I Am Livid!!!

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eric b 125

Guest
to the point of just throwing in the towel. really, i dont know why i even keep a saltwater tank. i rarely get the time to enjoy it, and yet i have no problem dumping money into it.
i put my fish through 5 weeks of hypo, left the DT fishless for the better part of 7 weeks, havent added any fish, fed any brine, etc. and yet the same fish that first showed signs of ich before, now has it again!!! and i just put the tank i use for hypo into storage. i'm so mad right now. i love this hobby, and have no idea why, but this is just retarded. 3 months of hypo in 4 months- wheres the enjoyment?
 

meowzer

Moderator
Sorry to hear about your problems....wish I could help you out with some advice, but all I can do is say sorry...
 

flower

Well-Known Member
I too could not rid my tank of ich. I live with it. I feed my fish some fresh garlic tainted shrimp to boost the immune system and keep my tank nice and warm to make sure my fish can be strong enough to resist the parasite.
3 years later and I haven't lost a single fish to ich. My Hippo is the one that stresses the most. Even a water change can cause it to break out. I don't even bother to try and fix it anymore.
I used "reef safe" medicines to no avail and they made my Royal Gramma die from some kind of fungus she developed from the meds. Ich didn't kill the fish...trying to fix it did.
 

oneradtek

Active Member
yea it can be a very annoying hobby to say the least!
I had some run ins with ich and ive come to learn this. No matter what you do, every tank will ALWAYS have ich. Doesnt matter how careful you are. Yes, you can limit the spread of parasites. I have never hypo'd, just fed garlic soaked foods using GVH solution. if your fish are not stressed, they wont generally get ich. I would let them live in the DT for a few weeks and see how it goes, just provided good nutrition and limit the stress. if you have hardy fish,youll be okay.
 

pezenfuego

Active Member
I'm not even going to try convince you otherwise. It seems as if you have a legitimate reason to throw in the towel. Sorry to hear about your problems. If in the future you have more free time to enjoy your tank, the hobby will probably call you back. Sometimes you just need a fresh start as well. I won't convince you otherwise because in all honesty, if I didn't have time to enjoy my tank, I wouldn't spend a dime on it. Hopefully you'll get back in it later.
 

debbie

Active Member
I hear ya loud and clear, its not a cheap hobby and canbe very frusterating at times too. I guess that is one reason I have downsized to a 3 gal with just a few of my favorite corals and a cleaner shrimp. I have spent more money in the 5 years in this hobby than I have on my freshwater.
Trying to treat sick fish is also a challenge as you have found its not easy and alot of times the fish don't make it. I to have been there with some fish.
If you have some corals and some inverts you like then just keep that going for a while, take a break from the fish thing and then maybe later on at one fish at a time and see what happens.
Good luck
 

sminker

Member
ill probably get flamed for this one but here is goes.
Ive had a nice freshwater tank with Discus, gold nuggets, rope fish, etc... after a few years i converted to a saltwater tank. ive never once quarantined, treated with medication or anything. just about any fish you buy will have ich. doesnt matter what store. online or LFS's. ive never lost a fish to Ich. regular water changes and feeding heavier with garlic have been the only two things i have ever done.
like just recently i bought a purple tang, looked beautiful and only $80 to boot.
he had small white dots (ich), and i popped him in my DT. after two weeks all spots are gone and my other fish look perfect. ive always been a huge believer in a well maintained tank is a healthy tank.
P.S. I love to feed with garlic a few times a week. Might not help them medically but the fish seem to love it which helps keep up their appetite.
 

drfixjet

Member
LOL.... Perfect timing on this post....... Im in the mist of battle with ICH as we speak.... and am ohhhh so frustrated my self..... My dilema started with a nice hearty sail fin tang I purchased from a not so local LFS..... I had a 15g qt up and running and had every intention of putting hime in there but thought what the heck he looks healthy..... So into my DT he went... Couple of days later he was covered in ICH.... My other 11 fish started too also show signs of ICH... I took the sail fin out and put him in my qt asap and started him on hypo..... 2 days went by and the fish werent getting any better so I took out my carbon and added ich attack... that was a waste of time and money... seemed the ich started to get worse with that stuff... So in an effort to be proactive and not lose any fish I gave away my 5 damsels and purchased a 29g qt to hypo my remaining 7 best fish.... so there are 7 fish in my qt undergoing hypo....well 6 now I lost one of my perc clowns, not to the ICH specifically but looks like he had an infection due to it....... yes the tank is a bit over stocked... that is causing me to do water changes every day and dose the tank with amo-lock to keep the amonia levels down....... At this point the fish are doing ok, they are a little stressed but I am on top of the levels and check often..... If the tank conditions dont improve by tommorrow and the fish dont look well I will more than likely be putting them back in the DT and going a diff route with treatment..... point of the this long A$$ post is that I was having fun in the begining but now I am working on my tank everyday and my enjoyment level has declined very much....
 

oneradtek

Active Member
i cant agree more...
Originally Posted by sminker
http:///forum/post/3036473
ill probably get flamed for this one but here is goes.
Ive had a nice freshwater tank with Discus, gold nuggets, rope fish, etc... after a few years i converted to a saltwater tank. ive never once quarantined, treated with medication or anything. just about any fish you buy will have ich. doesnt matter what store. online or LFS's. ive never lost a fish to Ich. regular water changes and feeding heavier with garlic have been the only two things i have ever done.
like just recently i bought a purple tang, looked beautiful and only $80 to boot.
he had small white dots (ich), and i popped him in my DT. after two weeks all spots are gone and my other fish look perfect. ive always been a huge believer in a well maintained tank is a healthy tank.
P.S. I love to feed with garlic a few times a week. Might not help them medically but the fish seem to love it which helps keep up their appetite.
 

oneradtek

Active Member
another key thing ive learned in this hobby, worrying does you NO GOOD, and over-thinking everything will kill your hobby!
 

cranberry

Active Member
I'm just curious, what was the salinity of the water for the duration of the hypo treatment? And how did you measure this? Refractormeter? Hydrometer?
 
E

eric b 125

Guest
thanks for the replies folks. i guess i just needed to vent. my fish is looking better, but i still want to hypo them again, cause i'm not one to really cut corners. i cant get out of the hobby, no matter how frustrating it can be sometimes. if anything, the tank gives me something to do. i've been waiting for this nice weather to come around to the Burgh so that i can break my tank down to drill and paint it, add a sump, reaquascape, etc. so i guess the fish would be in a qt anyways.
cranberry: to answer your question, i had the fish in 1.008-1.009 for the duration of hypo, i never let it pass 1.009, since ich can survive 1.010. i measure my salinity with a refractometer, which was calibrated to mfgr specs and its an ATC model. i measured salinity everyday, and watched my evaporation very closely, topping off nearly everyday, even if it was just a cup or two. i honestly dont know what happened, but having to hypo again means that i can take my time setting it back up. until i have all the necessary equipment, i'm just going to keep a close eye on the ich thats present. even with my previous experience it just showed on my hippo. i'll start soaking food in garlic a little more often and just try to keep it under control before trying to kill it off again.
 

d-man

Member
Originally Posted by oneradtek
http:///forum/post/3036548
another key thing ive learned in this hobby, worrying does you NO GOOD, and over-thinking everything will kill your hobby!
ah perspective not all of us are fully addicted, it's not a bad addition but it still is one
 
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eric b 125

Guest
i'm pretty sure. it looks like sand that is stuck to the fish. almost like a tiny white-head, without the pimple bump. i dont know what else it could be. i've tried getting pics, but a crappy camera paired with a notoriously skittish fish made it impossible to get a clear one. both of these ich 'outbreaks' only presented on my blue hippo. i think it's because she is the most nervous fish in my tank. she hides a lot, and anytime you go into the room, if she is out, she darts back into her preferred cave. if you sit in front of the tank, she'll come out, but she hides from any quick movement. i hate her for that, but i do like that she is sensitive to certain ailments because it gives me an early warning that something is wrong, therefore giving me time to treat things.
quick question about garlic use, and i may post this as a thread so i can get more peoples feedback: i have "Kent: Fresh/Marine Garlic Xtreme. Attractant & Food Supplement For Marine Or Saltwater Fishes". this is what i used today to soak the food. i've read, though, i think a post from Beth or Meowzer, that this garlic is only good as an attractant, and does little to boost immune systems. in order to boost the immune system of fish, it's neccessary to crush a clove and soak in the fresh juices. any opinions on this? this Kent product is 99% Garlic juice w/ the remaining 1% citric and ascorbic acids (as preservatives).
 

sminker

Member
i use the kents also.
theres no real "scientifically proven" statements about garlic. everyones has their opinions about it helping the immune system.
i just know that the fish go crazy when i put a tiny drop in the tank. they will eat like pigs.
when i encounter Ich i just feed heavier with garlic soaked food. a fat fish is a healthier fish. also i feed by hand ALOT. that way whenever i do maintenance the fish just act like nothings going on. not a single fish will hide when i come around. i can even get my lawnmower to sit in my hand and eat.
one thing im reading in this thread is how some of you capture the fish and move them from tank to tank. that is a HUGE stress for fish.
imagine your the fish and you are itchier than heck and now some big ugly dude is frantically chasing you around the tank with some big green thing so he can catch you and put you in some small a$$ tank with no rock.
that would suck. i wouldnt have much will to live either.
 
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eric b 125

Guest
sminker: yeah, moving fish from one tank to another can be and is stressful to them, but sometimes it's something that has to be done. i dont net my fish anymore, especially the tangs, since i had a bad experience getting my naso tangs' barb stuck in a net before. secondly, i have a 55 gallon qt, which would be small for these fish long-term, but they have enough room in there to not bump-heads with the other fish for 6 weeks. also, every qt should have something in there to provide the fish w/ a hiding space, like a piece of pvc or some fake corals.
oneradtek: i agree and disagree with your statement about ich always being present in our systems. i think that many people, like Cranberry and sminker, are able to keep a "healthy" tank even with the presence of ich. to me, if there is a parasite in the water column, i dont consider my system to be healthy. i think its possible, and feasable, to have an ich-less system. why my last hypo treatment was unsuccessful is beyond me, but the process makes it possible to rid the tank of ich, so i'll give it another shot. i'll probably do two full months of hypo, and set my hypo tank up in a more permanent place so it doesnt get in the way, since it will be up for a while. if this treatment doesnt work, then maybe i'll have to learn to live with it, but right now i'm just not comfortable knowing that there is something that i could be doing but choose not to. i'll cross that bridge if i ever get to it, hopefully i wont. i have a full stock-list, so i wont be adding any new fish to my system unless something should die, and even then, i could stand to have a few less fish, especially when my tank is ready for coral. when i do decide to get a new fish, i'll have to re-think my qt process, maybe making hypo part of the standard procedure for fish.
 

jemshores

Member
Originally Posted by oneradtek
http:///forum/post/3036548
another key thing ive learned in this hobby, worrying does you NO GOOD, and over-thinking everything will kill your hobby!
AMEN to that! Thinking, reading, common sense...all that and us hobbyists still have problems
. But I love it and with trial and error it will all work out! But I use Selcon in all my foods (tried the garlic-fresh-but fishes didn't like it-go figure) and have not had anyone sick in 2 years! Just IMO. :)
 
I have read that due to the life cycle of the parasite that treatment should last for 4 weeks AFTER the last spot was seen on a fish. Perhaps 7 weeks is not long enough?
 

jackri

Active Member
Originally Posted by oneradtek
http:///forum/post/3036423
yea it can be a very annoying hobby to say the least!
I had some run ins with ich and ive come to learn this. No matter what you do, every tank will ALWAYS have ich. Doesnt matter how careful you are. Yes, you can limit the spread of parasites. I have never hypo'd, just fed garlic soaked foods using GVH solution. if your fish are not stressed, they wont generally get ich. I would let them live in the DT for a few weeks and see how it goes, just provided good nutrition and limit the stress. if you have hardy fish,youll be okay.
You will not ALWAYS have ich.. it's a parasite and if you don't have it, don't introduce it, it won't just magically appear.
It can take up to 12 months for hte full life cycle of ich to run it's course... nasty parasite to say the least.
I go heavy on corals and light on fish and SUPER SUPER PICKY and then QT the fish -- just based on the fact I've had ich and pretty much went fishless for awhile.
Frustrating to say the least I'll agree.
 
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