Ick Help Please!!!

[coralgyrl]

Hi! I just moved and set my tank back up 24 hrs ago and 5 of my fish have ick on them! I've had them for 3 yrs and never had an outbreak before. I need to know what can I use to get rid of it immediately. Also, do I need to quarentine all of the fish (9) into the hospital tank? I have 30g that I'm setting up in the morning. Some of the rock did experience die off during transit and caused me to have some ammonia in my tank. Please help me, I going crazy over here.
PH 8.2
Salinity 1.021
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Ammonia .025

 

[timsedwards]

Hello friend,
Well reportedly stress can bring out Ick in a fish that would otherwise be fine. Im not sure that quaranteening 9 would be such a great idea? Depends how big your QT is, if it is small it may cause them undue stress cramping them together and perhaps getting territorial. If you do put them in a QT make sure there is plenty of cover and PVC corals or something.
Have you tried/considered reef-safe medications? Although not the best sollution maybe something you might have to consider, but lets see if you can QT first!
All the best,
Tim.

 

[beth]

Please read the FAQ section stickied at the top of the forum for advise on setting up an emergency QT.
You will need to treat the fish with hyposalinity using an accurate salinity tool. The best is a refractometer which you can get online for $70 or less. Other than that, you can go with a quality glass hydrometer, it is not going to give you the absolute sure results that you would get with a refract.
Here is the procedure for hyposalinity:
O.S.T. stands for Osmotic Shock Therapy which is commonly referred to in the hobby as hyposalinity [water that is deficient in sea salt]. Essentially, O.S.T. simply places the infectors [Cryptocaryon parasite---ick/ich] in an environment in which they cannot survive while the host, (or infected fish) can. This remedy WILL NOT work in reef systems, invert tanks or FOWLR as it incorporates lowering the specific gravity of the entire system to 1.009 Specific Gravity which is not tolerated by inverts or LR.
To drop the salinity, this is done as you would do a normal water change. However, you are simply replenishing your tank with fresh RO/DI water---not salt water! Monitor the lowering closely so as to not reduce it too fast. Usually over a period of 48 hours is fine. The bacteria colony which is the biological support for your tank will survive, the fish will be perfectly fine, but the ich will not. By lowering the salinity, you will also be lowering the osmotic pressure of the water. Boney fish tolerate this treatment very well, in fact, once the water become hyposaline, you will likely note a significant improvement in your fish health and appetite. There is no reason to fear this treatment. You can do a water-change out, in small increments every half hr or so.
Your goal is to drop the specific gravity to 1.009 [48-hrs] gradually. Once all signs of the parasite are gone, then keep your fish in this hypo-saline water for 3-4 wks. If all is well, then you can gradually [over the course of 4-5 days] bring the specific gravity [salinity] back up to normal levels . If all is well after a week, then return the fish to their main tank.
When the fish are eating, offer them quality and varied food soaked in garlic, zoe/zoecon, vitamin C.