Another Ich (Kick ich/stop parasite) Question..for those who have used

[omgsaltwat]

I just checked it it was
PH 8.4
Alk 2.1
ammo 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 5
Sg 1.024
temp 79
Does it seem fine now?

 

[lion_crazz]

Does your alk test kit measure in meq/l? (For example, nitrates measure in ppm).
If so, that is a little bit of a low alk level. You want it between 2.86 and 4.29

 

[omgsaltwat]

It is in milli equaivaients per liter. How can I get it up?

 

[lion_crazz]

I would begin to buffer your tank with Kent's Super dkH buffer. This product works very well for me and is the only buffer I will use after trying the rest of the "top" brands' products.
I would test what your salt gives you for an alk. When you make up water for a water change, test the alk a few hours after it has been mixing and aerating.

 

[omgsaltwat]

ok thanks.

 

[bunnyl99]

I'm currently using kick ick and noticed an improvement after the first dose like MCSD22. I also have a cleaner shrimp that is contributing to healing my blue hippo. You have to finish the doses of kick ick even if it looks like it's gone. Don't stop in the middle of the treatment.

 

[miamireefr]

Well here's an update for all...... I attempted the kick ick craze and I fell to the side it doesn't work for... So as I saw that kick ick wasn't doing nothing at all I did a 15% water change, made sure all parameters were in check andd decided why not try STOP PARASITE and man it looked like it was working great by DAY3 and BAM DAY4 it's like the plague hit my tank and my mandarin was forst to go....Then it was my royal gramma, then my blue hippo biatch went down... sure enough my coral banded shrimp was feasting his arse off..... then it was my neon goby to bite the dust...and my bi-color angel,mind you I am having a fit with seeing this happen.... not only because I hate to see my fish die but the fact I just lost an investment and didn't have enough time to even enjoy the fish.
My last fish that stayed alive like a trooper was my percula and thats when I said screw it I am getting a hospital tank (5.5 gallon tank with a little filter/powerhead combo) to get flow going and adding new water which I made sure was close to spec on my tank.... I added a dose of copper to heal him without a doubt in my mind if a 50/50 medication was gonna do it.... this was 100%. Where did I F up....Temp It was solid 79 degrees when he was placed....same as main tank....when I saw him dead this morning waking up it was at 72 degrees... God I feel stupid and pissed...8 degrees I am sure is more than enough to shock the hell out of him. Anyhow throughout my recent ordeal I have a HUGE BTA alive and thriving, cleaner shrimp who really did a good job of trying to help...GREAT JOB and investment I reccomend for any reef tank....the neon goby while alive did his best to help his mates out.
Anyhow I have rethought my outcome and decided I am going to purchase a nano cube 24 gal tank to accomadate my corals, and a couple fish along with my cleaner shrimp, and decided to return the anemone and give the coral banded shrimp to my uncle for his tank and make my 46gallon an agressive tank and have some more

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fish that aren't as fragile. Along with this experience I learned ALOT in general care taking of fish in general. Thanks again to all those who gave some great advice.
NOW my last question is the parasite ick... I saw all these little fleas on my glass as if they were ants but even much smaller but still visible to the human eye. they were crawling all over the place. an LFS advised me it could be due to feeding to much and they were produced due to excess waste on the sand, and I have the tank cleaned out once a month, filter changed out every 2 weeks on the wet dry. Anyone care to answer if this is in fact ICK or was it an additional parasite that helped in killing my fish?
TIA Everyone..
Nick

 

[lion_crazz]

I am very sorry to hear that you lost all of your fish.
The little fleas were most likely not ich, but there is several things they could be.
Regardless, you need to leave your tank fishless for 6 weeks so that all ich does infact die off.

 

[miamireefr]

thanks but i guess that applies to my character of "learning the hard way". Lion can 6 weeks without the presence of fish cover most parasites death not being slely ich but others in general? I really would like to know what these tiny critters crawling over my glass are?
I want to build a better aquascape for the reef so what curing method would you reccomend if I were to put some more live rock in there considering my tank is established or if I have any other alternatives besides this. I have a LFS 5 minutes from my house. TIA
Nick

 

[lion_crazz]

Well, most parasites will die off in 6 weeks, but not all. For instance, black ich and brooklynella will live longer than that. ****** (white form of ich) and velvet will die off in 6 weeks without a host, yes. The tiny creeatures could be a number of things. I had them before. They never caused any harm.
As far as the live rock, do you have anything living currently in the display tank (invert/coral wise)?

 

[miamireefr]

Yes I still have my BTA, cleaner chrimp and coral banded........ Please shed some light to my question! Thanks again Ryan.
Almost forgot I also have a brain coral doing very well and some other coral that was a hand me down that I can really give a rats arse about considering its half dead..
Thanks,
Nick

 

[lion_crazz]

Hey Nick, I was just asking because if your tank was empty, you could just add it into the tank and cure it within your tank while the parasites are dying off. That is not a possibility, I see, though.
I would just get all the rock you plan to add at one time and put it into a big rubber maid container and cure it there. This way, you only have to go through one curing process, instead of many. Get a powerhead and a heater, and a rubbermaid container big enough to hold the rock you want to cure and give it 6 weeks in the rubbermaid.

 

[beth13eaw]

I tried kick ich and parasite stop and they take care of the problem for a little while but it always returns. These products just kill the active ich but the ich can go dormant for weeks and then when you stop using these products it will return.
The only way that I have found successful is to remove all fish from main tank for 3 months.

I know you said that you can't do a Quarentine tank right now but really it is not that expensive if you do a small 10 gal quarentine tank. Of course that depends on how many fish you have too. I put all of my fish in the QT and treated them with copper while I left just the inverts in the main tank for 3 mo. Once I put the fish back in there has been no more ich for over a year.
A quarentine tank will cost you far less than ich will.