Ich & s.g.

How does dropping the S.G. help with ICH?
In S.W. is it also a cold water parasite?
Should I raise my temerature?
I am soaking Tetracycline into small sheet's
of Red Marine Algae, the fish is eating it up
and is very active.
What else should I be doing?
Ghost

 

Hypo salinity is one way of treating ich I have read about, but cant recall exactly how its done. Raising the temperature to speed the life cycle of the parasite only works in freshwater ich (again, only going off what I have read). The only way to get rid of ich 100% is to quarantine the fish and treat with copper for 2-3 weeks, and let the infected tank remain fishless for a minimum of 6 weeks.

IchArtMar

~Will.

 

Raise your water temp to 82 and feed food with garlic to improve the fishs imune system. I have a bunch of tangs and have had many ich outbreaks. I have only lost fish one time when I added a bunch and did not qt. Ick is like a cold to a fish keep there imune system up and then will fight it off. Also tunring off the lights a bit more will keep the fish less stressed so try that also I cut back about 5 hrs a day when I had my outbreaks.

 

It might be like a cold, but in reality it is a parasite. I hear a lot of people that do things the way mirandacollc suggested with varying degrees of success. If you went to a doctor and he said you have internal parasites, would you rather live with them to a lesser degree by eating better, or would you rather get some meds and get rid of them all together? Its your decision on how to deal with what you have. I personally had ich in my DT a while back and did the painful 6 week fallow period, and QT'd all my fish with copper for the duration.

~Will.

 

If the fish had internal parasites then it may need medicine. I think the external parasite that is on its skin is fought off by its immune system. Ich is in the open ocean and the fish can not go to the dr for some copper based meds right? I agree with what your saying its a pain in the but thing to deal with but the fish if healthy will battle it off. All fish will most likely get ich in there lifetime just as we get the flu from time to time whick is an internal not external bug and we get better. With good health the fish will too. If they get bad I would qt. I set up 3 20g longs in a series just for an outbreak and have never used it one time yet. I hope never to have to as yes I have lost fish to ick before also.

 

The thing about the ocean is it is HOOOOOOOGE. When the cysts fall off their hosts they will eventually end up on the bottom somewhere. Then they hatch and need to find a new host or die . . . how inches of fish per gallon do you assume the ocean is? In the ocean its no big deal, but in our closed systems the parasite 99% of the time will find a host if one is in the tank.

~Will.

 

If you took all the sponges out of the ocean how deep would it be? lol
The fish is eating good and I believe he will be fine. I have been around the block a few times with ich and velvet. I was just wondering what the affect's of dropping the S.G. were and in what way does it help? I have never tried it. Looks like it would stress the fish with the constant change in salinity. Unless the Q.T. was 1.015 and then you acclimated the fish to it.
Thank you all for your time.
Ghost

 

I wasnt sure how to do this so i cut and pasted from another post a quote from Coral Reefer. You can see this if you go to http://www.3reef.com/forums/fish-diseases/ich-update-advice-66932.html - I have not taken my 4 fish out of my 130 ltr tank as i was unable to catch the angel as he lives in a cave. Instead I have removed all of the corals into a QT and I have been dosing my tank twice a day with Anti Protozoal, have increased the temp to 28 degrees and lowered the salinity to 1.019 as i was scared to go as low as 1.013 Fish are all happy and eating well but still have the spots. its been 7 days today of treatment and i am hoping the spots will go soon. Good luck.


Dosing anything in your main tank, especially housing fish that are not effected with any form of parasitic, viral, bacteriological or fungal disease can become problematic.
The lifecycle of marine ich(amyloodinium ocellatum) is a simple process that many aquarists are not aware of as to the time table of the cycle and its effects to life. The parasite begins as a trophant that attaches itself to the tissue of fish(ie. scales, fins and gills). As a response to the ich on the fishes body they release a mucus covering that encompasses the parasite causing the commonly depicted white-sugar sized spots on the fish. After about 3 days these trophants will fall off the fish as tomants, causing a false sense of relief as you begin to think that the ich has been removed. Instead, what has taken place is the parasite has left the host to form cysts and divide(3-7 days). *******it is during this time that the addition of medications such as formalin, melachite green, methylene blue, hypo salinity and copper are the most effective*********!!!! How many of you knew this????
Once these cysts break apart and divide, and depending on the water temperature, will form numerous dinospores that will find a host, again, finding the fish in your tank, causing these white spots to become evident again and even more prolific.
It is best to not raise water temperature at this time as, yes it can speed up the cycle of the ich, however, it also causes more stress on the fish due to decreased oxygen levels in your water.
The hyposalinity process is an effective procedure though it can also plague inverts and bacteria as well. Dropping the water's salinity level to below 1.013 is the best scenario to combat marine ich. This procedure basically causes the ich cells to blow up like balloons as the ich cells can not control the osmosis through their semi-permeable membranes. Once they blow up enough, they will pop since their cell walls can not handle the pressure between that inside their walls and the ambiant environment outside.
Stress, for the most part is the number one factor for the development of ich in an aquarium. trying to purchase healthy specimens at your local pet shop, reducing the time between shipping and collecting, healthy diet, compatible fish and ideal water parameters/temperature! are crucial in helping to alleviate this devasting disease from crippling your tank and its inhabitants!!!


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very informative