I jinxed myself. I got an ick outbreak Help please

[lil.guppy]

Well the stupid yellow belly tang gave ick to my my powder blue a few days after getting him and they have been battling it ever since.
I have been feeding them garlic foods though I know that could be a myth.
I can catch the powder and put him in another tank to treat him but there is no way I can catch this little tang.
So my question is....
Is there anything I can use to treat the whole tank that wont hurt my soft and hard coral?

 

[srfisher17]

There are some new "miracle" cures on the market that claim to be reef safe; but I've heard nothing very encouraging about them. Until something else proves itself; I'm still convinced that ich can only be completely cured using hypo or copper. Either would require you to catch all the fish for QT; even if you have to move everything in the tank. People have used eggcrate to divide the tank, making catching him easier. I assume you've read Beth's thread, but here it is: https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=127007.

 

[lil.guppy]

Ok so is all I have to do is put a filter and a heater in my 10 gallon? Or do I need to put sand and a peice of live rock?

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by lil.guppy
http:///forum/post/3024857
Ok so is all I have to do is put a filter and a heater in my 10 gallon? Or do I need to put sand and a peice of live rock?
No LR. Use a piece of PVC or similar stuff to give them some shelter. Any filter will work, but remember, your QT won't be cycled. You'll have to do frequent water changes to control. ammonia. I use an Aqua-Clear filter and keep an extra filter sponge in the sump system of my DT. Whenever I need QT, I use the sponge from the DT. Instant QT cycle. I just toss the old filter, they're cheap. If you use copper; I really like SeaChem Cupramine, along with a SeaChem copper test kit. I know lots of folks prefer hypo; but I think Cupramine is very safe & easy. I've used copper (and a de-wormer) on almost all new fish in QT (as preventative medicine) for many years. I've never had a problem that I could blame on the copper and haven't seen any parasite in my DTs since I can remember. Curing ich is easy (except for the work part), IMO, but the procedure must be followed exactly...good luck.

 

[meowzer]

I just wanted to say good luck.....

Cause I know that has gotta suck..

 

[oceansidefish]

If your tangs are any decent size you will want a little more than a 10g IMO

 

[jackri]

Hope the best for you.... the "miracle" cures are at best a joke if you ask me.. although they could work.
Copper in a QT tank -- but a 10g for 2 tangs for the amount of time to fully QT would be rough on stressed fish.
I'd be tempted to try and battle it naturally with healthy foods and vitamins if its not too bad.

 

[rcreations]

First, you want to put them in a cycled QT. Second, make sure the QT is big enough to handle the fish for the duration of the treatment. Think about the bioload the fish will create and if the size QT is large enough to handle that. Remember, you won't have a protein skimmer.

 

[culp]

what i have done when my tank has gotten ick is just feed a little more. and after couple of weeks your fish should be able to fight off the ick on its own. as long as your have a strong healthy fish they should be fine.

 

[culp]

Originally Posted by jackri
http:///forum/post/3024911
Copper in a QT tank -- but a 10g for 2 tangs for the amount of time to fully QT would be rough on stressed fish.
a two tangs if you put them in a QT tank you should think of putting them a 40 long.

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by Culp
http:///forum/post/3024950
a two tangs if you put them in a QT tank you should think of putting them a 40 long.
Yeah, I read too fast and just saw the "little tang", I think you need more room too. There are zillions of opinions on this subject; but if these fish are showing lots of ich; IMO, you need more than a natural cure. I think a lot of fish that are 'cured" by some methods never really had this parasite in the first place. It doesn't just go away. As long as fish are very healthy, they may just show a few bugs from time to time; but it doesn't take much to for a full infestation to develop.Again, lots of opinions and I value them all, but this is mine.

 

[florida joe]

Originally Posted by Culp
http:///forum/post/3024948
what i have done when my tank has gotten ick is just feed a little more. and after couple of weeks your fish should be able to fight off the ick on its own. as long as your have a strong healthy fish they should be fine.
Please allow me to disagree with your entire post. If your fish are infected with the ick parasite they are not strong and healthy. Over feeding your fish is not helping the problem.I eagerly await others who have used this overfeeding method to cure ick

 

[culp]

Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/3024978
Please allow me to disagree with your entire post. If your fish are infected with the ick parasite they are not strong and healthy. Over feeding your fish is not helping the problem.I eagerly await others who have used this overfeeding method to cure ick
well all i know is that i have never lost a fish to ick. and i do not have a QT tank and have gotten ick 4 different times.

 

[meowzer]

Originally Posted by Culp
http:///forum/post/3024993
well all i know is that i have never lost a fish to ick. and i do not have a QT tank and have gotten ick 4 different times.
Do you use vitamins? Like Selcon and Zoe? I think if your fish have gotten ick 4 times...that is not the sign of "healthy" I think they only get ick when they are stressed or UNhealthy
I do not know much about ick (thank goodness) but all I have read suggests it stays in your tank, and the fish will get it again if they are not healthy

 

[culp]

i have baby(fish)sat for a couple of friends 5 times and 4 out of the 5 their fish got my fish sick for 2 to 3 weeks at a time. but nothing bad.

 

[meowzer]

Originally Posted by Culp
http:///forum/post/3025024
i have baby(fish)sat for a couple of friends 5 times and 4 out of the 5 their fish got my fish sick for 2 to 3 weeks at a time. but nothing bad.
You put fish from other peoples tanks in your tank

I wouldn't do that

 

[srfisher17]

IMO, this whole thread (including my contributions) is a real mess. I'd re-post this, and include pics if you can, on the disease forum---some real fish experts hang out there.

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/3024978
Please allow me to disagree with your entire post. If your fish are infected with the ick parasite they are not strong and healthy. Over feeding your fish is not helping the problem.I eagerly await others who have used this overfeeding method to cure ick
I agree; ich can easily kill all the fish in a tank within a couple weeks. I just don't think cases like this involve true SW ich.

 

[jackri]

Ich is nothing to sneeze at... it can devaste a tank quick and make you start over. I was just saying if its a light case you might have a better shot at a natural remedy over a 10g QT for 10 weeks or longer.

 

[pbnj]

In December, I introduced a fish which became completely covered in ICH a few days later. Thought it was a goner for sure, so I started soaking flake and algae in Selcon and KM Garlic Xtreme and did this daily.
4 months later, that fish is fine and I've introduced several others since. No more ICH. You can respond with all the research and facts you'd like or just call it pure luck, but I've never won a successful battle with ICH in the past until I tried this method.