ick ??? ways to prevent it!

[newsaltyman]

hi, im in the process of setting up my aquarium...and i hear many cases of people's fishes coming down with ick....i will soon start my cycle with a few damsels....and my question is....is there a way to prevent ick from invading your tank or is there no way you will know and you can only preventing it from putting the fishes in your QT tank first...thanks a bunch!

 

[carrie1429]

As far as I know there isn't really any way to prevent it, just try to keep your fish happy and their tank clean. Ich mostly comes from stress and drastic changes in the temperature. Ich can happen in any tank though, whether or not your tank is clean, but just make sure you have a hospital tank for the fish in case one does get ich.

 

[porcupinepuffer]

you really can't.. because fish that you buy might come with ICh as well... so as long as you keep ur water parameters in good levels, and quarantine ur new additions for few weeks, your main aquarium should be ich-free

 

[wrassecal]

Q is really the only way to know that a fish does not come with an illness and/or parasite that could infest your other fish. I answered your other thread about cycling. I would NOT recommend cycling with damsels unless you love them and want to keep them. They are hard to catch if you decide you don't want them and they can become very territorial and aggressive to fish you add later. You are better off throwing in a grocery store shrimp. Then you can plan your inhabitants according to how well they will get along with each other and thrive in your tank. HTH

 

[striker]

I've heard that mixing garlic extract or buying the brand name garlic mixes will help in the overall health of fish and prevention of ich. Not sure how good it is or if it works but went out and bought kent garlic xtreme. My fish like brine shrimp so I thought to add some nutrition to it.

 

[j21kickster]

Garlic is a good prevention but not very effective as a cure, and 1 surefire way is to quarantine new fish for 3 weeks.

 

[aschroeder]

I'm a huge supporter of garlic. I use it as a preventative, but it also worked as a cure for me.
When I got my blue hippo tang, he quickly developed ick. I tried everything, including quarantine. As soon as I would acclimate him back into my main tank he would develop ick again. The stress was too much for him. So I tried a garlic extract I bought from my LFS and within 3 days, no ick. He has been ick-free for 2 years.

 

[angelofdeath132]

aschroeder, do you have any ties with Estherville?if so,shoot me an e-mail.