I thinnk I got ick please help

[Laramie]

So one of my clowns has developed a bunch of little white spots. I know that what ever it is probably isn't good. The Question is do I need to remove all of my fish from the tank and quarantine or can I treat with lots of food and maybe garlic? If quarantine is most recommended how do I go about setting up a quarantine tanks? I have 2 clowns 1", a coral beauty 1.5", and a firefish goby 2". catching any of them is going to be very difficult I will probably have to remove all of my rock to do it.

I have read where other people have been successful without quarantine but not sure exactly what they used.

Please help.

 

[Laramie]

I have a UV sterilizer I haven't hooked up yet just need a pump for it (going to run a separate loop) would this help?

 

[FinsUp]

Hard to tell if it's ich without some really good pics. I've had good luck with mild cases of ich by soaking nori/food in garlic, and having a good-eatin' cleaner shrimp. For more serious cases, quarantine is a better answer.

 

[jda123]

If you don't have a QT already set up and ready, then adding the fish to a fresh non-cycled tank would be worse for them than the ich.

Will they eat pellets or flake? If so, soak them in some garlic.

 

[Laramie]

How does one go about soaking in garlic?

 

[Laramie]

[attachment=65978:name] I know these pics aren't the best but she hardly sits still

 

[bsharpe]

Feed garlic powder, they love it and very easy.

 

[Munch]

Looks like Ick

 

[Dr.DiSilicate]

How does one go about soaking in garlic?

Kent garlic extreme or the like. Comes liquid and has a dropper. I also dose some into the tank as well. At the least it helps them keep eating. Feed an extra time or 2 a day.

I've also used uv to help kill the ick in the water column.

You can get medicated food, brand name escapes me. I know aquatic art caries it.

Do water changes regularly to keep water quality as good as possible and to keep up with the extra feeding.

With healthy fish that are eating well the ick usually runs it's course. Watch for a couple of weeks. Good luck!.

 

[Andrew_bram]

Dr gs it contain chloriquin phosphate. It works a little different the copper as it kills the ich via bloodstream this is a method used by many large commercial aquariums. It is also use by bass pro or cabelas but I can't remember which one. Also being bonded to food makes it reef safe to a certain degree( follow intructions). It is an anti malaria drug which is same type of parasite as ich. Bob Fenner has written about this.

 

[sethsolomon]

I have a UV sterilizer I haven't hooked up yet just need a pump for it (going to run a separate loop) would this help?

For this to kill ick, you will need to run 1w of UV per 5 gallons(ish) But it will also kill your beneficial bacteria. Just feed a garlic based food like frozen food soaked in garlic oil/powder. I have found feeding with NLS Thera a+ pellets help a ton!(The only manufactured food I feed. The rest of the time I feed frozen)

Links: http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/new-life-spectrum-thera-a-fish-anti-parasitic-formula.html

 

[ReefCheif]

DO NOT ADD CHEMICALS TO YOUR DISPLAY!! There are other ways

Slowly raise temp to 84, feed heavy nori soaked in garlic and meaty foods. Ive said this 100 times on this forum, you cannot kill the parasite until you understand its life cycle. The only true way to kill it is to keep it from re producing, hense the high temp. Hobbiest claim that once you have ich its always present in small amounts, this is becuase its never truley killed off. Ich has 4 stages in its life cycle, you have to cut one of these stages out to fully and successfully erradicate it.

I fought ich in my 180, not one chemical used, not one fish or invert or coral lost using the method above.

A diatom filter can also help with ick believe it or not.

 

[Laramie]

DO NOT ADD CHEMICALS TO YOUR DISPLAY!! There are other ways

Slowly raise temp to 84, feed heavy nori soaked in garlic and meaty foods. Ive said this 100 times on this forum, you cannot kill the parasite until you understand its life cycle. The only true way to kill it is to keep it from re producing, hense the high temp. Hobbiest claim that once you have ich its always present in small amounts, this is becuase its never truley killed off. Ich has 4 stages in its life cycle, you have to cut one of these stages out to fully and successfully erradicate it.

I fought ich in my 180, not one chemical used, not one fish or invert or coral lost using the method above.

A diatom filter can also help with ick believe it or not.

Thanks everybody for the advice. I think I am going to take the advice of slowly raising my water temp and feeding garlic. Question my water is currently about 74 how long should I take to raise it to 84?

 

[Blindrage]

This wiki says 1 degree every few hours:
http://www.wikihow.com/Treat-Tropical-Fish-With-White-Spot-Disease-(ich)

That is supported by the followng link as well, and I found other places that give the same advice:
http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_ich2.php

So conservative would be 1 deg Fahrenheit per 3-4 hours.

Please note that this was quick research and not based on my experience. I would follow advice from more experienced hobbyists that I trusted if it differed from this.

 

[sethsolomon]

Thanks everybody for the advice. I think I am going to take the advice of slowly raising my water temp and feeding garlic. Question my water is currently about 74 how long should I take to raise it to 84?

10 - 20 days IMO

 

[Laramie]

In general is it better to run my reef in the mid 80's opposed to the low 70's?

 

[ReefCheif]

Thanks everybody for the advice. I think I am going to take the advice of slowly raising my water temp and feeding garlic. Question my water is currently about 74 how long should I take to raise it to 84?

74? Ouch. Either way you should raise your temp. I mean, thats kinda low IMO.

Do you have coral or inverts? If yes, do not raise temp more than 1 degree per day, if no coral or inverts you can get away with 2 degrees per day. But keep in mind this needs to be done slowly, very slowly.

 

[ReefCheif]

In general is it better to run my reef in the mid 80's opposed to the low 70's?

I keep mine at 80 degrees at all time. Crypto (ich) thirves in lower temps, its gonna reak havok at 74 degrees, get that temp up.

 

[Laramie]

Alright now I'm confused, there are no longer any white spots on my clown. I'm still going to act like I have ick but I thought I should give an update.

 

[ReefCheif]

Again, I refer to my post above about researching and understanding the life cycle of Cryptocaryon irritans (saltwater ich)

1. Trophont – feeding stage, this is the white spots you see on your fish. It has basically burrowed under the slime coat and attached itself to the host, they are invisable when first attached, once you see them the fish has been infected for a while.
2. Protomont – free swimming to encyst stage, its basically let go of the host and its looking for a place to set up shop and reproduce
3. Tomont – Reproductive stage, explains itself, this is the most important stage in killing crypto in my honest opinion
4. Theronts – free swimming looking to infect stage – the tomonts have reproduced, these are the off spring, looking to start the cycle all over again.

Your in the "Protomont" stage of the infection.