ICK QUESTION

[silverone]

Question for the group, I just recently added a regal tang to my 75 gal setup and 48 hours later he has some ick, he's still eating and the water parameters are ok. theres no aggression going on as well. For some reason this has happend to me a few times over the years. Do you think its just part of the process sometimes.

 

[mr . salty]

The fish probably had it when you bought him. When you put him into your tank,the move stressed him and caused it to break out again. These fish are especially prone to ick. I sugest putting him in a hospital tank,if you have one. And treating him for a Three weeks. Ick has a cycle of 21 days.There are some medications that are "Copper free",But I don't have any experiance using them.Isolation and treating with Copper sulfate,are the tried and true methods for treatment....STEVE

 

[jimi]

If your tank is stress free and there isnt ick covering your tangs entire body I would let him fight it off himself just keep your water quality good and feed him well.

 

[mr . salty]

There is no way he can fight it off himself. the ich will mature on the fish,drop into the substrate,and infect the whole tank. This is how the parasite cycles.You need to address the situation immediatly or you could have an eppidemic on your hands..... STEVE

 

[jimi]

By your response mr.salty you are obviously not very experienced at marine fish keeping. Healthy fish can and will fight off ich it has been proven in my tanks and hundreds of others the level of infestation should determine treatment, if any. This can only be learned through experience.

 

[jimi]

Sorry Steve didnt mean to upset you but saying there is no way a healthy fish cant fight off ich is wrong. My purple tang , juv. emperor, and flame have all fought off mild cases of ich a few times during temp. swings without treatment, other then a little help from my fat cleaner wrasse and cleaner shrimp. Severe cases and certain fish (powderblue, powder brown, or achilles tangs) need to be watched closely and treated. But more fish are killed in this hobby through kindness(treatments) then would be if water quality was in check and the fish left alone. Just trying to help.

 

[mr . salty]

Saying "I was wrong" didn't bother me a bit.What PISSED me off was when you attacked me by saying,and I quote"You are obviously not very experienced in marine fish keeping". That was uncalled for,You don't know me from adam.If you would have just posted what you did in your last post,evrything would have been OK. Be more courteous in the future. STEVE

 

[porkypuffer]

THE BEST SOLUTION I'VE FOUND FOR ICK IS GARLIC FOR LITE CASES AND HYPOSOLINITY FOR SEVERE CASES. COPPER IS TOO HARD ON THE FISH.

 

[kris]

I'm not sure whether or not they can fight it off, but it seem to me even if they do the ick still hangs out and would continually try to attack the fish, hence over a period of time weakening the fish. This is just a thought. Honestly it beats me. While I am an experienced fish keeper, as is Steve, I admit I am not an experienced ick keeper. (Yet)

 

[jimi]

I believe that ick is always present in our tanks. I had a tank a few years ago that had been free of any diseases for over a year and had not had any new additions for about 6 months. Then one night in the summer I left the window open near the tank and the temp. dropped about 20deg. outside and about 7deg in my tank. The next morning my powder brown was covered with ick. The next day I did a fresh water dip and put him in a hospital tank sadly he did nt make it. My point is ick can exist in our systems without being deadly if stress is reduced. Stress can be large temp. swings, not enough variety of food to meet all nutritional needs, or poor water quality. My lfs has a 750gal reef tank with about 230 fish plus corals and an achilles tang that had ick for about a month yet no other fish were infected. It was definatley ick as he has over 20yrs. experience, but the system is so healthy the fish fought it off. He does use ozone but I dont know if that would be enough to stop ick in such a crowded tank. Im not saying never treat ick it just depends on the level of infestation. By the way you can look at some of his tanks at www.saltwaterheaven.com

 

[kb]

I have a regal tang and he is always the first fish to have white spots on him. I used copper about 4 months ago and it got rid of the ich after my whole tank was infected. Using copper works but it is a pain the ***. I recently saw more white spots on my regal tang so I put garlic in a cup with the fish food and let it soak overnight. I did this for about 3 days and the white spots were gone! I've used garlic about 4 or 5 different times and it worked every single time. All my levels are good but it seems like the regal tang is very prone to ick. I have a yellow and naso tang and they never show any white spots. I would either use garlic or use a hospital tank with copper. Using copper in the display tank is way to big of a pain.