Need input on ICH

[rykna]

I need the seahorse forums' input. My friend has a 29g with a watchman, 2 clowns, and a clown goby. Many types of coral, hermits, and some snails.
Beth's watchman just came down with ick, the cyst has definitely popped. She is terrified on what to do and how treatment would effect everything in her tank.
My treatment recommendation is to use PraziPro in the 29g DT. I would prefer to have your opinion, because any med used in a seahorse tank can be used just about any where.
~Rykna

 

[dive girl]

I don't know about the PraziPro, I thought the only thing that got rid of Ich was copper. IIRC, I thought that the treatment would be to put the fish in a QT with some copper and leave the DT empty of fish for 6 weeks. Copper kills inverts too and I think leeches into the tank like Panacur does as well.
She could also put the fish into a QT and keep them in hyposalinity for a while. That would eliminate the need to use any chemicals. But that would kill inverts too.

 

[reefnutpa]

PraziPro is not a suitable ich treatment. Dive Girl was spot on with her treatment suggestion. Remove all fish and treat in hospital tank with either hypo for 6-8 weeks or treat in hospital tank with copper. (Do NOT do both hypo and copper.) Main tank must remain fish-less for 6-8 weeks.
Tom

 

[rykna]

Awesome! Thank you both! I finally got Beth to set up the QT. She using a 15g I lent her. Before we transfered the fish, the watchman had dark colored areas around his mouth, kinda of made him look like he hadn't shaved for awhile.
After Beth filled 15g half way with some tank water and new saltwater and the fish were in I added some PraziPro. Within a few minutes the cyst sloughed off the watchman. After aprox ten minutes the watchmen had returned to it's bright yellow color and proceeded to stake out his territory. He made it very clear to the two clown fish that the rocks belonged to him and his clown goby buddy. So that was a good sign. I would have been very worried if the watchman had disappeared into a corner and did not come out.
Tomorrow Beth plans to start the hyposalinity. How long should she leave the tank at 1.009 before slowly raising it back up- the entire 6-8 weeks?
Thanks again every one for your help

I'll let you know how things go.
~Rykna

 

[reefnutpa]

I've done hypo in the past for 4-6 weeks at work. Remember to tell your friend she MUST have a refractometer to go this route. The SG must stay at 1.009 for the entire treatment. That is imperative. A SG of 1.010 won't work, and swing-arms salinity meters aren't accurate enough. Remember to raise the SG extremely slow at the end of treatment.
If your friend is hesitant that she'll be able to keep up with the daily monitoring of the salinity and such, the alternative treatment would be copper in the hospital tank (again, with normal salinity...never mix copper with a hypo treatment.)
I've treated ich both ways - hypo and copper. Copper needs to be tested daily to ensure the dosage is maintained in the tank throughout treatment. So either way she goes, there is daily testing involved.
Tom

 

[rykna]

Hmmm.....1.009 constantly, 4-6 weeks. I don't know......I'm always happy to help, but I am not sure she has the patience or time......
I wish I would have gotten a picture of her watchman before we put him into the QT. After looking at all the pics online here of fish with ich, I'm not so sure any more that ich is what the little guy has. The watchman did have little white tuffs on him, the spot on his nose looked like a little piece of confetti clinging to the top of his nose. It sloughed off as soon as I added the PraziPro, and the white puffs disappeared. Beth reported that the watchman looked much better this morning.
Any ideas on what else this ailment could be? I've never had flukes or flat warms so I am not sure what they look like.
Thanks,
~Rykna