HELP!!!! Ich not going away!!!!

fishgirl2010

New Member
I have an outbreak of ich in my 120 g. fish only tank (NO inverts) and have been treating this for 6 days now with Seachem Paraguard and not seeing any visible results. My Hippo Tang and DF Puffer are the only ones with "visible" symptoms and I am not seeing any improvement (although I am not seeing anyone else develop visible spots, yet). Anyway I am treating my display tank and cannot move 13 large aggressive fish in a hospital tank, therefore, I cannot do hypo. I am thinking about switching to Cupermine but I don’t know if I am not giving Paraguard enough time? I just don’t want to sit around using Paraguard and lose my fish if the stuff is not working. I also am not going to do a FW dip because I tried that already and about lost my Puffer. Does anyone know if Paraguard actually works and if so, how long does it take? I know the cycle of ich can take a month or two, but I just don’t know if Paraguard is doing any good. Should I switch to Cupermine?????? Will Cupermine kill my Lion or any other?
These are the fish I have:
Lionfish
Hippo Tang
Yellow Tang-Believe it or not, no visible symptoms—yet
A few damsels and FP clown
Eel
Fox Face Rabbit
DF Puffer
Valentini Puffer
Panther Grouper
Trigger

PLEASE HELP, I DON’T WANT TO LOSE MY BABIES J
 

deejeff442

Active Member
paragard is junt along with any other medicines .ALL JUNK.
the only thing to get rid of ich is copper(cupermine) or hypo
now,how deep is your sand bed?is there lr in the tank?
if you do copper the rock will die off and the tank will crash.take out the lr and put it in totes for a month,if the sand bed is an inch or less i would hypo.anything in a tank will absorb copper and make it almost impossible to keep it at the right level.
 

meowzer

Moderator
YEAH....Personally I would not use paraguard in a SW tank
and YOU can as Jeff says take the rock out...some sand too, if you want to...put them in a tote with a heater and a powerhead......read teh section on HYPOSALINITY and follow the driections exactly.....
 

deejeff442

Active Member
not to change the subject but....meowser do you have your new mp40 going?
i still cant believe how great these things are.my torch coral has never really extended its arms .but now they are 3 inches out and swaying all over.just wished i sucked it up a year ago and got them.
back to the post..i still amazes me that lfs will still sell ich cures and say they work.plus the fact that they are expensive.
copper is just too tricky and needs to really be watched too carefully.its just a pain.
hypo at 1.007-1.008 is really the way to go.
 

meowzer

Moderator
YES JEFF...and I LOVE THEM
LOL....of course LFS will sell worthless treatments.....they are there to make MONEY (not all, but most) the more stuff that doesn't work, to more you come back and buy
 

deejeff442

Active Member
pretty sad.i know when i started i went through it with the lfs.but then there wasnt an internet.now there is just too much info on here to be suckered by the store.one of the big lfs here was telling me they sell alot of kick ich.they swear it works.yea it was $60 a bottle.i love going to the lfs and asking questions.
i am still so happy nike told me about this new lfs .the clams and corals i bought are just doing awesome.
i emailed my fish supplier he is on the look out for a 4 inch achilles for me :O)
i really need to figure out what fish i want for my 250.i only has a flame hawk,sail fin and clown.i really dont have a clue what to get.
i am really liking the smaller fish now.i have always gotten 4-7 inch fish but the smaller one seem to dart through the rock caves more and are alot more entertaining.
 

fishgirl2010

New Member
OK thanks....My sand is about 4 inches all around. I have about 200 pounds of live rock. I think I will do that, beats trying to move all my fish. I hope I am not too late for my Puffer, he is not looking good. Which treatment is best then, Copper or Hypo and which will work the "quickest". Thanks!!!!!
 

deejeff442

Active Member
neither work faster.they both work at different stages of the ick cycle.copper in the free swimming stage and the hypo in the reproductive stage .
how long have you seen the ich on them?
thats alot of sand.i would get some new water ready and use a syphon to suck out as much sand as you can doing a water change.a 50% water change would help relieve some stress.
i only like to keep one inch of sand but thats just me.4 inches is a really deep sand bed and could cause nitrate problems down the road .
its going to be a pain and alot of work but to save the fish it needs to be done without a big qt set up.
 

fishgirl2010

New Member
I take that back, four inches is too much, more like 2 inches all around.....Which method would harm my sand and fish the least and I suppose I will go with that. I also plan to leave a few LR for hiding spots. I have had this for about 10 days now......
 

deejeff442

Active Member
hypo is safer by far if you have never did copper.i would still suck out as much sand as i could.put it in a bucket then wash it in fresh water.you can always put it back later.do not leave the rock in the tank.when you either hypo or copper it will kill the rock and cause an ammonia spike that will usually kill the fish.go to home depot and buy some 4 inch pvc pieces for them to hide in.get a few 90 degree and a couple "t" pieces.alot of us use them in our qt.
i would get on it as soon as possible.
 

meowzer

Moderator
I would never do copper in a dt.....so if you intend to do it that way....DO HYPO.....do not add copper
 

deejeff442

Active Member
ick usually stays on a fish for 5-7 days so at ten which is odd.it is ready to drop to the sand and reproduce.if the fish make it a few more days and you can get the sand out and the rock then start the 48 hour salinity drop you should be ok.but time is not on your side at this point.
 

deejeff442

Active Member
out of my mind.i stamped a big patio and walkway this morning got home washed up.my wife's sister is in town and they went shopping so i got nothing to do till they get back here.
i posted a thread for help finding me some suggestions for more fish for my tank.i really have been looking for something to add but have no clue what to get?
the poster has a problem i had a few years ago .i had to take out 300 lbs of rock and hypo my 250.it was terrible .alot of work but the hypo worked that time around.tell ya what it takes alot of freshwater to bring the salt down in a 250 gallon system over 6 water changes
 

deejeff442

Active Member
oh my fricken god my wife just called on her way home from shopping.there was a minature pincher in the road .so she picked it up and is bringing it home.wtf?i already have 6 dogs.she asked me to call a few people if they want him.ugggggg.
 

deejeff442

Active Member
no good.she went to a big flea market 2 1/2 hours from here .she found it at a gas station i guess.my pitbull will give it problems.he was another dog that kept coming into our old neighbor hood so we took him in.he is a great dog but not to strange dogs .not at all.just sitting here rubbing my face whew i am tired.
 

fishgirl2010

New Member
Hypo it is than, this is going to be fun.....thanks *****, what was I thinking, save the lionfish, but wait, kill the rest of your fish in the process.........grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
 

deejeff442

Active Member
i got 4 fish from *****.but i put them in my 55 qt.i bought a hippo tang,coral beauty,sailfin tang and a clarkii clown.the hippo and coral beauty died from lympho.
they sell their fish cheap but you can always expect disease.the sailfin and clown are doing awesome in my dt now .actually they are never more than a few inches from each other.buds for life i guess.i know meowser buys from here and dont qt and she has had great luck with them.
luckily i have two great places by me to buy fish that are always in good health but i still qt.i sure dont want to try and catch a 3 inch fish in a 250 gallon with 300 lbs of rock in it.
deffinitly do the hypo but you really need to have a refractor to measure salinity .dont do it with a hydrometer it wont work.
 
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