that is only the life cycle of ich you are seeing. After a few days of being on the surface of fish and being visible, the ich will fall off and then start their next life cycle in the sand/substrate. The days that you see the ich and then run to the LFS and buy the "miracle cure" and then proceed with the meds is when the ich are getting ready to drop off anyway. The ich usually comes back in stronger numbers now and the "reef safe" cures usually kill some of your corals.

Maybe the "instant cure" just provides a boost to the imune and helps fight it off not really kills the ich. What do you think?

[DgenR8]

The UV certainly won't hurt, but it can only kill what passes through it. UV is not going to solve the problem.
I'm a skeptic, I don't believe in bacteria in a bottle, live sand in a bag, or reef safe ICH cures. I know too many people that know too much stuff for me to accept miracles.
Garlic has shown to be some help. I believe that garlic may help boost fish's(?) immune systems, and that's why it appears to help. Could also be that ICH doesn't like garlic, could also be that we feed more when we are trying to target feed garlic to fight ICH.
Maybe some of these "reef safe" potions are now using garlic. I don't know.
What I do know is that there are two PROVEN methods of dealing with ICH. Hyposalinity, and copper. Neither is compatible with a reef tank

[drej424]

My fish didn't tolerate the hypo. I used a UV sterilizer and diatom filter with the fish in a quarantine tank. I kept the salinity low, but the main thing is, the life cycle of the ich in my main tank was broken. Until I followed Bill and Christine's advice, my ich problem just kept getting worse and worse.
It was also really neat to see the changes in my reef tank with no fish in it. Eight weeks went by quickly and it was so worth the effort....

[Spracklcat]

I have the article at work, and I'll send a link on Monday along. Better yet, I'll start a new thread on fish immunity and what we know and don't know (and think we know and really don't, and things we should know better... LOL)

See now that's something I could do a talk on Larry.

[DgenR8]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9833171#post9833171 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Spracklcat
Better yet, I'll start a new thread on fish immunity and what we know and don't know (and think we know and really don't, and things we should know better... LOL)

See now that's something I could do a talk on Larry.


I think you definitely should! :D
Don't save that talk/ thread just for the club, put it in the fish disease forum, or better yet, a FAQ if you're willing.

[bobbbm]

Ok so I soaked some food in Garlic and

What the heck....LOl I am so happy I made sure he ate in the store.. he is a pig!

Terrible pic but I do not see a spot on him... I know I have to keep an eye out

http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/6136/lipstick001wm3.th.jpg (http://img412.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lipstick001wm3.jpg)

[Neurotech]

Hey Bob - I see your rock is starting to get colored up too. Cool. How do you know that the ick arrived on that rock? Given the cycle, couldn't it have come with the fish? Or anything else in the tank?

[bobbbm]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9843043#post9843043 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Neurotech
Hey Bob - I see your rock is starting to get colored up too. Cool. How do you know that the ick arrived on that rock? Given the cycle, couldn't it have come with the fish? Or anything else in the tank?

Ya I really don't have a clue.... the rock was just covered in stuff like aptasia, so I just assumed.

a pic of the rock after the anenome moved off of it.

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/7079/dscf2009xp1.jpg