Need some advice on ich/velvet

[gianluca1970]

I'm having an outbreak of what looks to be marine velvet. Some of my fish look like they are getting covered in powder so I'm pretty sure it is velvet, not ich. My setup is 125 gallon tank with some soft corals, mainly mushrooms and button polyps and a couple of leather corals.

In the past whenever I have had a problem with parasites I've lowered the salinity and that has taken care of the problem. Personally I have used this method because I didn't really like introducing chemicals to the aquarium and I don't like moving the fish into a hospital tank because the stress seems to do more harm than good. I've had the most success just leaving the fish in the main aquarium and treated them using hyposalinity.

Well, this time it doesn't seem to be working and I'm not sure what I should do next. The fish are all eating very well and are very active. To move the fish into a hospital tank I'm going to have to tear the main tank down just to catch them. Then, by the time I put them in a hospital tank and treat them with something like copper, which i don't like using, I think all I will be accomplishing is to kill them quicker.

So, having said all that, does anyone have any suggestions on what I can try, preferably in my main tank to minimize the stress on the fish, that won't kill my mushrooms and polyps? I know there are a lot of "reef safe" products out there but I'm not sure what is worth trying. I appreciate any suggestions anyone my have.

[dunc101]

If it is marine velvet, hyposalinity will not phase it and you must use copper. Also, your corals and inverts would not make it through a true hypo environment in the DT (1.008 - 1.009 salinity). How long have you noticed this outbreak? If you haven't had any loses in a 3 day time span after first noticing symptoms, it is probably not marine velvet. On the other hand, if you just noticed the symptoms, you need to act fast as marine velvet kills VERY fast!
Can you post some pics?

[gianluca1970]

The symptoms have been visible for over two weeks now. I assumed it was velvet but if you think that it might not be what do you think it is? The best way I can describe it is that the fish's skin seems to be flaking. My one big black trigger seems to be the worst case. His eyes are also getting cloudy. However, he also seems to be the most active and still eats like crazy. At this point I am more concerned about the fish than I am about losing mushrooms and polyps.

[dunc101]

Can you take and post some pictures for us?
From your description, it does sound like Velvet or Brooklynella; however, you more than likely would have encountered more than 1 loss of fish by now as they both are VERY fast developing. Are the fish breathing heavy? Any signs of "flashing"?

On another note, you really can't treat anything in the DT without adverse effects. If you want to treat this, you will need to move ALL fish to a QT/HT assuming this is a parasite and then keep your DT fallow for 8-12 weeks (I would caution on the longer side myself).

[b0bab0ey]

If this was Velvet you had been battling all this time, all your fish would be dead by now. That's not to say you haven't recently introduced Velvet into your aquarium, on top of Crypto.

When dealing with Crypto, you have two options: managing it or eradicating it. I know people who successfully manage it for months (or even years) by soaking their fish food in vitamins or garlic, or this Herbtana stuff seems to be the latest "reef safe treatment" kick everyone is on. The problem with this is you're just treating the symptoms your fish are displaying, not eliminating the disease that's living in your tank. Basically, "management methods" may bolster your fishes immune systems long enough to survive another wave, but ultimately the parasite lives on in your aquarium to fight another day. And the day of reckoning usually seems to take place when two fish start fighting or you lose power for an extended period of time or a heater goes haywire. Some stressor event that overpowers your fishes immune systems and the parasite then seizes that opportunity to come roaring back. That's when fish usually start dying.

Eradicating it is a PITA but it's the only way to save your fish long-term. First, you'll have to remove all your fish from the DT for 9-10 weeks and treat with one of the three proven methods discussed here:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1992196

After you've accomplished that, you must QT all new fish for 8-10 weeks before introducing them to the DT. Unless you're willing to QT, it's just a matter of time before Crypto is reintroduced into your DT from another infected fish.

[gianluca1970]

I'm at work right now so I can't post any pictures. As far as flashing, I've noticed a couple of fish scratching against rocks. Their breathing does not seem to be fast. That is kind of hard to tell though. The fish are really alert and eat like crazy whenever I feed them and they are always front and center when I walk by wanting me to feed them. At this point I'm ready to try and treat it as velvet. But like I said before, I would like to try it without taking them out of the main tank. Any suggestions?

[gianluca1970]

At this point I'm thinking it might not be a bad idea to treat my main tank as the hospital tank. I still think that trying to catch my fish to move them into a hospital tank by tearing it completely down is going to cause more damage than good. I'm guessing copper treatment in the main display tank will probably not work because doesn't the live rock absorb the copper? I know that most people are against any of the "reef safe" treatments but I wouldn't mind trying something before doing something drastic like tearing down the tank.

[dunc101]

If you really want to treat in your main DT, remove all inverts to the QT, including all your corals. Any invert you leave will die. All pods will likely die as well and your tank will be back like "day 1" (your bio filter will still be intact, however with hypo). You will be killing all pods, worms, snails, the sand bed inverts, etc. This may also cause a sharp spike in ammonia which could set off a mini cycle. I would at the very minimum go purchase a seachem ammonia alert badge and be ready to do some major water changes if you must go this route and treat your DT. I guess your other option is to feed like mad with selcon/zoe/zoecon/garlic. This "may" work for a while if the fish are not too bad, but you will end up fighting ich again sometime in the future.

I believe your "best" option is to bite the bullet and get the fish out of the DT and into QT and treat with cupramine or tank transfer.

Again, this is NOT the recommended approach, but using a QT is.
If it has been 2 weeks since symptoms began without casualties, there is almost no chance it is velvet, but likely ich as b0bab0ey stated. When you get home, post some pics so we can confirm.

[gianluca1970]

dunc101, thanks for your response. It sounds like whatever I do will be a pain and can have serious consequences. The more I think about it I think I might have to just try and catch all the fish, move them to a hospital tank and treat them with copper and leave the main tank fallow for a couple of months. I can't help but feel that when everything is said and done I will end up with an ich free tank but no fish. I only have an extra 30 gallon tank that I'm currently not using. Do you think this is big enough to house 4 triggers, 2 tangs, and a flame angel? I think that is too crowded and will probably cause even more stress for the fish. That is one of the reasons I'm hesitant to move the fish.

[dunc101]

30 gallons is a little small. Is there anyway you could get another 30 gallon and divide the fish into two? Also, if you decide to move the fish to QT, you can grab a sponge or something that you have been using in your DT and place it in the QT in a high flow location to help seed it. Otherwise your ammonia will rise very quickly with that amount of fish in the QT.

[gianluca1970]

I'll have to see if I can find either another 30 or a bigger tank. I'm kind of limited with what's available. What sucks is there are no good fish stores in my area that carry salt water equipment. The few that were relatively close have closed. All that is left is Petco, which is really limited in what they offer. The best one is 50 miles away. The only other one is somewhat close but he charges double what every other store charges, is closed on Saturdays, which is weird to me. And he wonders why he isn't getting enough business.

Well, I'll figure something out. Thanks for all your advice and suggestions.

[MrTuskfish]

As dunc101 said; ammonia would be a giant problem. Try Craigslist for a bigger QT/HT. there just isn't an easier way to do this.

[dunc101]

Your welcome. Let us know how it goes. Petco should at least have some simple HOB filters and some decent sized 29,40B, and 55+ gal tanks. I know the one out by me at least does. It doesn't carry cupramine, though =(.

[gianluca1970]

Well, I finally bit the bullet, set up a 55 gallon hospital tank, put a divider in my main display tank since all but one of my fish were hanging out on one side of the tank, and removed only one half of my live rock and corals so I could catch my fish. As I was removing my fish I would put them in a freshwater dip for five minutes and then transported them into the hospital tank. Once I had moved all of the fish to the HT I reset up the one side of my main tank, did a major water change, and am now going to just leave it without fish for about 8 weeks.

Since I couldn't find anyone locally that sells cupramine I used an old copper medication that I had from SeaCure. The fish were looking a little better after the original freshwater dip. However, after I started using the SeaCure copper treatment they all seemed to get worse and I lost my flame angel this morning. I decided to quit the copper treatment and go the hyposalinity rout. I wish I would have done that from the beginning. I never did trust adding copper. This morning ai did a 50% water change and added only freshwater to bring down the salinity. I'll do another one this evening to get it around .009.

Originally I thought that the fish had velvet just because their body was looking kind of gray and almost "fuzzy". However it definitely looks like ich now. They have visible white spots on them.

Do you think going the hyposalinity rout is the right thing to do or should I order some cupramine and treat them with that? I definitely don't want to lose any more fish. They difnitely didn't like being moved to a bare tank with nowhere to hide.

[dunc101]

Treating with hypo should be fine, just make sure your refractometer is calibrated and never let the salinity get to 1.10 or greater. If you do this, you should be fine and you should see some relief in a few days once you get to 1.008. I'm sorry about the loss of the flame =(.

Just fyi, people like cupramine here instead of other copper treatments because the fish seem to be a lot more tolerant of it. Most angels even do well at .3-.35 with cupramine.

Good luck!

[gianluca1970]

Well, the salt level is down to 1.008. Most of the fish seem to be handling that quite well except for my black durgon trigger. He is the one that broke out initially and has had it the worst by far of all my fish. Yesterday he was almost completely covered. This morning, he is still completely covered except that it looks like the things are kind of loose on him. I almost looks like they are about to fall off. Does that sound normal? What is worrying me is that he has almost completely stopped eating. He just hides for most of the day. I'm debating if it would be worth it to do another freshwater dip with him to try and get some of those things off his body. Do you think it would be worth it or would I just be adding more stress to an already stressed out fish?

[dunc101]

I would not do another freshwater dip. All it seems to do is stress the fish out more when they have ich and make them more prone to an open sore, thus infection, imo. Do you have some garlic or selcon you can add to the food?

[gianluca1970]

I ordered some Selcon last week and it is supposed to arrive this afternoon. I was reading some articles and found something that was interesting. Someone said that if you are feeding your fish frozen brine shrimp to stop. They said that frozen brine is full of frozen ich. They said that frozen ich normally dies but that he found for some reason it survived with frozen brine. Has anyone ever heard of that? The reason it caught my eye was because I feed my fish frozen brine all the time.

Also, when doing a hyposalinity treatment do you normally raise the temperature of the tank or leave it normal. I've read articles suggesting both. Some articles say that raising the temperature only effects freshwater ich. I haven't raised my temperature but do you think that I should?

[snorvich]

I ordered some Selcon last week and it is supposed to arrive this afternoon. I was reading some articles and found something that was interesting. Someone said that if you are feeding your fish frozen brine shrimp to stop. They said that frozen brine is full of frozen ich. They said that frozen ich normally dies but that he found for some reason it survived with frozen brine. Has anyone ever heard of that? The reason it caught my eye was because I feed my fish frozen brine all the time.

Not even remotely true.

Also, when doing a hyposalinity treatment do you normally raise the temperature of the tank or leave it normal. I've read articles suggesting both. Some articles say that raising the temperature only effects freshwater ich. I haven't raised my temperature but do you think that I should?

No, do not raise the temperature. If your fish really have a parasite in their gills, raising temperature reduces dissolved oxygen in the water.

[snorvich]

Fresh water dips do nothing for ich. Nada.

[MrTuskfish]

Without a pic; I would assume this is ich too----just because the fish are still alive. FW dips do nothing for ich. Garlic and Selcon may help the immune system a bit, but they do nothing for ich. Because any benefit from Selcon or garlic is long term, use them or not, it really doesn't matter in a QT and won't affect the treatment. .
Don't worry about the visible white spots; the things you see "on his body" are not the actual parasite. Its buried well under the skin---that's why dips don't do anything. The spots coming and going is normal and has little to do with the actual parasite level.The only way you can kill ich is when it is free-swimming. I'd read the stickies on ich, a knowledge of the parasite is vital properly treating it and there is a ton of misinformation on the subject. For future reference, Flame angels are one fish that don't handle copper well.

When doing hypo, you must never let SG rise above 1.008, or the clock starts over. Evaporation can be a big enemy; an ATO helps. Unless you managed to cycle your QT, ammonia is going to be a problem. When doing WCs, be sure new water has the exact SG of the old. A perfectly calibrated hydrometer is a must.

[snorvich]

+1 with the above. He types faster than I do.

[MrTuskfish]

+1 with the above. He types faster than I do.

I was typing when you wrote your last post. My typing is improving, I'm up to 3 fingers and a thumb.

[gianluca1970]

Well, at this point I guess all I can do is wait and see. I'll soak their food in Selcon when it arrives. The salt is at 1.008 and I hooked up my UV Sterilizer to the QT just to help kill any free floating parasites that it happens to catch. This is the first time I've heard anyone say that freshwater dips do nothing for ich. Thats what sucks about reading posts and blogs. If you search long enough you are bound to find conflicting opinions and ideas. Other sites say that marine ich pops off as soon as it is dipped in freshwater. Other people say that it has no effect. The only thing I agree with is that it is stressful on the fish and probably is not a good idea just because the fish is already stressed out. You would think they would have figured out a better treatment or medication to kill the parasite without effecting the fish by now...

[dunc101]

Well, at this point I guess all I can do is wait and see. I'll soak their food in Selcon when it arrives. The salt is at 1.008 and I hooked up my UV Sterilizer to the QT just to help kill any free floating parasites that it happens to catch. This is the first time I've heard anyone say that freshwater dips do nothing for ich. Thats what sucks about reading posts and blogs. If you search long enough you are bound to find conflicting opinions and ideas. Other sites say that marine ich pops off as soon as it is dipped in freshwater. Other people say that it has no effect. The only thing I agree with is that it is stressful on the fish and probably is not a good idea just because the fish is already stressed out. You would think they would have figured out a better treatment or medication to kill the parasite without effecting the fish by now...

The cysts may pop in a FW dip, but as MrTuskfish stated, that is just the "left overs" of the ich and not the actual parasite that you see coming off the fish. When the cysts pop, it can lead to an open infection. The last thing you want to do is battle a bacterial infection at the same time as ich. This is what I was alluding to earlier =). Good luck!

[gianluca1970]

Thanks for all your suggestions and advice. We'll see what happens and I'll keep you informed.

[MrTuskfish]

Well, at this point I guess all I can do is wait and see. I'll soak their food in Selcon when it arrives. The salt is at 1.008 and I hooked up my UV Sterilizer to the QT just to help kill any free floating parasites that it happens to catch. This is the first time I've heard anyone say that freshwater dips do nothing for ich. Thats what sucks about reading posts and blogs. If you search long enough you are bound to find conflicting opinions and ideas. Other sites say that marine ich pops off as soon as it is dipped in freshwater. Other people say that it has no effect. The only thing I agree with is that it is stressful on the fish and probably is not a good idea just because the fish is already stressed out. You would think they would have figured out a better treatment or medication to kill the parasite without effecting the fish by now...

Sure, a better way to eliminate parasites is the Holy Grail of fish products. A reef-safe method would be Nobel Prize candidate. Obviously, this isn't easy; countless worthless products come and go. There isn't a dog flea treatment that is anywhere near 100% effective and we dog owners are a much, much bigger market than we fishkeepers are. Same goes for (:uhoh3:) cat owners.

[gianluca1970]

Just to give you guys an update, I haven't lost anymore fish which is a good thing. My powder brown tangs body seems to finally be rid of any signs of ich. My humu humu trigger never really had any signs but continues to periodically go an a scratching spree trying to get something off. My pink tail trigger also goes scratching occassionally but at least most of his body seems to be cleared up. He does still have a few spots though. My black durgeon trigger, which was in the worst shape and was almost completely covered, seems to have cleared up quite a bit. He spends most of his time trying to hide by laying on his side in an almost completely bare tank. I do have one rock in there and a couple of pieces of pvc pipe. The good thing about him is that the last couple of days he shoots out of his hiding when I try to feed them, eats in a rush, and then goes to hide again. The fact that he is eating in encouraging. Also, his eyes were cloudy but seem to be clearing up too.

I did a partial water change last night to get some of the crap out of there. I've been maintaining a salt level of 1.008. I'm assuming that maybe the ich is going through a cycle which might explain why their bodies have cleared up. I've also set up a UV sterilizer to the QT to help kill any that get sucked into it. Since I'm not treating with copper I have been adding Ich Attack since I had a new bottle available. I'm not sure if this has been helping at all but it doesn't look like is has hurt anything either. I also started soaking their food in selcon which came in a couple of days ago.

Do you guys think it is worth it to continue adding the Ich Attack? I'm going to continue to use the hyposalinity treatment. As long as the fish continue to handle it well and are eating my plan is to keep them in QT for about 6-8 weeks. That should have been enough time for any ich in my main tank to die since there are no fish in there.

[dunc101]

Just to give you guys an update, I haven't lost anymore fish which is a good thing. My powder brown tangs body seems to finally be rid of any signs of ich. My humu humu trigger never really had any signs but continues to periodically go an a scratching spree trying to get something off. My pink tail trigger also goes scratching occassionally but at least most of his body seems to be cleared up. He does still have a few spots though. My black durgeon trigger, which was in the worst shape and was almost completely covered, seems to have cleared up quite a bit. He spends most of his time trying to hide by laying on his side in an almost completely bare tank. I do have one rock in there and a couple of pieces of pvc pipe. The good thing about him is that the last couple of days he shoots out of his hiding when I try to feed them, eats in a rush, and then goes to hide again. The fact that he is eating in encouraging. Also, his eyes were cloudy but seem to be clearing up too.

I did a partial water change last night to get some of the crap out of there. I've been maintaining a salt level of 1.008. I'm assuming that maybe the ich is going through a cycle which might explain why their bodies have cleared up. I've also set up a UV sterilizer to the QT to help kill any that get sucked into it. Since I'm not treating with copper I have been adding Ich Attack since I had a new bottle available. I'm not sure if this has been helping at all but it doesn't look like is has hurt anything either. I also started soaking their food in selcon which came in a couple of days ago.

Do you guys think it is worth it to continue adding the Ich Attack? I'm going to continue to use the hyposalinity treatment. As long as the fish continue to handle it well and are eating my plan is to keep them in QT for about 6-8 weeks. That should have been enough time for any ich in my main tank to die since there are no fish in there.

Good news on the update! Is Ich Attach the "reef safe" ich treatment? Anyways, I do know that Seachem does not recommend using cupramine with hyposalinity at all. If Ich attach is the reef safe version, then it doesn't contain any copper, therefore it may not do any harm. On the other hand, if it is the "reef safe" version, it isn't doing a thing in regards to killing the ich as it just an herbal treatment that supposedly protects the fish by boosting its immune system. You would probably be better off adding some selcon and / or garlic to help boost the immune system long term, imo.

[gianluca1970]

Yes, Ich Attach is the "reef safe" version which is the only reason I added some. I know that any copper in conjunction with hyposalinity is a deadly combination. You should do only one or the other, not both. Hopefully things continue to progress in a positive manner.

Here is a dumb question. In a hospital tank do you ever have any sand or rocks? My fish seem to be confused that they can see their reflections on the bottom of the sank.

[dunc101]

Yes, Ich Attach is the "reef safe" version which is the only reason I added some. I know that any copper in conjunction with hyposalinity is a deadly combination. You should do only one or the other, not both. Hopefully things continue to progress in a positive manner.

Here is a dumb question. In a hospital tank do you ever have any sand or rocks? My fish seem to be confused that they can see their reflections on the bottom of the sank.

Nope. I just put large pieces of PVC in mine. Here's a video of my QT room.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oz3nxtkeI0&feature=plcp

[MrTuskfish]

Yes, Ich Attach is the "reef safe" version which is the only reason I added some. I know that any copper in conjunction with hyposalinity is a deadly combination. You should do only one or the other, not both. Hopefully things continue to progress in a positive manner.

Here is a dumb question. In a hospital tank do you ever have any sand or rocks? My fish seem to be confused that they can see their reflections on the bottom of the sank.

Let the fish be confused for a while; it won't hurt him----he's a fish. Rock and substrate absorb meds, the PVC id ideal. BTW, "reef safe" parasite treatments don't exist. I'd remove it with copper, you have no idea how this stuff will react with hypo. You're pretty much ignoring all the advice you're getting; let us know what happens.:headwally:

[gianluca1970]

Actually, I have been following all of your suggestions. I've just asked some questions along the way.

The hospital tank I set up is completely bare except for some PVC pipe so they can hide. I am treating with hyposalinity and keeping the salt level at 1.008. I have not raised the temperature and have been feeding with food soaked in Selcon. I have not done any freshwater dips except for when I first caught the fish to put in the QT.

Since then all I have done is attach my UV Sterilzer to kill any free floating parasites that might get sucked up into it and have done a partial water change every couple of days just to keep the ammonia and other level in check.

As far as the Ich Attack, the supposed "reef safe" solution, I only asked because I had a bottle and didn't think that it would hurt to use it in the QT. The way I figured even if it didn't kill the parasite maybe it could at least alleviate some of the symptoms from my fish and help them to cope, which actually it looks like it may have helped.

I'm not treating with any copper. I plan on running my display tank for at least 8 weeks without any fish. Hopefully during that time my fish will fully recover in the QT to where it is safe to put them back into the main display tank.

The only fish that seems to be having a problem without any substrate is my black durgeon trigger. He is about 8 inches and keeps trying to lock himself between the PVC pipe. However, since I only added pieces of pipe he is big enough to basically push them around and they roll around the tank. Its actually kind of funny to watch.

dunc101, thanks for posting your video. I like what you did with putting a "T" in your tank. I think i have any extra fitting laying around somewhere so I'll put that in tonight and maybe give the trigger a better place to hide out.

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I may be asking a lot of questions but I have following your suggestions up to this point and things seem to be turning around. Hopefully they keep going in a positive direction.

[MrTuskfish]

Sorry, I guess I mis-read when the 2nd page popped up. Triggers always try to wedge themselves somewhere, I wouldn't worry about him. But, unless you know how "ich-attack" is going to behave under hypo conditions; I wouldn't use it.

[gianluca1970]

No worries. Your advice has been really helpful and my wife says that for the first time in about a week my trigger was actually swimming around the QT instead of trying to hide all the time. I'll take your advice about not using the Ich Attack while doing the hyposalinity treatment since the fish seem to be coming around. For a while there I was worried and was looking to try anything to try and not have a total loss. Thanks again and I'll keep you posted on how things turn out.

[MrTuskfish]

No worries. Your advice has been really helpful and my wife says that for the first time in about a week my trigger was actually swimming around the QT instead of trying to hide all the time. I'll take your advice about not using the Ich Attack while doing the hyposalinity treatment since the fish seem to be coming around. For a while there I was worried and was looking to try anything to try and not have a total loss. Thanks again and I'll keep you posted on how things turn out.

I hope it works and it should. For some reason; this thread has bounced all over the place. I sure don't have all the answers; but I do want to point out that this thread has a lot of discussion about questionable (at best) info on ich treatment and very little info on hypo---the method you've chosen to get rid of the parasites. Just my opinion & experience: Don't count on other meds (ich attack), vitamins, garlic. temp changes, etc., to help with the hypo. Vitamins,and possibly garlic, are good long-term immune boosters. But, they won't do anything short term. UV won't hurt anything, but any free-swimming ich will be killed by the hypo conditions long before it reaches the UV intake.
Hypo is very demanding and has no room for error. A perfectly calibrated refractometer is a must. SG must never exceed 1.009. Evaporation water must be made up ASAP. An ATO is a big help. Just a few minutes of an SG over 1.009 can doom your efforts. Focus on these things and not the little ones, and hypo should work for you.

[chris_an_amy]

Ok I've been reading everyones input and I see everybody is still pretty much fixated on the one true method of eradication QT, hypo salinity, 6 weeks of no fish in main display. That is all well an good but as u might discover in doing that method as many of us I'm sure have... is that the fish do not put up with that kind of stress too well. Whether they are infected or not u still end up losing fish and that is why there are people out there trying to come up with non harmful treatments that are safe for all marine life and it is also why every time we run into the situation were looking for that product or just something easier because it is just as stressful on us to do all that as it is on the fish. Everyone is too scared to try alot of these newer products it seems simply due to the cost invested in our livestock. Well I found a Reef Safe product for my case that I will get to after quickly identifying the problem which I notice alot of people skip!

I have done some research on my situation. I currently found out I have what I believe to be Amyloodinium an Ich parasite that is mobile and photosynthetic (Dinoflagellate) it attacks the gills first and thrives in temperatures from 78-86 degrees.Hypo salinity will not eradicate this parasite. This freaking parasite can take a beating from many different medications even copper, Trust me. Copper is so bad for your fish anyway and it destroys any tank u put it in so I'm staying away from it period.

So here are my symptoms:
-Scratching but no visual white spots or maybe a couple that seem to be decently sized...depending on the cycle stage of the parasite it varies per fish.
-a light white slime coating that is covering in my case my Hippo Tangs belly.
-orange rusty tint on some of the fishies tails which is Marine Velvet and in alot of cases is caused by this particular parasite.

From what I have read Acriflavine is most effective against this parasite. The website listed below is a very good one for helping to identify what your dealing with it covers alot.

http://www.chucksaddiction.com/disease.html

I want to say that I am currently trying a product called Aqua Pro-Cure which contains acriflavine, formalin, and aminoacridine. its specially formulated to deal with this parasite and the velvet disease it causes and it also claims to be effective against Brooklynella, bacteria, and flukes, and more + fresh water diseases as well that I care not to list because I deal with marine life only. This product is Coral, Invert, and plant safe. It is safe for all marine life even nitrifying bacteria.
Whether it actually works or not is a different story. I am currently on day 2 of the treatment. So far everything is doing just fine no signs of any distress, have not witnessed any scratching (which happens quite often usually). This is a 3 day treatment but for heavy or persistent infestations it may require longer treatment periods. The product is by FishVet and they also make another product called "No-Ich" which is a reef safe formula for the cryptocaryon irritans (white spot disease) and they can both be used in conjunction with one another. I have not ever had the white spot disease but if this product works for me I will definitely get the "No Ich" too.
I have read positive reviews on both products which is why I'm trying Aqua Pro-Cure. It discolors the tank for about 2 hours and then it seems to go back to normal. All u do is dose as recommended, remove carbon and or any other absorbent filter media. Not sure about turning the protein skimmer off it doesn't say that anywhere but someone else did it and said they were told to by the company so I figured I'd shut the protein skimmer off to be safe. You don't even really notice its in there except for when u initially dose the tank each day of your treatment. Don't worry everyone who is reading this and banking on my response, I will not leave you all hanging. I notice so many freakin people do that. They go into the treatment they are doing and give updates the whole way through and then finally your searching for their end result and they stopped posting like 10 years ago, lol. I will be updating my progress on day five unless something is on the death bed or not doing so well due to the treatment. I will post my end results and then two days after when the treatment biodegrades I will post again to let u all know the status of whether or not I still have any infection.

Current tank: 75 gal w/mirror backround, JBJ 300 wt heater, Hydor Koralia pump controller w/1050gph pump in front and a 750gph in the back, Aqua Ultraviolet UV Sterlizer w/550gph pump, T5 lighting 2 actinics 1 coral full spectrum 3 reg, Aquamaxx HOB protien skimmer
"best for HOB by far", 1 Aquaclear 110gph HOB filter, and using reefsaver rock.
Fish: 2 ocellaris clowns a black/white and orange/white, 2 tangs a hippo and a yellow, 2 damsels a 3 stripe and a lemonpeel, 1 royal gramma, 1 flame angel, 1 blue bearded triggerfish, 1 longnose hawkfish, 1 blue dot jawfish, and 1 harliquin tuskfish.
Inverts: lg ruby crab, lg pistol shrimp, 2 sandsifting starfish, a baby serpant starfish, maybe a purple tube worm anemone, a purple condylactis anemone, feather duster, almost all types of snails and hemits.
Corals: multi colored hammer coral that is on the brink of death due to last outbreak, red flowerpot coral, torch coral, striped mushrooms, neon orange/red mushrooms, several different types of zoas, sun coral, puple montipora, blue acropora, trumpet coral, electric green doughnut coral, pink tipped frogspawn, neon orange plate coral, Australian Red Rainbow Acans, pokerstar montipora, and a leather toadstool.
Plants: mermaid fan, shaving brush, and some hidden macro algae.

[MrTuskfish]

There have been plenty of bad reviews of this product too. Mostly the "anything that kills ich will also kill inverts" type; if I remember the last time I looked at this product. A product containing formalin (formaldehyde) in a reef tank?? Copper is quite safe, when used properly. So is formalin. But, I'd never consider putting either in a reef tank. BTW, copper does not destroy tanks; the myth that silicone sealant absorbs copper still seems to pop up once in a while. Good luck, I hope it works for you.

[MrTuskfish]

RE; above post from chris_an_amy---
You may have some sites mixed up. Nobody here is "pretty much fixated on the one true method of eradication QT, hypo salinity, 6 weeks of no fish in main display". I've never seen anyone here suggest hypo for Oodinium. If you want your post to get some attention, I'd start your own thread. Posting at the end of someone else's thread is very confusing.

[chris_an_amy]

well I did a little research and there is a chemical in this product I'm using that attaches itself to proteins so I turned my skimmer off and I'm taking the time period up to 7 days maybe further. But so far there is no issues with anything. My guess is that I may even want to prolong the treatment a little further than that even just because it kills it in the free floating stage which more than likely won't be 3 days like the bottle reads.
One thing that I noticed that is like an added bonus if the stuff works of course is that it kills annoying algae. I had a bunch growing on my circulation pumps and they are super clean now, kinda amazing how well it cleaned them. The rock work in my tank too seems to have less.

[MrTuskfish]

Nothing that is "reef safe" kills the ich mother-cyst. These can live for 9+ weeks before releasing the next generation of free-swimming parasites.

[gianluca1970]

Everyone, just to give you an update on my situation, I had removed all of my fish from the main display tank and into a hospital tank. I let the main tank go fallow for 8 weeks. In the hospital tank I started with treating with copper only to kill my flame angel after one dose. I regretted doing that right away since the flame angel was in the best shape of all my fish at the time. I then did a bunch of water changes and treated the hospital tank with hyposalinity. All of my fish cleared up after about a week. My Pink Tail Trigger started struggling with some secondary infections though. First one of his eyes turned milk white. All I did was some more frequest water changes and that cleared up. However, he then started getting what looked like sores on a couple of places on his body. He fought that for about 2 weeks during which time he stopped eating and eventually died. My powder brown tang was doing fine and eating throughout the whole process but for some unknown reason was found dead one morning a couple of weeks before i was planning putting him back in the main tank. The night before he ate fine and had no visible spots and was never bothered by any other fish. That was a weird one. The only thing I can think of was that he had some sort of internal parasite or infection. My 4 remaining fish stayed in the hospital tank another 3 weeks and were finally placed back into the main tank a couple of weeks ago. Everything has been going fine.

To sum everything up, treating with hyposilinity may be a pain in the A$$ but it does work and is the less stressful way of treating ich as long as you have a good refractometer. I will never treat with copper again. I knew it was a bad idea but I got desperate to try and save the fish. This is one of those examples where less is more. I wish there was a magical remedy that was reef safe but until that comes out I think hyposalinity is the best way to go.

[fio1022]

I just read through this thread and alot of great info.
I have a fully cycled QT that I never used properly.I have about 10 or so small fish that passed through this tank with only 1-2 weeks of observation and no treatment.
Well my luck ran out and I've lost more fish in this observation tank than I'd like to admit.My worry now is main DT contaminated.
I've started Hypo treatment for the last remaining fish in this QT.
The fish that made it to main tank appear to be doing fine.
My question is:
If fish in DT are doing good,do I need to be concerned about an infestation in future?
This had been a hard lesson on patience.