Ich...again

mrme123

mrme123

Member
My blue tang has ICH
I do not have a QT tank yet, I have to wait a few weeks to get it. I have no corals or anything in it. Just fish and LR right now. Would it be safe to treat my main tank? And still be able to but coral in it down the road? I use a product called ich guard. It worked very well for me in the past
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
I would definitely not use the Ich Guard.
If you are going to use any product in the tank, I would use Stop Parasite, as it is safe for live rock and corals, and is very effective at helping the fish with ich.
Can you post your water levels for me (ammonia nitrite, nitrate, pH, kH, salinity, temp)
What are you feeding the fish? Are you using vitamins and garlic?
 
mrme123

mrme123

Member
oh yeah and I am feeding them flakes, and frozen brine for one fish, algae sheets every now and again for my lawnmower blenny
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
There are two types of Ick Guard.
Ick Guard and Ick Guard II. Neither seem to be for saltwater, but I am not sure about that, so we will not dwell on that. On the Jungle website, there is absolutely no mention of saltwater fish at all. I emailed the Jungle rep and he has not replied to me.
However, Ick Guard cannot be used for small and sensitive fish (hippo tang). Ick Guard II is designed for small and sensitive fish, however, again, it looks like it is deisgned for freshwater fish. I cannot find the ingriedients anywhere, so I DEFINITELY would not use it in your main tank. I also have heard that it turns your silicone permanently blue.
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
Originally Posted by Mrme123
oh yeah and I am feeding them flakes, and frozen brine for one fish, algae sheets every now and again for my lawnmower blenny
The diet you have your fish on needs to be improved. The flakes are okay, but the brine needs to go. Brine is okay as a treat or part of the diet, but you know you will have problems if it is being used as a staple.
I would recommend to switch to some frozen foods such as formula A and B, algae formula, reef spectrum formula, frozen kelp, frozen mysis shrimp, etc.
Also, some freeze-dried seaweeed sheets, like Julian Sprung's Seaweed Selects will do your fish a world of good if it is apart of thier staple diet.
Vitamins would really help at this point to improve the poor diet. Zoe, Selcon, and VitaChem are all excellent vitamins. You should also be using Garlic. Kent Marine makes Garlic Xtreme, a liquid garlic additive that can be soaked in the fish's food to give them a boost to their immune system.
 
mrme123

mrme123

Member
I have a flashlight fish. It says that they eat brine shrimp. I can't get him to eat anything else. I buy frozen brine. He will eat ghost shrimp but the keep getting sucked in my filter and power head. So I have to buy the every day
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
The brine is okay as part of the diet, but I would start enrinching the brine shrimp with vitamins to make it more nutritious (the ones I mentioned above). Ultimately, if you begin to offer your tank a variety of food, the flashlight fish should start taking to other things as well.
The hippo tang also probably eats the brine shrimp. That is what I was getting at. You need to offer the hippo tang better things than JUST brine shrimp. It is probably developing a nutritional deficiency, and because of this, the immune system went down and ich was able to attach to the body of the fish.
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
I just received a reply from the Jungle reps, the makers of Ick Guard:
"Jungle(r) products are designed primarily for freshwater aquariums. Do
not use any of our treatments for diseases in saltwater aquariums. They
are for freshwater use only. You may want to check with your local
aquatic shops to see if someone specializes in saltwater."
 
anoepheli

anoepheli

New Member
It's possible that Ick Guard uses a chemical like Malachite Green, or something similar that. You might try a medication containing 5-nitroimidazoles, lick Kick-Ich, which I've heard recommended, but didn't have much success with personally. Maybe you'll have better luck. What I've heard recommended over and over is to just get a UV Sterilizer if you're keeping fish that have ich issues, like blue tangs (I have yet to figure out how my LFS can keep 30 of them in their big sand tanks without it being a problem). You can pick up UV sterilizers for about 60-70 dollars online. That's what I've done.
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
Active ingredients in Ich Guard are acriflavine, nitromersol, sodium chloride, Victoria green.
UV sterilizers are not totally effective at treating ich either. UV sterilizers only kill free-floating ich, and that's if the flow rate is at the right speed.
The only way to truly rid ich from your tank is to quarantine all new additions and put them through hyposalinity if you see any signs of ich. Kick Ich is reef safe, but it is only works half the time, it seems.
 
mrme123

mrme123

Member
well i don't have the money for a QT tank yet nad my fish is covered in ich. I used nox-ich before i talked to you. I am doing a 25% water change to get it out. One of my damsels (a little guy) is freaking out. won't move around. so I am changing water. I don't want the damsel to die, but I also wanted to get it out of there and put something else in. I was told on another form to just feed it garlic enriched food and I will be ok. I was woundering about stop parasite. Where do I get it at?
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
Garlic enriched food will definitely help, but if the fish's appetite is not very high, the garlic wil not do anything. Stop Parasite stimulates the fish's metabolism.
Send me an email and I will give you the site where you can find Stop Parasite cheapest.
Ry84@MSN.com
 
mrme123

mrme123

Member
do you suggest me using stop parasite? My tang is actually still eating pretty good.. but the damsel will not move but he does not have ich that i can see
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
Jeez, I didn't stop helping. I had to go let the pool guys in so that they could open my pool for me.
I just responded to your email.
I would not use the Stop Parasite yet until we figure out what is stressing your damsel. Can you post your water levels for me? (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, kH, salinity, and temp)
 
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