ich in reef tank help

[troyman]

hippo and tangs have it i can not catch them to much rock i have zoos and soft corals what can i do to treat tank safely

[dclaghorn]

i have used Fish-Vet's No-Ich with varying degrees of success. http://www.fishvet.com/no-ich.htm i have used it off-label when i have seen a parasite on a fish, and it seemed to knock it back to a dull roar and allow the immune system and the cleaner shrimp to do the rest.

[xenon]

Only way to do it properly is to place them in QT and treat with hyposalinity or copper.

I was able to get my true percs out of my display tank today by draining 95% of the water out of the tank. They had nowhere to go so it was easy to catch them.

[matthewscars]

If you cant catch them and have exhasted all other ideas, you can only watch them die and hope they kick the ich before that happens.

You need to think, all that coral stressed and possiblely killed - or a few fish.

[hwynboy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13469825#post13469825 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by troyman
hippo and tangs have it i can not catch them to much rock i have zoos and soft corals what can i do to treat tank safely
honestly, if you can't treat the fish by QT, then you just cross your fingers. I have emptied a 330gallon tank with lots of coral and LR to treat my tank once upon a time. Where there is a will, there is a way. It's up to you.

[miwoodar]

Here's a good Calfo thread on fish removal...http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=707656

I was talking to a guy who runs a prominent maintenance company the other day. He's always talked so non chalantly about removing fish from display tanks so I had to ask him how he did it. He uses the fish hook method. Says it's a piece of cake after a little practice. Calfo covers the method in the thread linked above.

[xenon]

If you can't get them out keep them well fed and hope for the best.

[BigJay]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13470249#post13470249 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by xenon
If you can't get them out keep them well fed and hope for the best.

Don't sit and do nothing, while "hoping for the best". If the fish have to stay, there are plenty of things you can do to help them out.

Note: None of this will get rid of ich, but it might help tip the balance in favor of your fish. Once conditions are in their favor, it's likely that you won't have any additional problems with ich so long as the fish aren't severely injured or stressed.

* Feed plenty, and include vitamins in the food like Zoecon/Selcon and Zoe vitamins. Fatty acids and vitamins will help them stay healthy and fight off the infection.

* Shorten the photoperiod some, the fish are less stressed with shorter daytimes.

* Keep the temp steady, don't let it fluctuate wildly.

* Do plenty of extra water changes, siphoning mulm from the tank bottom. This will lower nitrates and keep dissolved organic levels down.

* Some people say that an in-line UV sterilizer helps, since it kills ich in the free-swimming stage. Some say it doesn't make a difference, but it should help a little. The same goes for ozone, if you have an ozone generator then turn it on.

* Lower salinity a couple of points to reduce stress (due to osmotic pressure?) on the fish's internal organs.

* Remove fish that are clearly losing the fight (i.e. covered in spots and breathing heavy on the bottom of the tank) and treat them in QT. Fish that aren't doing well won't be hard to catch, and it's better to remove them for treatment than it is to let them pollute the tank.

If I had to pick one thing to do, it would be to keep changing water and feeding vitamin-soaked food.

[gogatsbj]

Gotta read calfo's post, there is no reason to not be able to get a fish out, nets are definitely the worst way.