Best Cleaner Shrimp

lcaldwell85

lcaldwell85

Member
Well, I've got the dreaded ich in my main display. It's not feasible at this juncture to try to QT all of my fish. I've come to the conclusion it's going to be impossible to quarantine them after spending several hours chasing my coral beauty with a net and succeeding in doing nothing more than freaking her out even worse. She's the only one showing symptoms. The clowns, the green chromis, and a pair of firefish are eating normally and not showing any spots. I've turned up the temp in the display to around 82 and it's been hovering there for around a week. I've been feeding garlic soaked food at every feeding, and the temp increase has seemed to get the ich somewhat in check. Can anyone suggest some good cleaners to add to the tank? I've got two peppermint shrimp, so anything that wouldn't get along with them is pretty much instantly DQ'd.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by lcaldwell85 http:///t/391351/best-cleaner-shrimp#post_3470094
Well, I've got the dreaded ich in my main display. It's not feasible at this juncture to try to QT all of my fish. I've come to the conclusion it's going to be impossible to quarantine them after spending several hours chasing my coral beauty with a net and succeeding in doing nothing more than freaking her out even worse. She's the only one showing symptoms. The clowns, the green chromis, and a pair of firefish are eating normally and not showing any spots. I've turned up the temp in the display to around 82 and it's been hovering there for around a week. I've been feeding garlic soaked food at every feeding, and the temp increase has seemed to get the ich somewhat in check. Can anyone suggest some good cleaners to add to the tank? I've got two peppermint shrimp, so anything that wouldn't get along with them is pretty much instantly DQ'd.
Unfortunately the only way to truly rid the tank of ich is to treat the fish in a separate system and leave your tank fallow for 8 weeks. In the long run, this really is best for the fish and your tank, even if it means tearing apart the rock work now to catch the fish. That being said, I know that's not what most people want to do. I have ich in my tank, I make it no secret. There is no way in h*ll that I'm going through the process of draining my system and QT'ing all my fish, it's just not going to happen, so I feel your pain. Feed your fish vitamins with every meal and don't stress them out. It's also a good idea to NOT add any other fish to the system. I know there is still ich in my tank, as I've never treated it, but I rarely see it. But when I do add a new fish, they get it immediately. My fish are all happy together, etc and are able to fight it off and have been this way for years. If I see it flare up, I know something is not right in my tank. Is this the right way to go about ich? Debatable. But it is an option, especially for those of us with numerous fish in a large system. Either way, it works for me, I just can't add any new specimens to my tank anymore. I keep my tank at 79*, soak food in garlic and vitamins, feed a little on the heavy side, have a UV sterilizer (not sure that it really does much, but I had one, so why not), have two cleaner shrimp (fire and skunk) and a cleaner wrasse (I do not recommend one, especially in a smaller system, but nonetheless, I have one) and my fish are happy and healthy. You're going to have to monitor.
If you have a smaller system (less than 90G), I really do recommend trying to catch the fish and QT them. Whether you drain your tank for a few minutes to catch the fish, or move rocks to do so, it really is best in the long run.
 
lcaldwell85

lcaldwell85

Member
I understand. I also don't think my QT (ten gallon) is large enough to house my current load comfortably. The coral beauty while fine with everyone else in a 72 gallon, may get very territorial upon being placed into such small confines. I know eventually I will need to treat fully for the ich and remove the fish from the display, but I was hoping to delay the inevitable until I can get a larger QT tank, or at least a seperate one to confine her away from everyone else. I plan on adding no more fish to the display until I can do this, but I did plan on building my live rock and invert load. If I keep the temperature up, and the supplimental feedings, and if I can force the ich to detach from my fish with the temp increase do you think this would be okay until I can get a new QT setup/cycled successfully? I don't want to risk jamming them all into too tiny confines and stressing them even further.
 
lcaldwell85

lcaldwell85

Member
Also, I've always gotten really good advice from you, so I'm glad when I get a response from you. So thanks for your help! Perhaps if you get the time you could drop by my "pictures, finally" thread. I added new pictures of rocks and I'm trying to identify some hitchhikers! Thanks!
 
xcali1985

xcali1985

Active Member
I am in the same boat as BTLD, I QT all fish before they go in, however, battling ich if it ever somehow makes it into the tank would be a challenge as I don't have anywhere to put 20+ fish especially heavy swimmers like wrasse.
I would just treat with metronidazole and suffer the cost. I say start soaking food in it overnight along with garlic.
Good Luck.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by lcaldwell85 http:///t/391351/best-cleaner-shrimp#post_3470177
I understand. I also don't think my QT (ten gallon) is large enough to house my current load comfortably. The coral beauty while fine with everyone else in a 72 gallon, may get very territorial upon being placed into such small confines. I know eventually I will need to treat fully for the ich and remove the fish from the display, but I was hoping to delay the inevitable until I can get a larger QT tank, or at least a seperate one to confine her away from everyone else. I plan on adding no more fish to the display until I can do this, but I did plan on building my live rock and invert load. If I keep the temperature up, and the supplimental feedings, and if I can force the ich to detach from my fish with the temp increase do you think this would be okay until I can get a new QT setup/cycled successfully? I don't want to risk jamming them all into too tiny confines and stressing them even further.
It's hit or miss. If your fish are healthy enough, they may be able to fight off most of it until you have a proper QT set up for them.
It doesn't take much for a QT, if you go through the Diseased Fish section of this forum, Beth and others give ways to speed up setting up a QT. I say, if you're fish are fighting it off, try to do a full cycle on the QT, it's always worked out better for me in the long run. In the mean time, I actually would not add anything else to your DT. The more you have your hands in and out of that tank, the more likely the fish are to get stressed, which can make it much harder for them to fight off the ich.
 
lcaldwell85

lcaldwell85

Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xcali1985 http:///t/391351/best-cleaner-shrimp#post_3470183
I am in the same boat as BTLD, I QT all fish before they go in, however, battling ich if it ever somehow makes it into the tank would be a challenge as I don't have anywhere to put 20+ fish especially heavy swimmers like wrasse.
I would just treat with metronidazole and suffer the cost. I say start soaking food in it overnight along with garlic.
Good Luck.
Thanks. I will research metronidazole, but will it harm my corals and inverts?
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
I'm a vitamin/garlic soaker and up the temp. Again, I have to stress for anyone else reading this, this will not cure the ich, but can help short term.
 
lcaldwell85

lcaldwell85

Member
The fish are looking a lot better. They were swimming peacefully when I went home on lunch, and the only visible spots now are on their fins. I know this doesn't mean that the ich has receeded, and it's just planning it's next attack in the tank... But I was wondering, has anyone had any success using Rid Ich Plus? I was considering instead of waiting on getting a larger quarantine cycled. It states to only remove inverts from the display. Would that mean if I kept these guys in a bucket with a heater that I would be safe to treat the rest of the tank and not harm the corals? Has anyone had any experience with this treatment?
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Don't use it. Keep in mind that besides the main inverts like snails and shrimp that are in your tank, there are also pods, etc that your tank needs. Anything that tells you to remove inverts before treatment is also going to kill off your beneficial bacterias. There are really only two effective treatments for ich: 1) hypo salinity 2) copper. Neither of which can be done on the main tank.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
DO NOT USE A CHEMICAL......believe me....I tried once thinking I could squeak by and cheat, and lost almost everything in one of my tanks....I will never try the "easy" way out or ever tell anyone to do it either
HYPO.......set up your HT......best way IMO (I never tried copper)
 
lcaldwell85

lcaldwell85

Member
@Meowzer, I have one QT set up currenty, but it's only a ten gallon. It would be fine for the pair of fire fish, my clowns, and green chromis, albeit slightly crowded. It's the coral beauty I'm concerned with stressing over the small confines and getting agressive with the other guys. I need to set up and get cycled another QT to possibly house her seperately, and I don't see the point behind fishing all of them out but her, as I'd like to start all at once with letting the tank go fallow.
@acrylic- You would think as much, but it seems like they stress more under the moonlight and blue light settings. Or maybe the ich is just more pronounced looking and their owner stresses more. LOL. Either way, they look a lot better during regular "daylight" setting, and don't appear to be distressed at all.
 
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