Which medication to stop ICK?

[johntanjm]

Due to limitations in space, I have no space for quarantine tank, and also i find it impossible to net my fish out so the only solution left is to use medication.

I'm looking for reef safe medication. Besides my SF Tang and Kole Tang I have a pair of clowns. the tank inside has hard coral, mushies, sun corals and tube worms.

there are alot of reef-safe medication out there. sometimes use already, everything die. So i'm hoping bro.s out here can give me some recommendation as to what is a tried and tested effective brand to buy.

perhaps got second hand medicine, don't need to use already, I don't mind buying over also.

Thanks!

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The Deep Blue Sea in my HDB

http://myfishyroomates.blogspot.com

[noob]

Rather than dosing medication, why not try building their immunity via vitamin & garlic and let them combat the disease themselves? I remember I read somewhere that is a more 'natural' option and won't risk losing all your LS by dosing 'reef-safe' medication.

Last month, I suspected my Sailfin contracted the disease too. So what I do is what I written above. Now, one month later, I didn't see any more white spots and it is eating merrily.

Anyway, this is from a noob so better to listen to what others say.

[johntanjm]

I had a SF tang with whitespots. then i kept it until no more. then suddenly it all came back. I've done some reading up. ick is not a disease. its more like a parasite.

its like no matter how healthy u are, u can't avoid getting mosquito bites right? that kinda logic. so the only way is to remove the parasite enirely from the aqaruium. very harming and damaging process

[contrails]

Hi,

I am not expert here. Please let me share my experience with you. I had the same problem as you. Started off with my Atlantic Blue tang and soon after all the fishes got it as well. After about a month of coming on and off, I tried Chem-Marin Stop Parasite. Treatment was suppose to be for 5 days but after 3-4 days there wasnt any sign of improvement. Also when doing the treatment you are not suppose to change water. In the end I decided that I would go the tried and tested method. Hypo. Took all he rocks and inverts out and hypo the main tank cos my other tank is too small for all the fishes to live happily for 6 weeks. Now all the rocks are in a big tub. After 1 week of hypo all the white spots gone. Now it is about 32 days and I havent seen any white spots since. It does work but you have to monitor the pH. Also with low salinity the skimmer doesnt really work so you have to monitor the water quality as well. Another 2 weeks and I will start raising the salinity back up. Am planning to run a UV once I bring the salinity up. For your case maybe you want to try using a UV first and see how?

Please note that I am not saying that medicated stuff are no good. Just that it didnt work for me, doesnt mean that it wont work for you. But it is expensive and I reckon with the money that you have to spend you might as well use it for water change. I believe that they are pepper based. If you open a bottle you can smell the 'chilly' smell. One other reefer I met used a certain Kent Marine product, right now I cant remember the name. He swears by it.

I dont know what the long term effects of the fishes' internal organs after doing hypo treatment. I guess I have to try and see how long they live after that.

Hope you will sort it out soon. Cheers.

[johntanjm]

yes i agree with that you guys say. it is true that certain treatments will only work in certain situations and that's because each and every tank has a diferent chemical and bio composition.

I'm thinking of using the kent marine as well but it says it affects mushrooms and hard corals which is crap. i have so many of that.

I need a fish doctor! a miracle doctor!

[RockyBoy]

try putting the clearner shrimp or wrasse, fight the natural way.

[johntanjm]

i've always prefered the natural way. i have a cleaner shrimp and it does its job but it seems that this relaspe in white spots and judging the scale of it, i need more then the shrimp. I need medication to kill the parasites while the cleaners will hopefully continue keeping the fish clean.

i went down to henry's and had a chat and finally decided to use chem marine STOP parasite. will update the progress.

First dosage:

18 January 2007 1700 10ml

my photo period kicks in at 1700 and so can observe the LS reaction the whole night. next morning if all goes well, dosing will be at 9am, then 9pm, 9am, 9pm and all the way for the next 5 days.

will report back

[noob]

Good luck!

[johntanjm]

white particles floating all around after intial dose. ugh. everything looking bad, but so long as they're alive, will hope they pull thru entire course of medication

[accurist]

My two cents:

I don't believe there is any 'reef safe' medication. full stop. There is noway you can have a healthy marine tank without a QT. When i first got into marine I used to just stick fish straight into my display and learnt the hard way. There is nothing more heart breaking than seeing your lovely fish suffering.

A cheap QT tank isn't expensive and the only way you can get rid of ich etc.. Since I started to QT everything for a minimum of 4 weeks before going to my display I have never had a problem with ich in my display. I would say about 50% of all new livestock show signs of ich in the QT.

Cleaner shrimp etc do help, and I would never use NSW again as I noticed ich after using the water.

[pingpong]

found this:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-12/sp/index.php

[johntanjm]

seems like Kole Tang is going to move on. bad bad bad. very bad. i couldn't net it out. i tried but it hid, then i hit the rocks and the rocks collaspe

[johntanjm]

i've set up a quarantine tub. manage to net kole tang out. the QT has a slightly lower salinity 1.019. hopefully that will kill all the ick. maintank wise i guess medication has to conitinue. i need to flush the ick out of it.

[m203]

y dun u try garlic guard.......?juz soak the food for few minutes n feed it

dat might helps

[johntanjm]

ok kole tang up the lorry. sian. the rest of the fish won't die lar. the matter is how to get rid of the parasite from the tank. think should install UV soon

[johntanjm]

hey if i use normal garlic juice, mix with the food can or not?

[pingpong]

hey if i use normal garlic juice, mix with the food can or not?

can...but gotta let it soak long enuf so the food can absorb the garlic.. one nice reefer here taught me to soak the food in garlic juice and leave it overnite in the fridge...

[johntanjm]

i fed the fish garlic bits. it bit hungrily then spit out like a child spitting out bitter gourd. hilarious

[noob]

Any updates after using the Chem-Marine Stop Parasite?

[johntanjm]

the update is sad. kole tang left to go to fish society.

my SF tang from just white spots now covered with lots of lots of white patches. coloring of the fish has paled tremendously. generally i think this medication is useless.

today the course of med is up so i did water change and took out the canister. inside is all slimy slimy. rowaphos caked together like one piece of rock.

end of the day, fish is still ill i feel. maybe its irradicated the parsite and those white patches are just skin irritation. hopefully that's the case.

so now i'll advocate, use quarnatine, run UV

[noob]

Did you remove carbon and stop your UV during the 5 days of medication?

[johntanjm]

yes i did. removed carbon and i had no UV then.

anyway i did a water change so with the med gradually outta the water, hope everybody will be happy again soon in the deep blue sea

anyway here's a hypothesis. I think that different med will work differently under different filtration/tank systems. Whether you're running canisters or sump or anything else, it matters alot. different medicatoin have different mechanisms of erradicating the parasites and its effectiveness can be offset by a uncomplimentary tank system. or also it can be greatly enhanced by a complimentary one.

[mansiz]

Bro, I suspect your fish got marine velvet instead of marine ich. And lowering of salinity should be 1.017 and below. Fishes can survive well even in 1.013. 1.019 would'nt help much.

[Thexder]

Damn! Now my tank has ick. Woke to find my clown and foxface infested with while spots

Caught them and did freshwater dip. Clown looks ok, so back to the tank. Foxface still has dark spots, now quarantined in a pail.

I'm thinking of going to get a UV, will it help to stop the spread of ick?

[johntanjm]

let me suggest this.. u get some garlic, juice it. and then mix your food in it. let it soak. and feed them to the fish. feed for 2-3 days. everyone will be ok.