Ich all over the tank

geckoxp

geckoxp

Member
Whelp learning the hard way I believe....I have ich and its spreading to my other fish and I have no idea what to do at this point then to cut my losses.
I have a coral reef tank 90 G so using Copper is out of the question. Its impossible to catch any of the fish and place them in hypo...even still since most of my fish have it I dont think much can be done?
My Blue hippo and yellow tang came down with it first so per the LFS I picked up Kents Garlic and added it to the tank at one drop per 10G. I have also started supplimenting there food with it as well along with vitamins (selcon) that I have always added in to help out with keeping there immune systems up. They also had me pick up Kick-Ich...yah i know i know.
Needless to say after one week of treatment my yellow tang seems to be doing better and at one point my hippo was doing better as well...however starting yesterday my hippo seems to have taken a bit to the worst and is hiding and barely eating. He is covered with spots. Yellow tang is doing ok however now one of my firefish are showing signs along with my royal gramma.
My 2 clowns, six line wrasse and diamond goby are doing fine....
My water is decent. My Nitrates are running a bit high but everything else is fine at 0. I will be doing a water change again tonight as I did last weekend.
I am not sure if anything can be done here? I would hate to lose everything but I don't know what more can be done?
I know this may be asking for much but does anyone have any ideas or anything else I can try?
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
IMO...If you can not QT...best you can do is vitamins, try to make the fish immune system so they are healthy and can fight off the ich.....you will always have it in your tank though (from what I read) Use garlic extreme....selcon, vita-chem....zoe, zoecon.....keep your water pristine
 
jackri

jackri

Active Member
I agree, all you can do now is hope for the best and wait it out if you can't QT. Then if it beats you or you beat it it's going to be a long waiting game :(
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member

I also have a 90g reef...I upped the temp to 82-84. I used fresh garlic and soaked some shrimp in that to feed them. I lost no fish and they seem fine now. 4 months and counting...ich free.
The higher temp does nothing to ich...it just makes the fish happier and stronger.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Originally Posted by jackri
http:///forum/post/3134194
Higher temps accelerate the life cycle of ich.
I think there was a big debate about this in another thread....I heard that the higher temps make the ich life cycle accelerate, and the ich will leave the fish sooner...but what have you heard
just curious Jackri.....
 
jackri

jackri

Active Member
It speeds up the life cycle.. which shortens it. Now that being said it can also start the next batch sooner soooo.... that can be good and bad.
 
geckoxp

geckoxp

Member
Well temps are at 80...I can start to raise the temps slowly tonight so by the end of the day tomorrow I can keep it at 84...
The contributing factors of this outbreak is adding the sump to the tank and not having a 2nd heater installed. I had to take most of the water out of the tank to move it and place it from the top down as I could not fit it in under the bottom where the doors are. Also with the temps ranging anywhere from 76-83 with just the one heater I have a feeling that contributed to the outbreak as well....
Whelp going to change the water...raise the temps and use the garlic along with the Selcon that I have been using and increase the feeding amount from a couple cubes to maybe 2 1/2 to 3 cubes twice a day instead of just the 2 I have been feeding them.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Don't increase the amount of food you are feeding.....just soak the food in garlic and vitamins
too much food will give you an excessive nutrient issue....leading to other problems
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member

Low temps are kept to slow everything incuding ich, down...normal temps are in the 80s. I was going to let my fish just die...because nothing, and I mean NOTHING was working. I tried kick ich....
I heard fresh garlic would help the immune system, and I figured it would give my fish a fighting chance...So I upped the temp, gave them garlic...I lost not 1 fish. 4 months later and still no ich.
If after 6 to 8 weeks... if ich finds no host isn't it gone???? Because my Hippo Tang got ich if I just did a small water change..He could not take any stress.
Now nothing bothers him...I moved the whole tank across town in the beginning of Aug...Still no ich. Now that was a stress test for all my critters. No ich...I really do believe it is gone.
 
jackri

jackri

Active Member
Healthy fish can fight off small amount of ich attacks...stress does a number on fish and if kept healthy and stress free I believe they can overcome it if it's not too late.
The problem with our tanks is the ich is more concentrated than the ocean where it's harder to find a host.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by jackri
http:///forum/post/3134215
Healthy fish can fight off small amount of ich attacks...stress does a number on fish and if kept healthy and stress free I believe they can overcome it if it's not too late.
The problem with our tanks is the ich is more concentrated than the ocean where it's harder to find a host.

If the parasite has no host for 6 to 8 weeks...isn't it gone? If so, then a healthy stress free fish is the only solution for a reef tank..kick ich didn't work for me.
 
geckoxp

geckoxp

Member
I have a feeling that Kick Ich is a placebo to be honest...I just did a 20G water change...tank is 90G plus a 25G sump but with water its probably 10-15G or so. I have increased the heaters to read at 84 as well so let see what happens. I did add kick ich today earlier at 4oz or 1oz per 25G as per the directions...hey I have it might as well use it?
I did add 10 drops of Kents garlic as directed as well to try and help out. Feeding Algae with a clip as well.
Now I have been feeding twice a day using an alternating combo of bloodworm mix and mysis mix and then everyday I am adding 2 cubes of the fish and reef #2 mix for my tangs. I have been puting a couple drops of garlic on each cube, mixing it with saltwater and then feeding it to my fish.
Should I up the drops I put on each cube and if so what do you recommend?
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
What are you using besides garlic? Garlic is a food attractant....you need to add vitamins....selcon, vitachem, zoecon...etc.....
 
geckoxp

geckoxp

Member
I think that upping the dose in selcon is what I will try first. My LFS highly recommends this stuff over anything else so I picked that up and have used that ever since I picked up my tangs...I guess all I can do here is sit and wait and see what happens.
So as I sit here and wait I will update as to what happens over time...
Tonight I changed my water and upped my temps to 83-84.
Tomorrow I will start soaking my food in 1.5ml of selcon instead of the .5 I was using and also add 6 drops of garlic per each cube I feed...
Another dose of kick ich on tue per directions of 1oz per 25G..
and then see what happens I suppose...I love how I never had an algae issue, I use a sump with 200G rating ASM G2 skimmer and 90ibs of live rock and I have sick fish..haha I shouldnt laugh but no matter how much you spend and make sure things are right it may never be enough..
Heck and I was even about to upgrade the lighting at weeks end too...oh the joys of owning a reef tank...
 
jackri

jackri

Active Member
Kick ich never really did anything for me.
And IMO no need to feed "extra" garlic or selcon. Just follow the directions for feeding on that.
Good Luck
 
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