Cure for Ich/Parasite

[May&Bruce]

only 25 reefer experienced ich? Hah! Most reefers must have - its gotta be the most common problem around.

As they say, prevention is better than cure:

1. Feed your fish lots of garlic, it really does build up their immune system.

2. Quarantine your new fish

3. NEVER EVER add any of the water that your fish come in from the LFS, into your tank.

4. Do not unduly stress your fish - be very selective in choosing compatible members of the tank.

Some people say that there is always ich in every tank...am not so sure about that....

[shootsimon]

Mr CRABS Posted on Oct 28 2005, 12:25 AM

  Can anyone here tell me the steps for the freshwater dip....i think it's important that i should know..pls tell thanks...

http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=37909

Its right in the begining of the Disease treatment/parasite control Forum

[weileong]

He's asking for freshwater dip and not hypo treatment

[Mr CRABS]

Can just cut the garlic into small piieces and feed it??

[nakazoru]

Can just cut the garlic into small piieces and feed it??

You may like to read abt garlic first, it is to built ressistance of fish but not cure ich. I use to believe garlic very much, now only use to enhance food if fish refuse to eat especially in QT.

Garlic juice in a bottle available at LFS.

[tjlee]

HI All

I just joint SRC a minute ago...

My poder blue got white spot and before i decided what method to cure, it died the next morning. so sad

[joeyttk]

given that my fish has white spot in a big tanks filled with rocks, it is almost impossible to isolate them for fresh water dip or hypo.

what will be the next best cause of actions ? buy medication ? use UV and hope it recover it on its own ? or buy cleaner shrimps ?

I read the thread but I like the next best course of action tks

[k0na_scab]

Hi joey,

just how big is your tank ?

how many fish are affected ?

~k0na

[helldust]

you can try STOP PARASITES by Chem-Marin, it is sold at ML.

Chem-Marin

i had a serious outbreak of itch in my tank recently and Henry recommend me this product. I see an almost 50% improvement on the reduce of white spots by end of the 5th day (1 course of treatment). managed to saved my tangs and others.

Only lost an angel as it had secondary infection of fin rot.

[k0na_scab]

hmmm

does it says what are the active ingredient in it ?

[tineng]

A freshwater bath will work better than a freshwater dip. Performed it on a maroon clown before. Think I left it in aged freshwater for 10-15 minutes. Remember to adjust the pH of the freshwater similar to that of seawater though.

yeap....agree, a freshwater bath using age water adjusted to the PH nearer to your tank water seems to work better.

Put the fish in and monitor for any difficultiy....let it stay for about 15-20 minutes if possbile and remember to areate the bath....

I also heard that certain fish like mandrian fish and stingray (if i'm not wrong) can toralate FW bath...

[zephyros]

errr ... for FW bath/dip when u say to adjust the pH of the water,

exactly how do u do it?

cheers

[atos]

Any pH buffer will do the job,Sodium bicarbonate will also help fix the pH at 8.0 8.2. A teaspon per 5 galon.

[Patrick]

You know wat... i have been trying to keep PBT for many years and finally succeeded recently. After a few mths decided to add two more. 3 days later tehy all kana itch and died. I have tried all the methods mentioned here (which means many PBT didnt make it ) but none...absolutely none works for PBT...more success with malachite green on YT.

[joeyttk]

Hi joey,

just how big is your tank ?

how many fish are affected ?

~k0na

I have a 6 ft tank. Used to be filled with soft corals and Clams. Now only for fish. so far, only 2 out of my 6 fish has the spot.

ML is quite far, does anyone knows if reborn or sealife has any good medication for the spot ?

I am thinking of waiting it out using carbon to keep water clear of toxic.

[k0na_scab]

waiting it out ? u cant dude. The ich will jus keep mulitplying. Most likely the fish will up lorry....

care to tell us wad kind of fish u keeping ?

when did you notice the fish had ich ?

which was the last fish u added n when ? QTed ? duration ?

since yrs is a FOWLR , IMO, either u can try hypo , n treat all the fish.

Safe, no extra money needed, u'll still be able to c yr fish as per norm.

Copper based medication - nv tried , search the forum hehe

Formaldehyde 37% - currently using it with hypo to treat my NEW fishes

this will stain yr air tubes , very likely silicon too.

there's a few brands that reborn carry ,

eg. Waterlife Myxazin, contains formaldehyde 37% + i dunno wad else

there are more senior reefers here , maybe they can chip in also.

ich spreads like wildfire - trust mi - been there done that -

~k0na

[joeyttk]

Hi,

It started on my butterfly, and spread to my diamond angel. The strange thing is that diamond was the last that came in. But there are more spots on my incumbent butterfly than the new comer.

In any case, I logged a missing fish report 2 days ago. It was last spotted midnight wed.

I think it is likely dead. My fish always goes missing when it dead. There was once I saw some fins left among the LR.

I will go ML tomorrow and see if the medication helps.

thanks for all the answers

[scs88]

anyome has any idea how much the mediation from ML cost?

i bought a golden doc from iwarna yest

this morning i see got some white spots on its body

how ah??

[Sotong]

Itch... a persistent irritant!!!!

Learned my lesson well after much failure & casualties . Definitely will not dose the medication that say: safe for invert..... unless u wanna see ur invert safe in heaven...

I will dip any new fishes in fresh water for 30 sec and alternate with medicated(those medication that cure itch) sea water for another 30sec.

Repeated this for a duration of 3 mins (3 times with each) then into QT (normal seawater) for 3days to observe any new outbreak & if the fish that is under treatment feeding. If there is still saome stubborn spots, repeat the process again.

Feed them with food soak with garlic to beef up their immunity. Work well so far.

However, if the fish is already (restless....) when u spotted the irritating spots, then the above mentioned constant dip is not advisable. Gotta do it only once a day for 30sec only. Believe me... once a day only for 30sec.

From what I know itch comes with fish. There is no way we can exterminate them totally. We can only control the them.

[zephyros]

Any1 tried the Kick-Ich product.

I know, u'r gonna tell me, it cant kill Ich and be Invert safe at the same

time

[joeyttk]

how about copper treatment ?

mine is a 5.5 ft x 3 x 2 ft tank, so I possibly can change all the water to FW. It will kill all my LR [left over from my corals day]

Can I dose copper medication directly into the main tank ? Will it coz any coloration ?

[Sotong]

Hi

If fish only and really fish only, no problem & no coloration. Tried that before & it turn out ok. But skim mate got yellowish color...

[ad_aware]

Hi all, cant help but worry about an issue... noticed random little spots on one fishy (looks transparent/like a bubble); not exactly white. I might be paranoid but I managed to catch one of it into QT (with ICH medication) but the other "partner in crime" is so damn hard to catch.. was wondering if theres any ICH medication out there suitable for a tank with fishes and corals.. (damn.. have to get garlic solution to try and boost up their immunity also leow) thx

[Qxnviolet]

Hi all, cant help but worry about an issue... noticed random little spots on one fishy (looks transparent/like a bubble); not exactly white. I might be paranoid but I managed to catch one of it into QT (with ICH medication) but the other "partner in crime" is so damn hard to catch.. was wondering if theres any ICH medication out there suitable for a tank with fishes and corals.. (damn.. have to get garlic solution to try and boost up their immunity also leow) thx

I think there are some reef safe medication avaliable in the market, not sure of the brand though, anyone has any experience? My box fish has some white spots on its fin as well for the past 2 weeks, still healthy n feeding though. Spots have been getting lesser too, i guess if your fish seems healthy(still active n eating), u might consider just leaving it in your main tank and the spots might go away itself? Im a newbie at this too, mayeb some experienced reefers wld like to share some insights?

[sky107line]

Ha...ha! From my point of view that treating with copper can cause a pain to the fish and for the Hypo treatment can cause a very painful experience to the reefer! Need more patience though. Coz, This treatment will take 1 and a half mth to cure especially cycling back the main tank just to kill the ich for that period of time inorder to have Ich free from your tank.However, You need to remove all your fish from your main tank. Painful isn't it? But if it work me, Hope that this will work for you too! Happy trying. And here goes the remedy:-

Marine_Ich_Cryptocaryon_irritans___A_Discussion_of_this_Parasite_and_the_Treatment_Options_Available__Part_I_by_Steven_Pro___Reefkeeping_com.htm