make ich go away

freeek5150

freeek5150

New Member
Okay so here is another question. I have a 100 gallon reef going and it is running just fine. I also have a 20 gallon tank used for "hospital" purposes. I bought a yellow longnose butterfly that had ich the day after i bought him. I "hospitalized" him and treated him with coppersafe. a few days after the ich went away(white dots on his fins and body) i placed him back into the reef. The next day the symptoms were there again. Any help would be appreciated. If it won't go away, he will be returned to *****!
 
toughguy80

toughguy80

Member
Do hypo on him, it's a sure fire way to kill ich. Also, the tank itself now has ich so everytime you put him back in your big tank, he gets it all over again. Put him back into the hospital tank, do hypo and wait a month for the ich to die in your main tank. If you aren't sure what hypo is, go to the disease forum and look under one of the stickies posted at the top. It's somewhat involved but I've used it 2-3 times now with 100% success.
 
freeek5150

freeek5150

New Member
Will hypo kill the inverts in my large tank? If not then I will try it. Otherwise, I will lose like 150 critters!
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
Yes, hypo will kill the inverts and corals in your 100 gallon reef. The only way you will totally get rid of the ich in your main tank now is to get rid of the hosts. Something must be stressing your butterfly out for him to keep getting ich. I would try to look at the levels in your main tank for a possible explanation.
 
sou812

sou812

Member
use Kent RX-P the only thing that u will have to remove is the starfish It works. I used it in my reef
 
gtiguy

gtiguy

Member
I also had a problem with my copperband butterfly after about a week he got ick on his fins and than started swimming sideways and at the surface, it wasnt a good outcome but they are hard species to take care of regarless of the ich, but a cleaner shrimp or fire/blood shrimp could help as well as a uv sterlizer so ive heard to help eliminate it....or prevent it for that matter....
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
Yes, RX-P works okay but there is quite a few things that it is not compatible with. Lionfish are starfish are among them. Also, you must use it "with caution" with all other inverts. That's not quite what I like to hear when I read a bottle...
If you are going to use a "reef safe" medication, Parasite Stop works best and will not harm any type of invert, macro algae, coral, or live rock organism.
Also, UV sterilizers will not do anything for ich that has already attached to the fish's body. It will only kill free-floating ich, and that is only if the flowrate is right.
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
Yes, but he already has ich in his main tank. He would need to remove all of the fish from the main tank in order to eradicate the ich.
 
sou812

sou812

Member
I used th Rx for 8 weeks with no ill effects all snails and crabs survived. No ich after treat ment after that I bout 3 cleaner wrases. 1 survived and has been cleaning away best investment in a fish that I ever made.
 
ctgretzky9

ctgretzky9

Member
The couple of times I had ich, I used this product called "kick ich". Works great, and lfs reccommends it highly. Perfectly reef safe, never had any ill effects on any corals including sps.
You must, most of the time, treat the whole tank once you have introduced a fish with ich. Ich spreads rapidly. Hyposalinity is too dangerous in an entire tank, and frankly, i dont like it even in hospital tanks.
"Reef Safe Kick-Ich is a water treatment for the control of ich (a.k.a. "whitespot disease") in marine and freshwater aquaria. It has been scientifically formulated to eliminate the free swimming, infectious stage of the ich life cycle while being safe for all freshwater and marine aquaria. Kick-Ich has a long shelf life at room temperature and is supplied in easy to use, self-dosing bottles. Safe for all fish, corals, invertebrates and macro algae, as well as the facultative anaerobes and nitrifying bacteria essential to biologic filtration."
 
bushwacker

bushwacker

Member
I think that it is a miss conception that ick will die if there is no hoste. I had ick in my reef tank several months ago. It went away (no more sick fish) and I had no signs of it for at least 3 months. I added a coral Beauty Angle last week and in less the 18 hours he was dead from ick. The fish had no ick when I bough him and was not in a tank being treated for ick. The fish was very health when I bought him. I think once your tank has ick it will always have it.
 
sou812

sou812

Member
Ich will live in your live rock so if u dont want to throw away your rock u must medicate and like I said I used the Rx and no ich for 6 months now fish have never looked better and always quranteen new fish or fresh water bath for 15 min. sure way to kill ich
 
ctgretzky9

ctgretzky9

Member
Originally Posted by Bushwacker
The stuff says not to use with star fish and I have 3 brittles, a serpant and an orange linka star.

Are you speaking of kick ich?
I didnt have a problem, and I as well have 2 brittle, 1 serpent and 1 orange linkia....
I may have missed tha instruction...looked again just now and didnt see
 
ctgretzky9

ctgretzky9

Member
Originally Posted by Bushwacker
Kick ick does not work. I have tried it. Here is the product that has been suggested. Reading about it dose not make me feel very comfortable in using it with my type of reef. I have lots of $$$ tied up in corals.
http://www.***********.com/md_searchitem.asp

hmmm...this is the first time in many many suggestions and successes over the years, and lfs usage that I heard it did not work.
Did you remove carbon...turn off protein skimmer...follow 2 week dosage etc?
Product has a very good reputation and success rate
 
bushwacker

bushwacker

Member
Yep I did all that. I have tried a couple of times without success. I still have half a bottle I am going to through way.
 
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