Clowns have ICK!! Suggestions anyone?

[jgonier]

Well, I shopped all around when I bought my clowns. None of the LFS had any except 1. Yea you guessed it, *****. Now today I noticed they have ICK. I freshwater dipped them before I put them in my tank just for that reason, to prevent this, but it did not work I guess. I have no QT as of yet so now I don't know what to do.
Being I have the following, what do you recommend for treatment?
2 clowns
2 astrea snails
1 scarlet hermit
1 blue leg hermit
6# LR
10# LS
20# Dry powder sand
NO corals or anemonies or anything like that.
I do not have, nor can I afford, a refractormeter (spelling wrong i'm sure) for hyposalinity and I really don't want to use copper because it will kill my LR and LS. What other options do I have to treat my main tank?
If I set up a 10 gal. QT (which I have 1 around the house empty) and used a little sand from my tank and an outside power filter along with daily water changes, would this work as QT for now. If so, then what treatment should I use then.
Being these are the only two fish I have, I am half tempted to return them to ***** and just let my tank sit the 6 weeks until the ICK cycle has ended. I wonder if I could get ***** to QT them and treat them for me? I shall call them tomarrow about that, but until then, I will await your responses.
P.S. I did give them another DIP tonight to at least get it off them for now for a comfort thing.

 

[sweetdawn]

i think my coral beauty had ich. i didnt have my qt tank up. i have two pepprmint shrimp and a coral banded shrimp. they cleaned the spots off.

 

[jgonier]

I was just reading about the cleaner shrimp and how they eat/clean parasites off fish like ICK. I wonder if one of those could eradicate the ICK from my tank?

 

[sweetdawn]

i have not seen any white spots on my fish for a few days now. this morning i saw the peppermint shrimp cleaning him so i would try that, only costs around six dollars for a peppermint or twenty for a cleaner

 

[jgonier]

I figure if I DIPPED them right away the day I first noticed it, then it should not have had a chance to cycle into free swimming form yet, and with a cleaner shrip, if anything is still left maybe they will take care of the rest.
Off to the store I go. It's worth a shot anyhow.

 

[sweetdawn]

how is your ich problem doing?

 

[mary]

Garlic Xtreme works for my fish, along with the help of cleaner shrimp. Even healed my clowns eye which was completely clouded over, within five days. Had an outbreak of ick a few years ago from a new addition. Do not have the money for a treatment tank, but I would not trust ***** to do anything for me. Don't you have an LFS who has a knowledgable staff? Follow directions carefully using the garlic, and after treatment , a small water change. I have corals also. It is not harmful to corals or invertabrates. By now though, with all you have done, the affects of this treatment after the other med's you have used may not be such a great idea. For future outbreaks, try it. A smaller tank is more difficult to deal with these predicaments. A lot more care. A neighbor of mine is treating with garlic at this time and is getting satisfactory results. She has a fifty gal..By the way, all tanks have ich in the system. It is always present. It takes major stress, too new a tank, the wrong fish match ups, whatever to lower the resistance to the ich and other diseases. Do some research on the ultra violet light. You need good bacteria in any tank and those kill bacteria. I have only flow pumps, a skimmer, that is it. Yes, some algea but that is a given. No overload on fish. Did ***** advise you on what fish to put in? Should have been a couple chromis or three, since they need co. of there own kind. Let these hardy fish prep the water for future fishes. They are lovely to look at also.

 

[jgonier]

My tank is not over stocked. I only have two clown fish in there. My ICK troubles were not because of my LFS ***** not knowing what their doing, their fish came in with it, just didn't show up until after I got them. After I bought them their tank broke out with it also, only worse. The ***** by my house actually has staff that run saltwater at home, so they know what they are doing (to some extent). As for my ICK problem, I am still fighting it. My tank has had a problem lately with high temps. and ever sense, my fish have not showed signs of ICK. Maybe raising the tank temp. to 84 like mine went to killed off the ICK? Who knows. As soon as I get money, I'm setting up my 10 gal. as a QT tank. That way if it comes back again, I got a place to treat them this time.
Has anyone ever heard of raising tank temp. like that kills, or cures ICK?

 

[737mech]

Raising the temp only speeds up the life cycle of ich. It doesn't kill it. The only way that you can know for sure that the ich is gone is to leave your tank fishless for about 30 days. Ich can not survive without a host (fish).
I wish you the best.

 

[mary]

On hot days and it has been 83 already here in Mass., I leave a fan blowing all day and evening onto the glass front. It keeps it at about 75-77degrees. Of course we put in an air- conditioner for summer months for that room only and that does work. Overheated tanks raise the risk of losing everything. Snail, crabs, and some corals. Many fish can not tolerate it. For us, a chiller is simply too expensive. Even though the air conditioner runs up the electric bill, it is still cheaper than purchasing a chiller. It sounds like you are definately on the road to success in that you are reading and finding other solutions aside from the forum, which in intself does offer some help. Maybe you could trade the tang for a smaller species of fish? The hospital tank is a wise idea.

 

[krowleey]

you can try the reef safe med. no-ich by vish vet it worked for me, and will not hurt any inverts. i would do that with the garlic and see what happens. follow the directions and i bet you can save them. good luck

 

[jgonier]

My fish are actually doing just fine now. I freshwater dipped them when I first got them before they went into my tank. Then I freshwater dipped the again right when I first noticed the ICK. I have also added about a half gallon of stresscoat to the water over the past two weeks and the raise in temp. my tank went through I think all worked. My fish have not showed signs of ICK now for at least 5 days.
Either their ammune system kicked in to keep it away or what I did took care of it. Either way, it looks like it's gone for now. Fish are very happy and eat like pigs. I feed them about 5 times a day (little tiny pinches each time) and they eat every bit of it every time. They are very active and swim all over the tank playing with each other and doing that little shimmy/shake they do next to each other. I still think that's funny when they do that.
Thanks for all the replies and help from everyone. It is well appreciated.

 

[mary]

Am so glad to hear your fish are doing fine. With all the ups and downs we have with our tanks and inhabitants, when things are doing well it makes all the efforts very worthwhile.