ICK problem

brad1968

brad1968

Member
Sorry to post another ick problem, but I want to get started on this as soon as possible. I've read about all the cures/treatments for ick but wanted to get some real-life feedback.
I am new to the hobby and have a tank with three fish with ick (racoon butterfly, flame angel and Kole Tang). I also have two starfish (choc chip, and sand sifting), a shrimp (who keeps cleaning the ick from the racoon butterfly -- I think), and crabs/snails. Because of the cleaners, I don't believe I can use the most effective treatment - copper. I would have to remove 40 or more lbs of liverock to put the fish into a quarrantine tank because it's so difficult to catch them -- which would stress them out more and it would seem they'd all get ick!
HELP ME! What are the most effective ways of dealing with it? -- That have worked for other hobbiest with similar setup? Do I have to take all the rock out to quarrantine the fish? Can I use copper? Can I use anything else? Help me, I don't want this to be terminal!! And I want to start treatment immeditately
I've been feeding them 3x a day. Flakes and assorted frozen shrimp, squid, and formula one. Any suggestions?
thanks in advance. (I'm searching the boards as soon as I post this, so if you know of any great postings, please let me know.)
 
mavgi

mavgi

Member
if you can to treat your fish in QT it will be the best there are 2 way for ich hypo treatment that it's take time but more safe for the fish and cooper but cupermine by sechem is a more stable form copper ( like copper sulfate) that is easier and safer to use. i treat both way with the cupermine the treatment take 14 days and from my experience with it the sign ich (white spot )start to gone in the second day but you must keep the treatment if not it will show again with hypo the sign of the ich (white spot) gone at the end of the second week but you need to keep the treatment for sefty for 6 weeks. both way you can't treat in your main tank when you have invert and it's better to leave your main tank without the fish for 30 days till the parasite cycle will die.
p.s when i write the sign of ich start to gone i mean for the white spot that on the fish but the parasite still exist and that so i said you need to keep the treatment
 
brad1968

brad1968

Member
It turns out 5 of my fish have it; I do have a QT tank running with livesand and liverock. How do I maintain a 20 gal with five med fish in it? If I change the water every few days, won't the treatment dilute? Should I test the water daily? every other day??
 
mavgi

mavgi

Member
Originally Posted by brad1968
It turns out 5 of my fish have it; I do have a QT tank running with livesand and liverock. How do I maintain a 20 gal with five med fish in it? If I change the water every few days, won't the treatment dilute? Should I test the water daily? every other day??
it can be hard 5 med fish in a 20 gallon , i treat 2 tangs 1 was clown and the other was powder blue to tell the truth i couldn't keep both together because my powder blue was more aggressive and the clown was more strong every day i saw that my powder blue have one more cut in his body and he was bleeding i thought he will die and i move him to other 10 gallon tank (my wife want to kill me).
i do think that it's better to treat the fish in a QT and to give it a try it will be easy to lower the SG in small tank you can give a try by the way you don't need a sand in your QT you can keep the rock.if you want to treat in your main tank (i don't know the size) you can treat with hypo but you must to move all your invert from the main tank but again you want all the live rock out of the tank to in this case you will be sure that the ick and the parasite will not be in your tank anymore.since you have 5 med fish (i do this even with one because the danger that the ph can fall down and crash the tank)you need to check every day the water parameter in the QT the temp need to be more high and watch the ph of course you must to check your salinity with accurate refractometer (if you don't have one you can use in glass hydrometer one but not with the plastic hydrometer) .before you move the fish to the QT try to match as you can the temp and the salinity to your main tank to reduce stress from the fish.
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
I would QT all five fish, and do a hypo treatment. I would not use copper because of the fish you have. All of those fish are copper-sensitive.
Daily or bi-daily water changes will help maintain the levels in the QT while the fish are in hypo. You need to be very precise with the salinity though.
A refractometer is a neccessity with hypo.
Your other option if you can't get the fish out of the tank is to use Stop Parasite. I have had wonderful results with this, and it is safe for live rock, inverts, and all fish. The only thing you need for this is an alkalintiy test kit.
 
brad1968

brad1968

Member
I've QT'd all the fish and slowly lowered the salinity. How low do I go? I've heard different opinions. Also, what's Stop Parasite?
 
mavgi

mavgi

Member
you need to low slow the salinity to 1.009. don't forget to monitor your ph level because when you lower the salinity the ph get lower to. more then that check always the salinity if it will increase then the parasite will saty.
the hypo will break the life cycle of the parasite (stop the ich).
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
You go all the way down to 1.009 slowly.
Stop Parasite is the product I would have recommended to use if you could not get all the fish out of tank.
 
rkmcinvale

rkmcinvale

Member
My husband and I use a product called Ruby Reef Kick-Ich. It is reef safe and contains no copper. It is safe for all of your fish, corals, and invertrates. We have used it several times because we don't have our QT anymore. It cost anywhere from $15-$20. I works over a 15 day treatment and we have never lost a fish, coral, or invertrates using this. I would still recommend the QT but if you don't have one, you could use this.
 
brad1968

brad1968

Member
what do I use to bump up the ph if it falls? I don't know if it's true, but I've heard you can use baking soda????
I've gotten the salinity down to 1.019 and I'm changing 25% of the water every 12 hours -- this is when I have been slowly dropping the salinity.
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
Good to hear you are doing it slowly and stress-free. You need an alkalinity and pH test kit first off. If your alkalinity drops, your pH will be out of line too. I would use Kent Marine's Super dkH buffer.
 
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