Best way to treat ich in reef tank.

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Discuss all topics related to saltwater / reef tanks.


jweb
 
Posts: 318
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2009 6:45 am

Best way to treat ich in reef tank.

by jweb

My sixline wrasse has ich. I had a feeling he was going to get it.... How do I treat the tank with corals in it?


jnelson1983
 
Posts: 38
Joined: Wed Apr 22, 2009 9:39 pm

by jnelson1983

Bad news: Honestly, with Ich in a saltwater tank, it's all a case-by-case basis for treatment. I had one year where I had gotten ich about 7 times. 3 or 4 of them took only a week to treat, the worst one took 2 months of treatment with various types before I finally got fed up with it and used a copper treatment.

Really bad news: Either way is going to be hard on your tank. Any living organism will be stressed out by the treatment. The normal medications for it (natural or otherwise) seem to be a little rougher on the fish and organisms in the tank due to the spikes in medication level during treatment. The copper treatment, you can work your way up to, or go up to right away. it will be a little hard on them, but from my personal experience, not as hard as the typical ich treatment.

The benefits of the copper treatment, is that:

1) it's easy to monitor the copper level in the tank
2) You do have a variable range of medication strength needed.
3) One dose lasts for over a month, the concentration stays steady, instead of a spike that drops down to almost non-existant...allowing the ich to become resistant to the medication.

Good luck dude. It's a shame saltwater ich can't be cured in 24hrs like freshwater.


fihsboy
 
Posts: 1837
Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2008 4:20 pm

by fihsboy

get a cleaner wrasse :) And cleaner shrimp. They SHOULD help. Doesnt mean they will.


jweb
 
Posts: 318
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2009 6:45 am

by jweb

I heard feeding garlic can cure it completely. So I've been doing that. Using garlic extreme as well as fresh chopped garlic and putting it with frozen brine.


breaknrun911
 
Posts: 146
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2009 3:20 am

by breaknrun911

yeah garlic was suggested to me too. i cant remember who did. it was either BOSS, PIMP, of PUFF. unfortunately my fishes died before i got to see if it worked. i just started over


jweb
 
Posts: 318
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2009 6:45 am

by jweb

It was most likely pimp. I think he suggested it to me a while back and told me he swears by it. I just remembered it today and I am definately doing it. The clowns don't have ich so far, but my sixline is covered... It looks bad I don't think he'll last much longer.


jweb
 
Posts: 318
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2009 6:45 am

by jweb

I'm so surprised that my wild caught clowns are eating chopped garlic. I just trained them to eat frozen brine this week, lol. I'm so glad they are though.


puffedupseagull
 
Posts: 623
Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2008 8:38 am

by puffedupseagull

It would have been me JWEB
DON'T USE COPPER IN YOUR TANK. YOUR CORALS WILL DIE OVERNIGHT.

I'm a firm believer that garlic helps whitespot by enhancing the fishes immune system.

I always feed my fish 1 crushed clove of fresh garlic crushed up in their foods once a week.

I have got on to these tablets for whitespot. I had it about a year ago, and an old dude said try them.
Gone in a week.
You crush them up and put it straight into the water. leave for 3 days and re-dose.
They have no effect on the corals at all, and are invert safe.
They are

Tri-Sulfa Tablets by Aqua Master - Sulfadiazine, Sulfadimidine, Sulfamerazine. Treats: White Spot, Mouth and Body Fungus, Fin and Tail Rot, External Bacterial Diseases.

or

Triple Sulfa Tablets by Aquarium Science – Sulfadimidine, Sulfadiazine, Sulfamerazine. Treats: White Spot, Mouth and Body Fungus, Fin and Tail Rot, External Bacteria

Use that and the garlic and I think you can beat it.
Dont waist with the meds they are shit.
This does work.

REMEMBER NO COPPER.


jweb
 
Posts: 318
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2009 6:45 am

by jweb

Well my sixline and diamond goby died literally overnight and they looked fine when I got them. I don't know what it was that killed them, but I have never seen ich kill a fish that fast. It really did look like ich to me and that's what the store owner said it was probably because he looked at a morish idol that he just shipped in and it had ich all over it.


niglin
 
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Jan 04, 2013 4:00 pm

Re: Best way to treat ich in reef tank.

by niglin

Ich can kill your fish fast if they are stressed, or your water parameters aren't 100%, as their systems will be weakened, so treat it fast (a good varied diet and reg water changes helps your fish stay strong). So, ich is a real bastard!!! Best choices to deal with ich, in order.... 1) 40% water change, make sure to suck the gravel etc out real good, then condition it with 'prime'. 2) A UV sterilizer should eradicate the pathogens, make sure it's not a cheap one (Emporer Aquatics is the best, but costs $$) 2) Feed food dipped in garlic solution, can be home made also (ich should be gone after about 4 days or so/starting to clear up). 3) Lastly, copper, malachite green or potassium permanganate, if you can get it (be sure to take your active carbon out), try API 'Ich gone' it's less stressful for a reef tank/fish than other brands, and works better. 4) Turn your lights out for a longer period, abstain from f'n around in your tank more than necc.

Best way to treat ich in reef tank.

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