ick

[tigriss]

Ok in Sept I wote on this site and explained how I lost everything when I added new live rock.All fish and some corals died. I let the tank cycle again and let all the stuff I thought was dead open again. I ordered a clean up crew, added a wet/dry filter and took out my fluvil.
When all was right again I started adding fish. 1 Yellow tang, 2 fire fish ( although one jumped out of my tank), 1 Fire clown, 1 strawberry psudeo, 1 rusty angle, 2 blue damsels(one died during the recycle). EVeryone was doing great UNTIL...... I went out and found a beautiful half black angel. GUESS WHAT .... I brought it home and two days later it was covered in ick!! Now I have 1 yellow tang, blue devil, ! fire clown and 1 firefish hanging on. There is not too many reef fish stores in SI and I cannot take the stress of my tank being wiped out again!!
The last time I chased a fish around my reef because he was bad I gave him a heart attack. He died while I chased him. My fire clown is covered in ick and my shrimps want no part of them.
What can I treat my reef tank with w/o killing my corals???
PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ilove2ride]

I'm really sorry...
you could try and get a quarantine tank set up ASAP, and... hopefully it cycles soon....
Any ideas, anyone?

 

[phoenixrising]

Ruby Reef "Kick Ich" worked well for me without harming any inverts, corals or fish. Even all the pods were fine. Only thing that died was the ich.

 

[simm]

Your best option is a QT tank with hyposalinity. Hyposalinity in the main tank will kill off LS/LR corals and inverts so this is why you need a seperat tank. Any copper based med will kill any inverts and corals In the long run it would be wise to setup a QT tank. I have tried kick-ick and it did nothing for me but kill everything off. It worked for a little while then it just came right back. In my experiance.

 

[fshhub]

i agree with simm here, but, I will move this to the disease forum, maybe get you some better help there

 

[hairtrigger]

Yeah try the disease forum. But, that Kick Ich stuff works in reefs from what I hear. It didn't do jack squat in my aggressive set up. But, I hear good things in reefs if you turn off your skimmer and sterilizer (if you chance running one). But, as always, your best bet is a quarantine tank. You can set one up pretty cheap. Good luck.

 

[simm]

Maybe with certain people but I lost almost everything in my reef. The ick stoped then came right back.

 

[tigriss]

OK I CANNOT CATCH MY FISH! I don't know what to do everyone has so many opinions what do I do? I cannot get them into a hospital tank and now my fire clown looks worse! Now he is red and white. I lost so much last month now I am afraid. I have no choice but to medicate this tank, only have 3 fish left!!
PLease anyone

 

[simm]

Hrmm. As you said in your first post. What can I do with out hurting my corls? Really you dont have an option but to catch the fish and move to a qt tank. Hypo will kill your corals and so will copper. I had to tear my rocks down and move them just to catch my yellow tang. IMO I try to get a divider and then move the fish to one side (if you can) of the tank an then put the divider in so they cant go across to the other side. You may even have to move some rock if you have any to one side so you have a clean open end to try.

 

[beth]

I'm not going to recommend one of the "reef safe" meds. The only viable treatments are hyposalinity and copper, preferably, hypo. Niether if these treatments can be done in a reef tank.
Please consider using a QT in the future to avoid this kind of thing from happening.

 

[tigriss]

well I will try again! All this just makes me want to cry . This would all be my luck!!

 

[beth]

tigress. Set up a QT, bite the bullet, get your fish out of the tank, treat the fish in a QT. Then keep the QT up for future fish.
Yes, you're going to have to dismantle your rocks, etc., but it can be done, and once the ordeal is over with, you will feel good about it.

 

[tangaeric]

Tigriss,
If it's any consolation, I have a 2000gal reef tank which I painstaikingly built myself piece by piece. I live right on the indian ocean a lovingly collected every single piece of LR and coral and built up my reef over several months. I then went out and caught all my fish myself. I spent all those months setting it all up with some of the most incredible fish you can imagine in there, only to see it all come 'crumbling' down due to an ick epidemic in there.
One by one my fish started dying until I found the right help I needed. I live in a remote place and have no access at all to any LFS. Fortunately I do have unlimited access to fish, inverts, LR, and coral right out of the ocean infront of my house, but that didn't help in this case.
I got plenty of good help by following Terry B's advice through another forum I started on. Many other people also helped me, and I thank all of them. I was very depressed when I thought of the task ahead of me; to dismatle the entire reef, several hundred kgs of it, to catch every single fish so that I could put them in a hyposalinity QT tank.
It was hard work but it pays off. I now QT all my fish in hypo before putting them into the display tank and my tank is doing great. It took me a while to get my QT tanks setup right so that my fish didn't die in there due to poor water quality. That is why you need a really well cycled QT tank. So, go for hyposalinity in a QT tank that is well cycled for your present diseased fish, while continuing to use it for any new fish. It is extremely effective and all you really have to worry about are your water quality parameters, especially in an uncycled tank. From what I have seen on this forum all products that say they cure ick seem to work for some but not for the majority. Therefore they are not reliable. The ONLY way you can be sure of having an ick free tank in the long term is to QT all fish in hyposalinity, or copper if you prefer. The first seems to be the most recommended due to it's no ill effects on fish.
So, although it is sad to see what is happening to your beloved fish and corals right now, look up since there is some great people on this and other forums that will give you really good advice on how to solve those problems. Imagine if there was no solution.
You can do it and if you follow all directions on hypo you will be a happy happy person in the long run.
Good Luck,
Eric