ICK.........YUK...please help

This morning the Tang has no spots at all. He only had a few to begin with like 4 or 5 but with my previous bout with ICK I was worried. I have set up my 35 gallon Octogon tank for a quaranteen tank. I will have it with no substrate and just 1 huge shell that has been dry for over a year. ALL FISH WILL BE QUARANTEENED FROM THIS DAY FORWARD. I have found loads of info on the Wetwebmedia.com website. Have everyone been there? I have been using it for about a month now. Very helpful. So are all of you I appreciate all of your time. The Tand looks Beautiful this morning. I am happy but I know that it may just have finished that phaze and is now attatching itself to the substrate. Anyway Thanks everyone and I will keep this thread updated every few days.

Thanks Jay

Does anyone else think that the ICK might just be waiting to come back? Should I remove all fish and treat with Copper and freshwater dips?

 

[quote author=Jay link=board=ASAP;num=1099847504;start=0#10 date=11/08/04 at 11:09:37]........ALL FISH WILL BE QUARANTEENED FROM THIS DAY FORWARD. I have found loads of info on the Wetwebmedia.com website. Have everyone been there? I have been using it for about a month now. Very helpful. .......

Does anyone else think that the ICK might just be waiting to come back? Should I remove all fish and treat with Copper and freshwater dips?
[/quote]

You're on the right track now. Plus wetwebmedia is an excellent source of information. Less of the confusing anecdotals from forums (though forum aid is also good).

Once ich is in a tank it will always be there. Unless fishes are quarantined and ich plus any other parasites are removed. Plus the main tank is parasites starved --- kept with no fishes. An overly safe period is 42 days (life span from larvae to free swimming of ich). No medications can be placed in the display tank so your options are hyposailinity (lowering SG of the tank) which is also damaging if done incorrectly and hypersalinity which does not always work.

Dips might work but consider the fact it is stressful to fishes and could further weaken them. The trauma could kill them.

Good reefing!

 

Jay,

There is a lot of good information about marine ich, my fav is here:

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/marineich.html

John

 

How about using the Kent Garlic Extreme to boost the fishes immunity and add a cleaner shrimp to take care of the ick on them fishy since he already have them in there?

 

Hello everyone and sorry I was gone a few days and couldn't get back.

Well I read my eyes out about this subject and think I must be about and expert on the subject by.....at least I know all the stages of the parasite. I have finally removed every last fish from my tank approx 75 of the 90 pounds of liverock. What a pain in the %** if anyone knows of some magic way to remove fishes form tank please do share.

I have setup my 35 gallon octogon tank as a hospital tank. It is bare except 1 large shell about 10 inches across. I will remove this after the copper treatment is done. I wish I had a filter pad from a parasite free tank to use as a BIO filter for the hang on the back filter that I am using. I will have to monitor the ammonia and such closely. My plan is to treat the fish as directed by the medication ( I think it is called Cupramine, it has a blue label with a blue cross on the front) for 2 weeks then remove the medication using carbon. I freshwater dipped each fish for 5 minutes between the main tank and the hospital tank in a 10 gallon tank. Keeping each fish in the big net. Wow that was tough. I hated to do it because placing a marine fish in fresh water just not right. I read that a marine fish must drink saltwater continuously to live. They did not like it at all. I made sure the water temps were scary close and adjusted the PH to match. Heres a tip I read. When moving fish make sure the water temp is as close as possible with a little warmer better than colder. I will be leaving my tank to fallow till January 5 just to make sure the tank is parasite free. I know this will not guarantee this but it is all the longer I can wait. I also bought this UV sterilizer on Ebay and will be hooking it up as soon as I can figure out how I will do it. It has a 25 watt bulb that is overkill for my tank but wont hurt. Does anyone have any suggestions about use or experiences good or bad with these things? Heres the link to the auction

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4334193128

One good thing I want to add. I called the store where I bought the livestock ( Aqua Tropics in Kennewick Washington) and let them know my delima. They said they were sorry for the ICK on the fish. One guy there told me the fish had been there for weeks. When I called back and got the owner he said they got the fish on Friday and I purchased them on Saturday. Just my luck to receive such fresh fish.....yea right! Well they were very nice and because I live 1.5 hours away they shipped me the Cupramine overnight for free. YES YOU READ CORRECT FREE!. These people get my business for now on. I did not even have to pay for the meds. That was very cool. But I did buy 158 buck worth of livestock. I will recommend them to everyone. I will pick my fish carefully.

OK, to everyone that reads this post in the future! HEED MY WARNINGS>> [smiley=whip.gif] YOU WILL FROM THIS DAY FORTH USE A QUARANTINE TANK. Seriously though, don't make my mistake. Keep fish for minimum 2 weeks preferably 3 in a quarantine tank prior to placing them in their permanent home. OH YEA...and liverock and the aragonight plugs that our corals come on can and will house this parasite laying in wait for a host for 21 days or more.

All my fish are swimming happily in the quarantine tank. I still cannot get the tang to eat. I have tried that dryed algae on those feeding clips...even rubberbanded some to the big shell that she keeps eyeing for algae. Any suggestions?

Thanks everyone
Jay

 

will work to strengthen the fishes but does not cure ich. meaning the minute they weaken it will attack and might kill them.

 

Really. Never completly leaves? Can anyone else comment about this?

Jay