SaltISlife Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 I have an issue with ICH, my two fish (a purcula and an angel). lets back up a bit, i bought a aruguila butterfly from reef tech recently as advised to, to get rid of a bunch of majono, turns out the fish had never even entered the holding tank there as it had just come in from wherever, so long story short, i got the fish home, acclimated and in the tank, within two days i noticed it breaking out with ICH, to top things off the thing never even touched the majono and instead went straight for a colony of star polys. AHHH so now i need to catch this bugger and return him to the LFS, this is no easy task however as these fish are extremely fast and resourceful. once i returned the fish and grabbed a couple frags of posilopora instead, i returned home a little deflated, now i have ICH in my tank, does anyone have any suggestions for ridding my tank of this stuff? :mad: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonas Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 I would try and get your other two fish out and into q tank.Then leave tank with no fish for a couple months.Good luck and sorry for your trouble.Ich sucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Ich comes from stress. Think of it like a cold. We all have it but our bodies can keep it under control until we become stressed and weakened. So now that it is in your system it is hard to remove. The best way is to no add anything for atleast a month. Ich has a life cycle thatis a hard one to nail down. But I would do a WC in 2 weeks and make sure you lighty syphon off the bottom of the tank. (the cysts will pop and the 'ich' will fall to the bottom to continue the lifecycle, this is about your only chance to remove some of it) Good Luck!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 I would try and get your other two fish out and into q tank.Then leave tank with no fish for a couple months.Good luck and sorry for your trouble.Ich sucks. This is an option- but remember that will stress the fish and can make it worse. BUT it is an option to look into. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisriverfisherman Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Ich is usually brought on by stress. So by you trying to catch the said aruguila butterfly fish i think you created the problem, as you said it was no easy task.(JMO) Usually ich will go away on its own. I would make sure to mix your fishes food with garlic (garlic guard/garlic power) to promote eating, As long as your fish are eating they should over come the ich in time. I would keep your tank as stable as possible and keep an eye on your fish. I would not QT your fish, trying to catch them will just add more stress to your fish. This is just my opinion on what you have said. I think often times we try to get rid of the ich and make it worse by trying to QT fish and adding chemicals to our tanks. I hope all works out for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 I have to agree with Michael and Lewisriverfisherman. There are many unproven home remedies such as garlic and marine max. Hyposalinity is the one thing that does seem to have proven benefit but then you risk your corals an inverts. My experience with just ich is to just leave the fish alone , feed frequently and I would suspect your percula and angelfish will fight it off. Trying to catch them and moving them to a quarantine tank and then moving them back is just going to stress them out. I had a blue hippo tang that would get ich constantly and finally after about 6 weeks it seemed like the ich died off in that tank and none of the other tank inhabitants ever showed any signs of ich. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 My advice would be to remove all your fish and QT them so you never have to worry about this again. If they make it thru this cycle, it WILL pop up again and they might not be so lucky to make it thru. QT all new fish/corals/inverts as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteRock Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 I say a Cleaner shrimp, garlic in food, and regular WC's will be your best bet to get things under control without stressing everything out and having to QT your fish. Don't UV sterilizers help with this as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
returnofsid Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 You'll never get rid of the Ich, unless you pull all fish out, and QT them, in hyposalinity, for at least 8 weeks. During this same time, keep your display tank fishless. At that point, you can return the fish to the display. Your display tank will now be completely Ich Free. To keep it this way, be careful to QT any additional fish, in the future. Garlic is worthless and actually is known to cause organ damage, in Marine species of fish. Cleaner Shrimp are worthless as they don't actually remove the parasite. They clean the dead skin, scabs and wounds, left by the parasite. To actually remove the parasite, a Cleaner Shrimp would have to dig into the fish skin, to get to the parasite. There are a lot of "myths" surrounding Marine Ich. It's a good idea to read up on it, to learn what really works, and what is just a myth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Ich fact and fiction There was a great page about this on reef frontiers. There is a lot of of myth in treatment of ich http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f15/marine-ich-myths-facts-27003/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kris Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Garlic is worthless I don't believe this. Now it may be unproven but the few times I have had ich from getting new fish I have used the garlic power. Each time I have mixed it with flake food and a few days later ich was gone. Have not lost one fish to ich. So might be a myth but I will keep treating it this way if I was to get it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteRock Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Thank you for that link Kim. I have now officialy been schooled on Ich. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Garlic is worthless I don't believe this. Now it may be unproven but the few times I have had ich from getting new fish I have used the garlic power. Each time I have mixed it with flake food and a few days later ich was gone. Have not lost one fish to ich. So might be a myth but I will keep treating it this way if I was to get it again. (laugh) Kris I think there are many of us who do. I stopped using it then got ich in the new tank and started soaking the food in it again. To me it is like those people who insist Vitamin C fights off their cold. There is no scientific research but it is not causing any harm. I do like to buy fish that have been at a store for a while. I do plan on essentially using our new frag tank as a quarantine tank as well not just for fish but corals as well. Thank you for that link Kim. I have now officialy been schooled on Ich. You're welcome Pete. I thought it was the best summary I had seen about the subject. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaltISlife Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 ive read the responses you guys have given me on this and it looks like i have a few options, up till now ive just left them alone, i do have a large cleaner shrimp whos been an inhabitant for around a year or so and hes constantly cleaning the clown and coral beauty, ive also added some fresh garlic extract to their regular diet, ive noticed the clown being VERY excited to eat, the angel however is not quite so. also ive noticed the angel having irregular looking eyes, cloudy and almost too big for its sockets, i understand this is called popeye. and its tail and fins are tattered. dang butterfly wreeked havoc on my fish. i am currently in a state of up in arms..ness as i dont have a qt tank and i agree that trying to catch these fish with all the corals and LR in the tank would be catostrophic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
returnofsid Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Here's another article, regarding some of the Myths of Ich, that I wrote, awhile back. http://spcdareefs.org/forum/index.php?topic=161.0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Garlic is worthless I don't believe this. Now it may be unproven but the few times I have had ich from getting new fish I have used the garlic power. Each time I have mixed it with flake food and a few days later ich was gone. Have not lost one fish to ich. So might be a myth but I will keep treating it this way if I was to get it again. Thats because: 4. Cycle can be completed in less than 7 days From that handy link Kim posted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaltISlife Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 id like to setup a hospital tank, can this be done easily or is it basically the same as setting up a whole new system Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 id like to setup a hospital tank' date=' can this be done easily or is it basically the same as setting up a whole new system[/quote'] Easiest hospital tank is a 20g with and over the back filter, a basic light, a heater with some pieces of PVC pipe for the fish to take shelter in. Take the filter media and leave it in your DT sump to grow you good bacteria on it, (week or 2) and when the QT is needed take it from the sump and put it in the HOB filter. After qt is done clean and dry HOB filter media very well and when dry put it back in the DT sump and let the bacteria start to grow again for the next time you need it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 I'm treating a couple angel fish i picked up over the weekend. I have them in a 10gal tank with a few PVC fittings, a 50w heater and an Aquaclear HOB filter. Thats it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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