Red emp. Snapper

[OARrocks]

Im pretty sure the little guy has ich. i only have live rock in the tank as well as a panth. grouper and an eel. Hes starting to get little flaky white spots on his fins and is rubbing against the substrate as well.

has anyone had any experience with treating predators like this in a tank with only live rock. there is one piece of rock with GSP on it. I dont have anywhere to QT. him, so i would like to treat him in my tank with whatever suggestions anyone may have.

thanks for any replies

[frontman21]

that sucks man I am going through a pretty bad ick problem right now and its my first incounter with salt water ick...

But to answer your question you basicly have a few opions and all have drawbacks. The three main options I would say are to use copper, feed garlic, and hypo salinity. You should check out the desease forum on here they have alot of good info but with the eel I wouldnt recomend using any copper substance but if he is just showing signs you might just be able to soak his food in garlic to boost his amune system.

[55gSW]

With the GSP in there you won't be able to do the hypo method, nor copper. Feeding food soaked in garlic is good but will it be enough to kill off the ich parasite? Not really. I have used a product in the past called Kich Ich. I used this in a full blown reef tank with no problems. If you decide to try this, it is very important that you follow the directions completely and totally. Stopping halfway through the treatment will do nothing. I found that it helped if I marked the dosing dates on my calendar and the dose amount too. Even though the product doesn't state this, stop your skimmer and remove any carbon if you are using it. Again, dose the entire treatment time! It worked for me and I lost nothing.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

[OARrocks]

thanks i will look for the kick ich. how exactly do you soak there food in garlic. do you buy the cloves and grind them up and just soak the shrimp (in my case) for a while, then feed em?

[D659600]

You can buy liquid garlic at your LFS. While you are there buy some selcon or zoe. Thaw or let the shrimp soak in the garlic for about 15 min. Take to shell off the shrimp ( I did that way to many times). If you can find a temporary home for your GSP you can do the hypo with no problem.

[jmicky41]

I too had some luck with Kick Ich. Make sure you turn off your UV sterilizer if you use one. Also remove carbon and shut the skimmer off. I would recommend the "heavy infestation" - or whatever they call it treatment plan. Make sure that you don't store the Kick ich in direct sunlight, or let it get too cold. One time I called the manufactor of it and asked why it didn't work. He asked me how the LFS stored it. I said in front of the window - a big no no, bright light can render the stuff useless. Also some Kent marine garlic exteme added to the food can't hurt.