whats good for ick

[joshdav]

hi every one ive lost 2 fishis they had ick but the last one died yesterday and had ick but also had like a black spot in the back of his head....whats good medicine for them i have featherdusters and anemones and also little stars....thats why i dont know what medicine to give them i dont want to loose them....

 

[beth]

There is no medication or treatment you can offer the fish in your main tank. Inverts can not tolerate fish diseae treatments, thus you will need to remove your fish and place them in a separate hospital tank and treat using hyposalinity.
If you need help with this, please post back.

 

[mb4000]

I disagree with Beth. Though they may not be the most effective treatments for ich, there are some reef safe treatments out there. The problem is that if you are'nt extremely careful with dosing the treatment you can wipe a tank out. If you don't do hypo right then your fish will dy also. . I would not use the reef safe meds because they are expensive. To say that there is no reef safe treatments out there is not correct in my opinion . People have posted success stories with reef safe meds on the board before and an old LFS used them in their tanks with success. Lots of people including my self feed garlic as a preventative measure with great success. The garlic addition has helped many fish beat an ick outbreak without hypo or meds.

 

[mb4000]

ED what laboratory experiment do you stand by or is your laboratory experiment forums and books, because if so then those are mine to. The sheer volume of sucess with garlic is more than just luck and should suffice in place of an experiment. Post a thread on who uses garlic as a preventative measure to keep away ich and you'll get alot more hits for that witches brew than against it. Do you use garlic? I guess that those people who have had success with kick ick are freaks of nature. Reef safe meds are not the best choice, but some people don't want to deal with the time hypo takes ( specific salt levels, quarantine tanks, water changes, weeks to complete ) and kick ick or similiar products if done right will work ( that is why stores sell them ). You run the experiment and post it in extreme detail, and then you can advise me what to or what not to stand by.
Now maybe you have ran detailed experiments and if so I apologize for questioning you.

 

[mb4000]

What post have you been reading. Sure are'nt mine. I never said that I was gung ho about meds. Show me where I said that. I even said that they are'nt the best way to go. Even at 50% like you said they still do work. If your fish are getting ill then sounds like you have maintenance issues. Heck, put a fish in hypo with crappy water and bett the fish will still die. Show me where I said that Garlic cures Ick, can't find it can you. I said that it will help the fish beat out ick. You can think whatever you want about garlic, but you'll be hard pressed to convince people that garlic does nothing for their fish besides induce a feeding response. I agree that hypo is the best way and never said it was'nt. I won't put reef safe meds up against hypo or copper ( because like i said in my post that you read way off of what it said ) they don't work as well, but they do work if done properly.
Sorry if I confused you with my english.

 

[mb4000]

Your experiments prove that hypo works. Duhh, I know it works. I never said it didn't. You still did not show where I stated that garlic cures ick. You aked me if I would be willing to stand by that assesment in a laboratory experiment. If it was a laboratory experiment to show that garlic helps fish fight off ick then sure. I even bett that the majority of people on this board who use garlic would to. I said that the addition has helped fish beat ick. Never said cure ick. I even said, and here I say again that I use it along with lots of other people as a preventative measure. As far as your coke thing. If ibuprofin was a pain in the butt and took precision instruments to monitor specific dosages and a coke was easier and had a 50% ( according to some guy )chance of fixing my headache with no precision instruments, then off to the liquer store I would be. Why would you compare a fish to a person anyways. Now If I didn't have the time or equipment for hypo or copper and didn't mind spending the money, then yes I would try the kick ich. I have no scientific reason why. I have read threads where people have used kick ich just fine. I have also read threads where hypo didn't work worth a darn. Nothing is going to work if you do it wrong. You seem to think that if something does'nt work then it's the product and can't possibly be human error. This arguement isn't worth the sore fingers. You have accomplished nothing with this thread as I have accomplished nothing, so good luck with hypo when your fish get sick as they seem to do by your own admission, and I will enjoy watching my fish stay illness free for another year with the help of garlic. Feel free to have the last word as I am tired of repeating myself.

 

[ccartag]

just to add my own i would try to read in to ick pron fishs and stay away iv'e tried garlic and it seems to help but i also got rid my tangs and invested in a diatom filter..seems to suck everything out even the redslime....

 

[joshdav]

thanks so much for your advise but i dont know what is hiposalinaty.....specially when i speak spanish we may have different terms so please can you explain to me what is hipo...thanks so much your a big help

 

[j21kickster]

HYPOsalinity is when you lower the salinity in a tank over time to 1.009. and keeping it there for around 3-4 weeks before returning it to normal over a period of several days. it is a method getting rid of parisitic problems. Short and sweet

 

[joshdav]

thankyou for telling me what hiposalinaty is.....another question.....is it safe for invertebrates to lower those levels of salt....i have feather dusters and do you think is safe for them to lower those levels of salt???

 

[clarkiiboi]

no it is NOT safe to lower the salinity with inverts, I believe that inverts dont get the ich so you dont have to worry about them. If you can, get another tank running and remove the fish and place into there and dont put any LR or LS in this tank as the hypo will kill these. You can add PVC pipe so there are places to hide. Have the salt at the same level as the tank they came from and then lower salt over the next few days. How many fish do you have to move? HTH

 

[mini-reefer]

Heres a few questions while sort of on the topic. Where do you all get your garlic? Is it sold in a LFS in your area? Whats the brand name? Ive been wanting to start using it but have been unable to find the stuff. Thanks all.
Mini-Reefer

 

[krusk]

Mini-Reefer
Kyolic Garlic Extract
It can be found in GNC health store.