i'm new to ick (help!)

[dbrabago]

ok here's my problem, yesterday i did a water change and noticed that all my fish had these little white spots on them. after searching the SWF fourms i figured out it was ick. my question to you guy's is how do i theat this ick. right now i have a (royal angel, longnose butterfly, pocupine puffer,
6 damsels,a hermit crab,and a cleaner shrimp).
i also have a 10g tank.
is this tank big enough to use as a quarintine tank? or should i use my 55g?
this is my setup
55g
(2) 350 marineland
(2) powerheads connected to an underground filter
50lbs crushed coral
i was gonna go to my LFS but they'll probably tell me everything but the truth. thanks for all your help

 

[itom37]

If you've got no live rock or invertebrates in your tank then you can easily do hyposalinity in your DT. Beth has a very good article on it in the disease treatment forum. I guess the cleaner shrimp and crab will be problematic, but you could use the ten gallon for them. Even if those fish are very young, a 10 gallon is very cramped considering you'll have to keep them in QT for six weeks before the ich in your tank dies.

 

[itom37]

Another thing: be wary of a LFS employee who tries to sell you a reef safe ich treatment. The failure to success ratio is high, from my experience and what i gather.

 

[dbrabago]

so what is the proper way to treat the ick?
where do i go for the right medication?

 

[itom37]

You can gradually lower the salinity. This is one method that works well, and you can read exactly how to do it here
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=127007
This would be a good treatment method for you if you don't have LR or many inverts (like i said, you'd probably have to move your hermit and shrimp to a separate tank). You can also treat with copper medication. This kills ich, but you can't use it with inverts, and it's best not to use it in a tank that you will eventually want to put inverts in because it can be difficult to completely remove.
So do you have LR? If not, hypo in your tank would probably be the easiest thing.

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by itom37
You can gradually lower the salinity. This is one method that works well, and you can read exactly how to do it here
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=127007
This would be a good treatment method for you if you don't have LR or many inverts (like i said, you'd probably have to move your hermit and shrimp to a separate tank). You can also treat with copper medication. This kills ich, but you can't use it with inverts, and it's best not to use it in a tank that you will eventually want to put inverts in because it can be difficult to completely remove.
So do you have LR? If not, hypo in your tank would probably be the easiest thing.

I agree.But your inverts are going to be lunch for your puffer soon anyhow. When you get the ich solved, I'd really do some research before doing anything else. Is that the Regal angel you've been having trouble getting to eat? You have some fish that will easily outgrow a 55, the damsels aren't helping the Regal adapt, the puffer will chomp anything. I don't want to just list negatives, you're looking for help and stuff will work. It isn't going to be easy or quick, but take the ich 1st. (I won't even mention the CC substrate.) Please keep us up to date and be ready for possible setbacks, we've all been there. ps. find a new LFS, asap.

 

[sepulatian]

I would suggest moving the inverts into the 10 gallon. If you have LR that will not fit into the ten gallon then add it to a rubbermaid tub with a heater and a powerhead. Do NOT use copper in a display. Perform hyposalinity on all of your fish. Do you have a refractometer?

 

[dbrabago]

ok just got back from the my LFS they told my to lower my salinity(like what you guy's suggested) and bought a bottle of (AP PRO quick cure). also bought me a water test kit.
will the medicine affect the water to much that i can't get a good or accurate reading from it?

LFS said the medicine won't affect it but i just want to make sure.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by dbrabago
ok just got back from the my LFS they told my to lower my salinity(like what you guy's suggested) and bought a bottle of (AP PRO quick cure). also bought me a water test kit.
will the medicine affect the water to much that i can't get a good or accurate reading from it?

LFS said the medicine won't affect it but i just want to make sure.

Do NOT use that in your display tank. That is a malechite green, a very harsh one at that, medication that will not effectively treat the situation anyway. It will, however, manage to kill some of your fish and will ruin your display for any inverts in the future. Take the med back and tell them, "Thanks, but no thanks".

 

[itom37]

a water test kit... for what? i don't think the medicine will change anything. make sure you're using a real refractometer if you're doing hypo, and follow the procedure on this site. it needs to be done right. those plastic hydrometers aren't going to be sensitive enough to safely do hypo.

 

[sepulatian]

also bought me a water test kit.
Did you not test your water before? Please test your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and PH (very important durring hypo). You will need a refractometer for hyposalinity.

 

[dbrabago]

got any pics of a refractometer?

 

[sepulatian]

Yep. A hydrometer will not work for hypo. They are no where near accurate enough.

 

[sepulatian]

Please back this up and tell us how you have cycled the tank and how long you have had it. How have you been testing your SG and water parameters before now?

 

[dbrabago]

never did test my water in my tank till now. when i started my tank my local fish store failed to inform my about testing my water. they just told me i just needed a hydromter.

here's my numbers
PN 8.0
ammonia 0.0
nitrate 10
nitrite 1.0 LOW 2 high
tank has been cycled a month before i added salt, with salt and damsels maybe a total of two months

 

[dbrabago]

i think the best thing that i ever dicovered was this web site!!

i haved learned so much info from you guy's and i would like to thank each and everyone of you who responed to my question's

i am learning each and everyday i log on.
once again thaks for being so helpful..

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by dbrabago
never did test my water in my tank till now. when i started my tank my local fish store failed to inform my about testing my water. they just told me i just needed a hydromter.

here's my numbers
PN 8.0
ammonia 0.0
nitrate 10
nitrite 1.0 LOW 2 high
tank has been cycled a month before i added salt, with salt and damsels maybe a total of two months
If your nitrite is 1 then you are still cycling. What kind of test kit did you buy? What do you mean by 1.0 LOW 2 high?

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by dbrabago
right now i have a (royal angel, longnose butterfly, pocupine puffer,
6 damsels,a hermit crab,and a cleaner shrimp).
This tank is two months old with all of these fish?

 

[dbrabago]

i know i know, what was i thinking. i am very new to salt water. now that i found this site i know that what i was doing the wrong thing. i just did what my LFS suggested.

i should'nt have rushed in to it. i guess i was just so excited to start this new hobby. i have always wanted saltwater since i could remember. i started my first tank about 10 years ago (freshwater) in it i had lionheads, a couple oscars very very easy to raise. i was told saltwater was hard to take care of but i never knew it was this complicated. one thing that i have very little of is patience, i read that patience is the most important thing when to have when starting saltwater. i learn by my mistakes, i guess

as for the brand of test kit it is called (INSTANT OCEAN marine water)

 

[itom37]

Your tank is still cycling. Fish waste is excreted (as ammonia). It is very toxic to fish, and should be zero in a cycled tank. Next, bacteria in your tank convert it to nitrites. Nitrites are less toxic, but you still want them to be zero. The final step in the marine aquarium is conversion to nitrates. They are less toxic still, but build up and necessitate water changes usually. The cycle is the process of providing those bacteria food so they can multiply to a population that can sustain the amount of waste your aquarium is producing. Ideally, you'd take your fish out and get them into a stable aquarium (maybe your LFS would hang on to them, given that they didn't tell you something so simple, yet maybe not since they've got ick), and let your cycle finish. If you're interested in spending a little money, you could buy a QT and treat the fish while your tank cycles. My guess is you don't want to do that. Since you're through the ammonia stage, you may be ok in terms of water parameters during your cycle, but monitor carefully and if things spike, you have to do water changes. It's possible that your cycling tank stressed your fish enough to give them ick.
DO YOU HAVE LIVE ROCK?
If you've got that many fish (especially a biggun like the puffer) in a 55 gallon, you probably need some crazy powerful filtration to keep up with the bioload. Live rock goes a long way in that regard, and will really stabilize your tank. From what you've said you've got CC and some mechanical filtration... probably not enough. Once you've got your fish taken care of, consider some live rock and a protein skimmer, at least. Investing early saves a lot of money in this hobby.
Good luck!