The Dreaded Ich

Ich is not what people make it out to be. It can be easily managed with proper nutrition. Think of it like a common cold. Its not that theyre eating, its what they're eating.

First and most important thing you need to do is boost their immune system. So feed them high quality foods that are high in protein and Omega-3 fatty acids. Soak the food in a product that contains EPA and DHA Omega-3's. Selcon or Zoecon will do.

I recommend soaking live brine shrimp is Zoecon for 24 hours, then turn all the pumps off when feeding so that the fish will have a chance to eat Zoecon covered live food.
You may also try soaking food in garlic product that is high in antioxidants.

You can also try Frozen Cyclopeeze which is naturally high in Protein and Omega-3.

Also you can use a product like Purigen, throw a bag of this in your sump tank and your nitrates should go down to 0 in a 2-3 days.

I hope you have a good skimmer to get all the organics out. Do a water change if needed.

Once the immune system is up again, [STRIKE]they will never get Ich[/STRIKE]. Continue to use high quality food and maintain good water conditions.

I've brought home sick fish with Ich and brought them back to full health. None of my other fish ever got infected.

 

This is a good suggestion. A ground probe will elminate any leakage.

 

Try droing salinity to 1.021-22, raise temp to 81-82, and feed garlic soaked mysis. This was recommended toe by a LFS and it seem to save several of my fish.

Good luck!

 

This is not a good suggestion, it will cause more stress and does not eliminate the problem.

It might fix the symptoms temporarily, but its not a solution to the problem. The garlic will help for sure but the temperature and salinity change will not.

 

I absolutely agree with everything infamous said....except...

"Once the immune system is up again, they will never get Ich. Continue to use high quality food and maintain good water conditions."

Once ich is in your DT, just like the cold germs infamous referred to, it will always be there. After a fish successfully fights off ich, it develops more of an immunity to it and the chances of it getting it again are low, but not completely gone.

Anytime something new is added, it could add to their stress level and you might see some ich pop up - but as long as everything is healthy and eating well, they should just be able to fight it off again.

I have had a couple of incidents after a new fish was added that someone in my tank had a few spots that went away after a day or 2.

I think that removing them from the DT to a hopsital tank is adding more stress to an already sick fish. The ONLY way to be completely ich free is to QT any new additions and/or leave the tank sit fishless for at least 8 weeks.

 

What i meant to say was that, it will not become a problem that you cant handle. Meaning that if you do something to that causes Ich(like aquascaping 10 times), it will go away on its own as long you continute with the same process.

But you are right, i shouldnt say "never" because its not technically true.

Also i don't believe that you can be Ich free no matter what you do. You can leave your tank there for 12 months but when you introduce fish, they will carry Ich, its just supressed. Its like saying you'll never get a cold again if no one is in your house for 12 months lol

 

Again...absolutely agree. Sometimes I think we panic and think OMG it's ich....and we do things in a hurry that can sometimes make it worse.

Some people think you can be disease free if you QT any new arrivals and observe for a certain period of time or proactively treat for disease, but I agree with you that it will most likely always be there.

I considered the fishless time period, but it would be like me living in a bubble for the rest of my life just to avoid a cold.

 

Thanks for all the tips! All the responses are very helpful. I've been sick all this week and haven't even left the house :-/, but hopefully I can get out today and get some nutritional soak for the food.

Sorry about my ignorance, but what is a ground probe?

Thanks!

 

A ground probe is a probe, like a temp sensor, that detects electricity and if there is electricity it bleeds off to the ground probe instead of going through the tank and doing bad things. Here is one for sale on Marine Depot. You may be able to go to HD or Lowes and get one slightly cheaper. Make sure it is SS or Titanium so it doesn't rust.

 

I think a good way to keep ich from the fish is having cleaner shrimp or red blood shrimp. I've seen my fish go to the 2 cleaning stations many times and they are ich free. I did use a product called Kick-Ich when I moved up from my old 65g to my previous 120g as the move stressed them out and I'll tell you it worked like a charm. Fast and copper free and reef safe.