ICK In "REEF TANK AGAIN"

saltwatergal

saltwatergal

Member
I had a bout with ick in my reef tank about two months ago.
I removed all of the fish with ick and placed them in a Q. Tank with Hypo.
They were in hypo for one month. Some of them died.
Waited until the month was up I didn't see any more spots so I slowly brought the Q tank back up to the correct salinity.
The reef tank only had inverts and live rock and some coral for the month.
There was no fish in the tank.
I put the fish back in the reef tank slowly.
Now I have ick back again in the reef.
My clown is fighting it. My fairy wrasse has it pretty bad.
I have two cleaner shrimps in the 46 bow. My Lawnmower Blennie goes to the cleaner shrimp to be cleaned off.
My small scotter doesn't seem to show any signs.
I was wondering if I should put a uv steralizer on the tank.
I have read that it helps with ick but should not be placed in a reef tank.
How do I get rid of this pest?
I hate to see my fish suffering.
Feedback would be appreciated.
Thanks.
:confused:
 
lesleybird

lesleybird

Active Member
Try Kick Ick...it is reef safe and will not harm the biofilteration. Use it for an entire month, not just two weeks as the cysts live in the substrate for as long. The stuff only kills it in the swimming stage so use it for an entire month even though you think it is gone or it will come back. You will need to turn off your skimmer and remove any charcole during treatment. It worked well for me, but I used it for an entire month. Some people say it doesn't work, but maybe they did not use it long enough. Lesley
 
jmesmcm

jmesmcm

Member
I also used Kick Ich with success when combined with garlic and 2 cleaner shrimp. The only casualty was a mushroom coral that did not seem to agree with the Kick Ich but all my otehr corals were alright.
I always run a UV on my reef and have seen no problems with doing so. When I asked at my LFS which is a very knowledgable one they said that they run UVs on all the reef tanks in the store as well as on their own reef tanks. My feeling is that a UV can't hurt and can only help with the issue.
Good luck and hope it clears up quickly for you.
 
caribbean guy

caribbean guy

Member
The best way to go is to use Hypo and make sure that you do your readings with a "refrac" also if you are going to use garlic make sure that your prepared for the upsurgence of algae, it has a funny way of boosting the algae community. Also Products like Kick ich are hit or miss I used itonce a while back and it did nothing but the second time I used it with garlic as a supplementto the food and it worked well ( not saying that it was the Kick ich and not the garlic I have no way of telling, but the results were more favorable) I would stress the use of hypo. Good luck
 
F

fishlovr

Guest
From what reading I've done Kick Ick is not like some reefsafe products that make the fish sluff their slime coats. It's not hot pepper sauce:) It's more closely related to Flagyl an anaerobic antibiotic that kills among other things amoebas (sp). It's supposed to kill the ick when at the free swimming stage. I'm currently treating my 75 gallon reef with it and so far so good. The fish aren't any worse in fact, I think they're getting better. I'm 2/3 of the way through the first treatment. I plan on following up with a second treatment unless things go crazy in the next few days.......So far, I'm encouraged:)
fishlovr
 
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