Ich & s.g.

I used Gel-Tek with Tetracycline soaked in Macro Algae sheet's and the fish ate it like a pig. I did not lower my S.G. or do anything other than feed the fish alot of soaked food and the ICH is gone. thank you all for your input. Thank you very much Missionsix that was all I wanted to know.

 

I think if you had a tank already lowered to 1.015 then acclimated the fish it would work, but it seem's to me that lowering the S.G. with the fish in the tank would add stress to the fish making matter's worse. IMHO

 

It is acceptable to the fish, or at least clowns, as long as there are not any inverts. I had one tank I had to do this with for a 8 week period. I also fed garlic. It was my 35 gal. qt tank, and I hate chemicals unless no other option. It worked well.

 

I was dealing with a Yellow Tang and I do not think they are as hardy of a fish as the Clown Family. Glad it worked for you.

 

I am also cureently having a problem with ich. Ive read all these posts and found them very informative. But im still not sure how I should go about this. Right now I have 5 out of 9 fish that have it. They are Tangs and Butterflys. My Mandarin, Cleaner Wrasse and Sabae Clowns seem impervious to it. Today I did a water change and i know the SG fluctated, right after the water change I added my final fish, a Medium Moorish Idol. I know the Idols are tough but for the past 9 months since I converted to reef, all fish Ive added have thrived so I figured Id try to keep an Idol as my final fish.

Anyway as soon as I added him (did a 2 hr acclimation) the Powder Blue was on him. The Idol entered the tank and went straight down to the PB's domain.. under a large shelf-like rock. After that it was on. The Tang was doing aggressive tight circles around the him and I dunno, they were moving so fast im not sure what was happenin, but it didnt look good. During all this I noticed the Ich seemed to flare up right then and there. On 3 other fish as well. Now I dont know if it was the brief salinity fluctation, the immediate results of adding a new fish or just the coincidential timing of the ich's life cycle. Phosphates have spiked recently as a result of feeding too much oyster eggs, rotifers n phyto, but the fish couldnt seem happier prior to adding the Idol. There was algae bloom on the 10% of the tank's surface not already claimed by Coralline. But the Tangs were happily grazing on it. So I dont really think the water quality has caused this sudden flare up. But what does the folks at 3Reef think? Could adding a new fish cause stress and am Ich flare up that suddenly? Was it the SG changes?

BTW i have been soaking food in garlic and vitamin liquid pretty much every day for months. Mysis in the garlic, everything else inthe vitamin soak. Thought it was doing a pretty good job at keeping the Ich at bay, til tonight. Presently, an hour after the Idols introduction, the lights are off and the Fuge's light cycle has begun. Gonna go back down there and check on things..

 

K, I just checked on em and everyone seems relaxed again. Powder Blue and Moorish Idol are gettin along much better but of course the white cysts are still there. Strangly its really just the Longnose Butterfly and The POwder Blue that have it The Copperband is fine, not a single dot on him, Hippo and Kole Tangs have only a dot or two.

Ive done a FW dip for the LN Butterfly before when it got bad. Was a last resort as I know it can stress the fish out alot but it worked like a charm. LN was free of ich for quite a while and was instantly relieved of scrathing and twitching. I dont know if I wanna try that again with new Powder Blue though. I guess theres not much you can do but keep the fishes nutrition and water quality ideal and stable.