Curing Fish of Marine Ich

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leebca

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Curing Fish of Marine Ich

Intro


There are several posts and threads in this Forum which describes the disease, choices for the cure, and the process to cure marine fishes of Marine Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans). It seems like a lot to read and it can get confusing. So here’s a short procedure to follow that refers to those posts that have all the details you’ll need.

I'm writing this in blunt, easy to read English (I hope). It may sound 'stern' but I am being blunt, short, to the point AND I'm sure this contains everything you need to do or where to find out what you need to do and how to do it. :)

This post is written as if you have found one or more fish in your display tank (DT) marine system with suspected Marine Ich. If you quarantined one or more fishes, and a fish has shows that is has Marine Ich, just ignore the DT directions. And if you did quarantine your fish and found it infected you are to be commended for being a responsible marine aquarium hobbyist!:winner: [add your name]



Diagnosis


Before you start, you want to be as sure as you can be that you are dealing with Marine Ich. If you’re experienced, you probably know and can skip this part. If you are new to the hobby or have never come across this parasite before, you’ll want to search the Internet for photos of fish that are displaying this parasite.

If you're particularly unfamiliar with this parasite and argue with those who know better, you really need to start by reading this link:

Fish with White Spots That Went Away?

This is a must read if you saw spots that disappeared overnight.

Unfortunately, most of those photos of infected fishes you will find are of fishes with an advanced case of the disease, having many dozens to hundreds of spots. At the outset, your fish may only have a couple to a few (and seem to go away for a while: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...75-fish-white-spots-went-away.html#post782182). Still, those photos should give you an idea of what to look for. Marine Ich has many stages in its life cycle. The one we humans can see with our unaided eye is when the parasite is ready to leave the fish. The spot is white and about the size of a grain of salt or sugar. It can be found on fin or body of the fish. When severely infecting the gills (the parasite isn't seen, but. . .), the fish will flash (scratch) and/or breath rapidly (more than 100 swallows per minute).

For those hobbyists who have had time to get to study and know their fish, there are other symptoms worth noting that may or may not show up: dashing/darting, flicking fins, wagging head, breathing faster, flashing/scratching, visiting the cleaner shrimp much more frequently, not eating or not eating as much, and in some cases piping (staying near the top of the water/tank).

So do the diagnostic step first.



Know Thy Enemy


I don’t care if you’re experienced or not, you must sort out the myths from the facts about this parasite. READ this: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/23132-marine-ich-myths-facts.html. The better you know and understand what it is you’re dealing with, the better you will be at the cure and stopping future infections.

This part includes understanding that not only the fish you see with spots have been infected, but ALL THE FISH in the display system are infected and must be cured at the same time.



Decision on Cure


You need to get grips with reality. There are no short cuts, miracle cures, use of garlic, or any one of a dozen other 'secret chemicals' you can buy that cures, 100% of the time, marine fish of this parasite. Give it up!

I've written this more than a hundred times and I'll write it again (last time I hope) here: The marine food fish industry loses millions of Dollars each year to Marine Ich. IF a fast, safe (for all marine life forms and the fish being cured), completely reliable, and easy cure was found, it would be on the front pages of aquaculture magazines around the world -- there would be a few dozen or more technical papers written on the new cure -- the cure would even be on the news. Guess what? It hasn't happened. Those reef safe products you see advertised don't do the job all the time even when they contain chemicals the parasite doesn't like. They are the short cuts I mentioned above -- they are not real. And as far as 'reef safe' goes -- since there is no standard for this statement, many of these products do (selectively) kill your reef marine livestock. Be realistic. Do you think the makers of those products have tested it on everything?

You need to decide on the REAL cure to use. There are two basic ones, which do not require a prescription or hard-to-get drugs, guaranteed to cure your fish: a copper treatment or a hyposalinity treatment. DON’T ask which one to use. Either works. Decide on which one you are most comfortable doing. Read about each cure so you can understand what each requires you to do. Choose the one you can handle best. In order to decide, read these two posts:
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...ents/23130-copper-treatment-use-problems.html
and
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...nts/23131-hyposalinity-treatment-process.html

NOTE: If one or more fishes are heavily infected (dozens/hundreds of spots) it will be best to give the fish a FW bath treatment and then to use a copper treatment. This is the FW bath treatment process: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/31523-freshwater-dip-process.html


No Modifications/Changes to the Procedure Given


Buy the things you need to do the cure. The quarantine tank(s), the medication and the test kit (for copper), the refractometer (for hyposalinity), etc. DON’T come up with your own procedure. The procedure has worked for more than the 40 years it’s been used. Don’t try to improve upon it or take any shortcuts.



Start The Quarantine Tank(s) (QT)


Read about setting a QT up and do it. In this case it is technically a 'hospital tank' but the tank is setup the same as a QT. If you have a lot of fish to treat, then you can choose a large QT or multiple smaller QTs. Your decision again. To begin with, you can use display tank water in the QT. Both it and the fish are ‘infected’ so it doesn’t matter. AFTER that though, all water changes will be done with new salt water. Read this: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums.../23584-fish-quarantine-process-step-step.html



Starting Out


Move all fish (those with and those without spots) to a quarantine tank and begin their cure. (NOTE: During the move DON'T do any freshwater dip unless the infection is REALLY bad -- hundreds of spots and/or the fish isn't eating because it's breathing so fast; and/or the fish flashes every minute. If you read up on the enemy you'll know that a fresh water dip NEVER cures fish of Marine Ich -- BUT it can help a little in extreme cases.) If you need help in how to catch your fish, keep in mind two things: These fishes (unless tank bred) were caught by people in a whole ocean or sea (and all you need to do is catch them in a small box) and; you're smarter than a fish (I hope :smack: ). In addition this thread gives you some ideas on how to go about doing this: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...41546-goin-fishin-catching-fish-aquarium.html



The Display System (and Tank)


Leave the display tank and the entire display system go fishless for no less than 8 weeks. Some people don’t seem to understand what this means. This means you can leave every other living thing in the display system, except fish. Please don’t ask if it’s okay to leave ....?... in the tank. If it isn’t a fish, then it’s okay to leave it in the display system! For this purpose, Eels, Mandarins, Gobies, Sharks, etc. are all fish. :)

Some people want to take this opportunity to put into the display system additional clean up crew, corals, invertebrates of any kind, etc. It’s okay to do this, but the 8-week clock begins AFTER the last addition. Keep in mind this is only for Marine Ich. If you don’t routinely quarantine new marine life forms, you might be bringing any other kinds of fish diseases into the aquarium. BUT, with the 8-week fishless time, there won’t be any Marine Ich alive.

Sometimes it’s just better to tell the hobbyist DON’T add anything to the display system during this time. This is good advice.

What to do with the display system while it's going fishless: Keep feeding all other marine life (e.g., pods, clean-up crew, invertebrates, etc.). Add food to keep bacteria alive and working. Keep lights on as usual. Keep water quality up and continue with the usual maintenance. Keep water temperature at the high end of the range (about 78 to 80F). Keep all equipment going. Keep testing water for quality and maintain, maintain, maintain. This is a very good time to do substrate, rock, and decoration cleaning.




The Quarantine Tank


NO BIO FILTER GOING? If the QT doesn’t have an active and working biological filter, you can still do either cure. You will need to start a biological filter going (see post on setting up the QT) and you will do water changes every time you detect ammonia and/or nitrites in the water. You will need to buy ammonia and nitrite test kits (not test strips) and test the water two or three times a day. Four if you feed often. You will need to remove all excess food and fish wastes. This you can do by siphon or by one of those sand cleaning pumps (manual) to pick up and filter out the debris.

NOTE: Even if you have an active and operating biological filter, still check the water for ammonia and nitrites. The fish might just be polluting too much and the filter has to catch up. So even with a biological filter running, CHECK the water daily for ammonia and nitrite and make a large water change if either or both are detected.

When you detect ammonia and/or nitrite you’ll need to do a large (over 80%) water change with new water. Since this will be a large water change, this post tells you the proper way of doing this: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...7-how-make-safe-water-change-marine-fish.html

You will need to control the water quality very well in the QT so the fish don’t ‘know’ any reduction in water quality during their cure. One part of that is pH. If you chose the hyposalinity treatment, it is easiest on the fish, but hardest on the hobbyist as is stated in that post. Controlling the pH will be a challenge since the water is so ‘thin’ that the chemicals/salts aren’t there to stabilize the pH.

Many recommend feeding the fish less during the cure so the water won’t be as polluted. I don’t go along with this approach. The fish needs good nutrition during this time – better than ever – not going on a diet or a reduction of food. The hobbyist has to compensate by doing more work on keeping the water quality high. Keep feeding the fish the best foods with vitamin and fat supplements in it. See this for nutritional info: Fish Health through Proper Nutrition

All this extra effort of making large water changes when ammonia and/or nitrites are there could be reduced if the hobbyist had a biological filter running in the display system or display sump as suggested in the quarantine linked post. The active biological filter would be ready to go into a QT with display tank water and everything moves forward faster. But not having a biological filter is NO REASON to not start the treatment.

NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. . .Some hobbyist don't understand this part about the QT. Since there is no skimmer and no carbon running, the water still gets polluted even when no ammonia or nitrites are detected. Because of this, even if the biological filter is running properly and no ammonia and no nitrites are detected, the hobbyist must still make a large water change (over 80%) every two or three days (depending on how many fish you are treating) to keep down high concentrations of organics, nitrates, and other pollutants. DO THIS.


VERIFY the Fish are Cured


Don’t mess up now! After the treatment (either one you choose), hold the fish in the QT for no less than 4 more weeks in normal salt water (normal specific gravity and without any copper in it) to SEE if the fish are cured. If any sign of Marine Ich shows itself first be sure you have the correct diagnosis. If it is Marine Ich, do not despair – the procedure was contaminated somewhere along the line. Fortunately the fish aren’t back in the display so you can perform another (more careful) treatment.



The End Game


Fish are verified to be cured (see above). Display system has been fishless for no less than 8 weeks. Time for the cured fish to go home. If there were many fish, put one fish back in weekly until all are in. If the fish are small (under 1") put more in at one time. If fish are large, put in one at a time in two week intervals.


DON'T USE COPPER UNLESS NEEDED
I seem to be get a cyclic surge in hobbyists wanting prophylactically treat their fishes. Every so many months a group of hobbyists thinks they invented a new approach to the Marine Ich and Marine Velvet problem. Yeah, right! NOT! On the surface, it seems fine. However, shame on me for not making it more clear about why this shouldln't be done.

Copper is a poison. It just so happens that at low levels it kills the parasite before it kills the fish. It does harm to the fish. It will shorten it's lifespan. Most 'old' hobbyists are aware of the struggle of getting fish that we NOT collected using cyanide. At some places on the planet, cyanide solution is squirted on the fish in its hiding place in the wild. The fish is left unconscious for a time. It regains consciousness to find itself in a plastic bag on its way to a collection point where and, when enough are gathered, will be exported to another part of the world.

However, cyanide is a poison, and like copper it will shorten the lifespan of the fish. Some of the cyanide collected fishes live for a few days, some a few months or even a couple of years. But, the fish was poisoned and will live a shortened captive life. This is what copper does, but when controlled, does this to a lesser extent.

A fundamental mandate in veterinary circles is: "Do no harm." It is what vets live by. If hobbyists would be willing to do the same, then they would not use copper or ANY treatment method on fishes which do not need treatment, except in three cases noted in my posts: All need to be de-wormed; Anemonefishes need to be treated for Brook (if wild-caught or in contact with wild-caught fishes); and certain Tangs need to be treated with copper since they are so highly likely to be carrying one or both of the two most prevalent parasites known in the hobby.

Keep on reading and thanks for the reading you are doing.
:read:

You’re Done

Don’t let it happen again. Use the quarantine process to prevent Marine Ich from getting into your display system.

:thumbup:

 
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Rhodes19

Active Member
Lee,

Very well written and easy to understand. If I ever have marine ich I can follow your instructions without difficulty. Thank you for writing it.

This would be a great sticky. :)
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
As a corollary, or possibly "corallary" (grin), I will add the following -

Never, ever medicate a reef system to treat a fish disease.

No matter what the LFS says, no matter what it says on the bottle or package, no matter what someone else may tell you, in my opinion there are no "reef safe" treatments that are effective against fish diseases.

Always treat in a quarantine tank, as described above. Although, if you are treating a different disease, you might use a different medication.


Just so everyone is clear on this, I shall repeat this advice -

Never, ever medicate a reef system to treat a fish disease.
 

Nowellsy SNR

Active Member
As a corollary, or possibly "corallary" (grin), I will add the following -

Never, ever medicate a reef system to treat a fish disease.

No matter what the LFS says, no matter what it says on the bottle or package, no matter what someone else may tell you, in my opinion there are no "reef safe" treatments that are effective against fish diseases.

Always treat in a quarantine tank, as described above. Although, if you are treating a different disease, you might use a different medication.


Just so everyone is clear on this, I shall repeat this advice -

Never, ever medicate a reef system to treat a fish disease.
Great advise i have ICH and pretty new to the hobby was thinking about treating my tank but i now know not to! Got a Hospital tank in the pipeline
 

Nuno

Member
Hy guys,

I have been reading all of these threads on Marine Ich just have not found the one thing I am not sure of. Say one has a tank more than one year with out ading anything to it, is it possible that there is still Marine Ich in it?
 

drydens

Member
Just to add a counterpoint perspective, I used to advise to never, ever treat ich in a reef tank. However, more recent products do seem to work (from my limited testing completed to date). I conducted an experiment in fact to find out and successfully cured ich in one of my reef systems. No corals died or showed any signs of stress at all. The experiment was about 6 months ago and its been all good since then. Please note that I am not absolutely convinced yet mind you and i still keep my QT system running but would sure like to hear from others that have tried some of the ich cures that are designated reef safe.
 

Nuno

Member
:thumbup: thanks, I thought I read that somewere but had to make sure. From now on everything is quarentined!!!
 

leebca

Well-Known Member

I'm closing this thread since I wanted it to be kept short and not a general discussion. Wesam -- start another thread if you'd like to continue a discussion on the treatment.

Good luck!
 
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