Help, i got ich :(

[cacopepo]

i got a 46g reef and my longnose butterfly has ich...im afraid my other fish will get it...specially my mystery wrasse, he just show signs today...anything i can do besides soaking garlic in the food, wich ive been doing since day1. and i dont have the space or money to set a qt.

[MrTuskfish]

You're entire system has it. The number of visible spots is just a tiny fraction of the number of parasites your fish and tank have. There are ich cysts on the substrate that will soon release hundreds of new parasites. Garlic does absolutely nothing to cure or prevent ich. Any treatment for ich will kill corals and other inverts. There is no way to eliminate ich in a reef tank. You can't get a used 20 gal tank (Craigslist) or even a Brute tote and keep it in a closet? If you can't use a QT/HT; maybe this hobby should wait until you can properly care for your fish. Sorry, all you've heard or read about the need for a HT?QT is true. I'd read the ich stickies that will help you understand the ich parasite's life cycle and cures that do work, in a QT.

[snake-062]

i have treated my reef tank several times over the past ten yrs with a product made by ruby reef called kick ich and worked everytime with no coral loss.

[ddwatson]

Check out the ICH stickies on here under the diseases forum. There is great information that tells the facts and myths about treatment of ICH. Depending on the health of your fish some may pull through, but unfortunately the OTC treatments like Kick ICH don't really work they just mask the problem. That is why it reoccurs.

Check out those stickies. I had ICH issues and with their help i solved them, but you really should consider saving up to get a small QT setup before you add anymore fish to your system. They really are pretty inexpensive. Especially compared to the loss of every fish in your tank because you put a sick fish in there.

[Mrscribbled]

If you can afford coral and fish then you can afford a quarantine tank IMO


Posted from ReefCentral.com App for Android

[MrTuskfish]

i have treated my reef tank several times over the past ten yrs with a product made by ruby reef called kick ich and worked everytime with no coral loss.

All this stuff is is a hot pepper sauce and is supposed to repel ich.. That isn't good enough, if you don't kill ich, it will return in much higher numbers. It does nothing to kill ich. If it works, why do you have to use it so often? You may be slowing ich down, but you're not eradicating it. I'm sure its in your tank and sooner or later, you'll have a very serious problem. Yours is the 1st positive comment I can ever remember concerning this stuff.

[cacopepo]

ok, would a 20g work as a qt???...i got the LNB, mistery wrasse, flame hawk, and 2 black clowns

[jadendo]

Ick killed my entire fish population once. Very painful to watch my fishes gone thru the process. I tried so many thing but it was too late.

You should invest in a better protein skimmer and hope your fishes will cure themselves.

[KeepNitReel]

You should invest in a better protein skimmer and hope your fishes will cure themselves.

Can you provided more detail on the role that a protein Skimmer plays in regards to ick? I've heard of fish that beat it and grow an immunity but the Skimmer thing I have not come a cross yet. Trying to get all the knowledge I can in this hobby.

sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX using Tapatalk 2

[gone fishin]

A skimmer does nothing in regards to ich and fish will not cure themselves. What will happen is the ich will drop off the fish and start the next stage of the ich cycle. To be repeated over and over until the fish are no more or the ich is eradicated.

[MrTuskfish]

You'll find most of the scientifically supported info on ich in the initial posts in the ich stickies above, usually in the initial post. There is no relationship at all between ich immunity and a skimmer. Curing ich is such a PITA that some folks will do/believe anything. I've never heard of a skimmer that claims to have anything to do with ich. There probably some fly-by-night company that does, though.

Fish cannot permanently "beat" ich or cure themselves. . Some fish can develop TEMPORARY immunity to some strains of ich. But it will be in the tank until it is eradicated. It will return; sometimes just because the fish has lost the temp immunity, sometimes because of a stressor. If there was a real solution to the ich problem, it would be on every SW related web site on the internet. A method of eliminating ich in a reef tank is the Holy Grail of the hobby.

[jadendo]

Protein skimmer helps filter out debris and therefore reduces Phosphate and nitrate. In general, you want to have a good skimmer. It helps with better water quality. Your fishes and coral would appreciate that.

As far as ick, I just pray that it wouldn't happen to my tank because I really haven't found a cure.

[MrTuskfish]

Protein skimmer helps filter out debris and therefore reduces Phosphate and nitrate. In general, you want to have a good skimmer. It helps with better water quality. Your fishes and coral would appreciate that.

As far as ick, I just pray that it wouldn't happen to my tank because I really haven't found a cure.

Can't find a cure? Probably because there are so many things that don't cure ich, but require a little work. Tank transfer or copper will always cure ich if done properly. (Probably C. Phosphate too). BTW: nitrate, unless possibly sky-high (CMA) don't bother fish at all. Nitrate is a problem for coral and other inverts.