Ich (Cryptocaryon Irritans) Treatment

kataklyzm · #1 (**permalink**) 12-09-2005, 12:57 AM

with no QT tank available, all my fish are getting ich one by one. lost 1 yelow and 1 blue tang, 2 clowns, and 1 out of 2 spotted gobys. i figure 1 more day for the goby and not long until the other one goes. will ich infect starfish? i am planning on leaving the tank empty of fish for about 3 months after this epidemic. would the ich have a chance of coming back after that long with no fish? (just 2 shrimp, 2 sand sifting stars, crabs and snails)

**DaveK** · #2 (**permalink**) 12-09-2005, 01:59 AM

Ich should not be a major problem in this day and age. The best treatment is still hypo salinity, reduce the SG to about 1.012 over several days, and maintain it there for about two weeks. Then raise your SG back to normal over several days. You may have to remove the inverts, but many can take a low SG.

It is much less stressful than any other treatment, and it costs you little.

You kind of answereed your own question. Get a QT tank. A reef system should never ever be medicated. Yes it will cost you a few $'s, but it's cheep compared to a total fish loss.

kl3377 · #3 (**permalink**) 12-13-2005, 10:39 PM

Has anyone ever used Prevent Ich by Kordon? Any feedback would be much appreciated.
Thanks

Gallaher · #4 (**permalink**) 12-14-2005, 12:37 AM

No, but I have had a good amount of luck with Kent Marine Garlic Extreme and also Probiotic Ich Formula, you can feed with the garlic extreme to get the slime coat and immune system boosted, and then use the ProBiotic to get rid of the parasite/cysts. Hope that helps you out.

kl3377 · #5 (**permalink**) 12-14-2005, 01:11 AM

Thanks, I am currently using Garlic Extreme and it looked good early on but the past two days it has gotten much worse (I never stopped using the Garlic Extreme). I bought the Prevent Ich tonight after researching it on Kordon's website. They say it is safe for reef tanks, inverts, and anenomes. If this is true I am wondering how effective it will be against Ich. I will look into the ProBiotic also. Thanks again

**DaveK** · #6 (**permalink**) 12-14-2005, 03:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kl3377

... They say it is safe for reef tanks, inverts, and anenomes. ...

Personally, I do not believe that any medication is safe for reef tanks. I don't care who the manfacturer is, or what the claim is, my advice is never ever medicate a reef tank.

While we are on the subject of treating ich. The best way is still hyposalinity. It cost you little and usually has the least amount of stress on the fish.

ChuckG · #7 (**permalink**) 12-15-2005, 03:55 AM

I thought that snails couldn't take hypo?

I'm battling ick in one of my tanks - tried quick cure - no results - so I decided to go hypo. I grabbed what snails I could find and put them in another tank and lowered the spg to 1.010 over the period of a day and a half. Today is the 3rd full day at this level and I still am plucking snails out.
I know my measurement is correct - it's a new refractometer.

Here I am worrying about the snails and my lion, hogfish, trigger and grouper are all just laying around close to lifeless.

**L.Baldrey** · #8 (**permalink**) 12-15-2005, 04:51 AM

Seems like its in the last stages...so sorry...hope you get your miracle...check Nitrite and ammonia as well....just in case...

**DaveK** · #9 (**permalink**) 12-15-2005, 05:11 AM

You are doing the right thing, I just hope you are in time. Because of the way the disease works, existing paracites grow and then release to reproduce. If enough attach on the gills and grow, they can literally somther the fish.

Give things a chance though. The disease has a 14 day life cycle, and it can run even longer. Keep the SG down for several weeks if the fish tollerate it. Hopefull you are over the hump now and the fish are on their way to recovery.

reef pig · #10 (**permalink**) 12-15-2005, 05:41 AM

Ich is a strange cookie You can have one fish that has and no one else or the whole tank is infested. But when you get right down to it those are the signs of what is going on. This may cause a little debate but here goes. Unless you are running a sterile system whith chemicals having ich present in your tank and not knowing it is inevitable at some point, maybee constantly. This does not mean the fish will come down with it or even just one. Infestations are usually kicked off by stress. If everyone is ill do some water quality and stability probing. Is my temp falling dramatically at night and sharply rising during the day probably the worst one. Is the salinity rising and falling due to large top offs and waiting till it absolutely needs it again. Ask yourself what can I do to make the water conditions more stable with less changes to keep my fish strong to fight it off. If Ich was that bad then mass numbers of fish in the ocean would have it. Good luck chuckG, pig.out