HELP!!! Ich is coming!

fisharefishy99

fisharefishy99

Member
Okay I got to do this quick cause this stuff is coming quick. Someone told me to take fish that have ich and do a freshwater dip, in water that is the same temperature as my tank water. For I think 5 minutes they said. Will this work? I need help QUICK.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
For a FW dip the PH and the temp have to match the water that the fish is coming out of exactly. This is used as a last resort because it is very stressful for the fish. Can you tell us about your set up and fish?
 
fisharefishy99

fisharefishy99

Member
I have a 37 gallon tall tank. With 130 watt lighting and about 800 gallons per hour of flow. The stock is
Fish
1 bi-color angel
1 scooter blenny
6 green chromis (I can never catch them to get rid of them!!!)
3 coral catfish
a pair of false perculas
1 blue spotted puffer.
Inverts
1 red general star fish
1 condi anemone
And a small and very old clean up crew.
 
xxianxx

xxianxx

Member
no i dont belive that that a freshwater dip works plus it is very stressful on the fish and the ich r burrowed far in the fish so they r covered by external flunces. iv read for hours about ich. and many sites said a freshwater dip does nothing. and it is not good to add ick treetments directly to ur tank cause it is not good fror the inverts and the orginizums in the live rock. so i would sugest useing hyopsalinity.
just stay calm and read about it trust me iv delt with ich before.
 
xxianxx

xxianxx

Member
also ur tank is a bit over stocked and stress is one of the main factors of ick. with all those fish cramed into that tank there prob stressed to the max.
 
fisharefishy99

fisharefishy99

Member
okay thank you for the advice. Only 1 fish has ich right now. And it is one of the clownfish. I know my tank is slightly over stocked but is extremely peaceful and everyone seems happy. No fighting or pushing for room or anything. They just kind of swim lazily around. I think the big stressing factor was that when I bought the clownfish, I knew it didn't look right. The guy at the fish store even offered to do some overnight medicine dip or something to make sure. Or even order a new pair of clowns for me. But I had been looking for a month and at the time the only bad thing was one had a little jagged fin. (The guy said it came that way and had been growing back, and I trust him).
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
At this point what are you looking to do? Do you want to remove the fish and kill the parasites or are you looking to control the parasites in the tank? You have several options available. First, do you have a quarantine tank set up?
 
fisharefishy99

fisharefishy99

Member
Originally Posted by sepulatian
http:///forum/post/2677149
At this point what are you looking to do? Do you want to remove the fish and kill the parasites or are you looking to control the parasites in the tank? You have several options available. First, do you have a quarantine tank set up?
I would need to control the parasites in the tank. I have no quarantine tank. And I can't catch these fish anyways. They are smarter than I am.
 
xxianxx

xxianxx

Member
he lied torn fins r a symptom of ick. and clowns are soft fish not hearty at all and cant take much stress my tank had ich and both of my clowns didnt make it
but id get that clown out of there in a QT. tank and keep an eye and the other fish and if thy start showing signs get then into the QT.
 
fisharefishy99

fisharefishy99

Member
The only product I have to get rid of Ich is "Rid Ich+" made by Kordon for fresh and saltwater. It says it may not be safe for live rock or invertebrates. So I guess that means it involves copper...
 
fisharefishy99

fisharefishy99

Member
I am curious as to what would most likely happen if this were to go untreated. I would never do that unless I had to for some strange reason. But would it most likely completely destroy all my fish? Or would it probably just kill a few. I have had ich before plenty of times with fresh water. Only once other than this time with saltwater. And all that died was an engineer goby that had it reeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaalllllyyyyyy bad. And everyone else lived. Did I get lucky that time? Sorry for so many questions. This is scaring the crap out of me.
 
xxianxx

xxianxx

Member
ok ok so wat i would do is take all ur fish out and put them in the biggest container u have around the house. or buy a 20 dollar 10g tank at walmart. and put a filter on it so they have air. and drain half of the water out of the tank that is infested u can leave the inverts and lr in the tank the ich wont hurt them. u have to starve the ich and break there life cycle
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Don't use rid ich. It will kill all inverts in the tank. It contains Malachite green and formalin.
There are reef safe medications that you can use. They have mixed results though. Being that you have an anemone it will be up to you to decide if you want to go that route. Another option is garlic. You have to use FRESH garlic, not bottled. Being that you only have one fish that is just starting to show signs of ich then garlic would be you best bet. At the top of this board there is a FAQ written by Beth called "Common Treatments". Take a look at that. She has information about medicinal garlic as well as a list of reef safe medications. The post is long but go through it and learn about the different methods for treating ich.
I want to point out here that garlic and reef safe medications will NOT kill ich. It can help to control it and help your fish fight the parasites off though.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by fisharefishy99
http:///forum/post/2677159
I am curious as to what would most likely happen if this were to go untreated. I would never do that unless I had to for some strange reason. But would it most likely completely destroy all my fish? Or would it probably just kill a few. I have had ich before plenty of times with fresh water. Only once other than this time with saltwater. And all that died was an engineer goby that had it reeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaalllllyyyyyy bad. And everyone else lived. Did I get lucky that time? Sorry for so many questions. This is scaring the crap out of me.
It depends on how healthy your fish are. Fish can fight off the parasites. If a fish is weak then they will not be able to and will succumb to the parasites or a secondary infection.
Originally Posted by xXianXx
http:///forum/post/2677162
ok ok so wat i would do is take all ur fish out and put them in the biggest container u have around the house. or buy a 20 dollar 10g tank at walmart. and put a filter on it so they have air. and drain half of the water out of the tank that is infested u can leave the inverts and lr in the tank the ich wont hurt them. u have to starve the ich and break there life cycle
I don't think that a ten gallon tank would work with this amount of fish. Pulling the fish out is a good idea to kill the parasites. The tank would have to cycle. The fish can be treated in an uncycled tank. You have to stay on top of water changes.
 
fisharefishy99

fisharefishy99

Member
It's too late at night for me to go to the store. But first thing in the morning I am picking up garlic. Also the infected fish shows no signs of stress and is quite active. I almost dare to say it almost looks like he is getting better. Although I do not know how long he had ich. It appeared a few hours ago. And if I remember correctly, it takes more than a few hours to fall off the fish and into the substrate. I could be wrong though. My fish are like durable little cockroaches. I say that because I think they could survive a nuclear blast. I just hope they can make it through this. Thanks for all the help! I will post in the morning on how they are doing. I better go to bed before I start to babbling like I do when I get tired...
 
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