File Fish has ick
- Thread starter Wingflier
- Start date
dmatt88
Has been struck by the ban stick
You will want to set up a qt tank. Just a bare bottom tank with hob filtration and a piece of PVC for your fish to hide in. Then your two treatment options are hyposalinity or copper. If you check the fish disease n treatment section you will find a stickey on ich by Leebca.
......reefing. not for the faint of heart or spirit.
......reefing. not for the faint of heart or spirit.
redneckgearhead
Active Member
If one fish has it, all fish MUST be treated and tank allowed be fallow for 10 weeks (I think it's 10) As Matt said read the sticky. Great info, from what I have read Lee has forgotten more about fish and diseases than most people know.
Yeah, all fish should be treated followed in by the tank being fishless for 8 weeks. if the QT tank is big enough, you can treat them all at one time assuming all fish can handle the treatment. I prefer cupramine.....14 days of treatment once you get to the appropriate level of copper in the water. Then you can remove it and keep the fish there until the DT is ready.
Wingflier
Member
Thanks for the advice but its going to be hard to catch them to many hiding places Is there anything I can add to the dt it has a lot of corals and inverts This is the first time my fish have had ick The fish have been in there for a year without any problem at all.I have QT tank for my fish and one for my corals but I haven't bought any fish in a year and coral in about 3 months And I always QT everything before going in the DT
redneckgearhead
Active Member
No unfortunately there is nothing you can add to your DT that will kill the ick without killing your coral/inverts. Read the stickies on ick, they are invaluable to you at this moment. There are countless ways to catch the fish. For me the easiest way is either the flashlight method or get some tubs/barrel that will hold your DT water. Pump the water down to just about 3 inches deep scoop the fish out and pump the water back in. The coral and LR should be able to handle this brief period of man made "low tide".
aquaman_06
Member
I sort of buck the fallow tank trend. Here is why: ich is a naturally occurring parasite in marine and freshwater. In natural ecosystems it doesn't pose a huge threat because fish move away from areas where the parasite has settled and will re-emerge. Although in our aquariums ich can essentially, "take over" the situation. Although, in my personal experience nutrition is the best weapon against ich. Garlic is a known parasite preventative. File fish are not highly herbivorous such as tangs. Although, soaking any food, especially frozen in a garlic enriched formula, (I recommend Brightwell Aquatic's Garlic Power) will allow the animal a nutritional opportunity to combat ich.
The bad news is that this approach takes time, other fish can become effected by the parasite. Filefish are sensitive to copper and sometimes hyposalinity. I would take a shot at the nutrition route. Fish tend to build an immunity to ich, lose that immunity over time then rebuild it.
The bad news is that this approach takes time, other fish can become effected by the parasite. Filefish are sensitive to copper and sometimes hyposalinity. I would take a shot at the nutrition route. Fish tend to build an immunity to ich, lose that immunity over time then rebuild it.
dmatt88
Has been struck by the ban stick
Buddy there's no easy ich remedy. I can tell u first hand that treating with garlic n crossing ur fingers end up with a dt full of dead fish. Id follow the good instructions set forth and you will have happy n alive fish. In the future qt all new fish.
......reefing. not for the faint of heart or spirit.
......reefing. not for the faint of heart or spirit.
redneckgearhead
Active Member
While they may be able to build an immunity to ick, what happens when you add a new fish that isn't immune? While Ick is a natural occurring parasite IMO it should be dealt with. Stress can lower a fishes immunity allowing ick to wipe out your all of your fish with just a small stress level increase.
aquaman_06
Member
Stress, nutrition and other variables can certainly lower a fish species' immunity. This is why I advocate strongly the use of a quarantine tank. Here you can establish a good diet, observe the animals' natural behavior and if needed apply antibiotic or anti-parasitic that may be needed. Though, once a fish is in the display tank dealing with any parasite can be tricky. Since most medications if not all have an adverse affect on reef ecology I recommend the use of nutrition to cure the problem. Cleaner organisms can sometimes help as well.
I assume BigAl was going to expect this kind of comment from me.
The Marine Ich parasite doesn't care how healthy the fish is. In marine food fishes in some areas, more than 30% of the wild fishes are infected. They are exceptionally healthy fishes in the wild that are no where's near the stress of captive life. In ornamental marine fishes, the percentage is about 15% infection rate at the Great Barrier Reef.
It's like saying that if the human is healthy, well fed and in great physical health they would not succumb to tape worm. No. The tape worm affects the healthy and sick alike. Only, it kills the sick faster.
You can't feed the fish to get out of this infection, nor can you 'build the fish immunity' to prevent getting the infection. Those who think their fish can, don't understand fish immunity. Better read up on it. This post touches on garlic and immunity that is worth a read: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/22242-garlic-fish-immunity.html.
With regards to curing fish of Marine Ich Wingflier, please read and follow this: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/52236-curing-fish-marine-ich.html
The filefish can be safely and easily cured of Marine Ich by either hyposalinity or by using Cupramine. In the last linked post there are other posts linked for you to read. Read especially all the myths that go around and the truth about this parasite.
In my experience and knowledge: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/45723-lees-bio-k-leebca.html if any alternative cure of Marine Ich is/was discovered it would hit the front pages of fish journals around the world. It just doesn't exist. The cures available to the hobbyist that don't require the use of human carcinogens or a prescription are given in the above linked post. There are no cures that are 'reef safe' and that can be done to a tank with live rock, invertebrates, benthic creatures or corals. Sad, but true.
Best you can is prevent it from getting into your aquarium by using a quarantine process. Marine Ich is like hard drives when you don't use a quarantine process: It isn't a matter of will it crash, but when will it crash. It will catch up to even the very lucky hobbyists. One fish that has it means all fish have to be treated for it.
With regards to catching fish -- it's just that you (and I) are not used to it; thus not good at it. Get an LFS employee that has been catching tank fish for years and they'll have all your fish caught in a few minutes to half an hour. Here are some tips that might help you catch your fish: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...41546-goin-fishin-catching-fish-aquarium.html
Good luck!
The Marine Ich parasite doesn't care how healthy the fish is. In marine food fishes in some areas, more than 30% of the wild fishes are infected. They are exceptionally healthy fishes in the wild that are no where's near the stress of captive life. In ornamental marine fishes, the percentage is about 15% infection rate at the Great Barrier Reef.
It's like saying that if the human is healthy, well fed and in great physical health they would not succumb to tape worm. No. The tape worm affects the healthy and sick alike. Only, it kills the sick faster.
You can't feed the fish to get out of this infection, nor can you 'build the fish immunity' to prevent getting the infection. Those who think their fish can, don't understand fish immunity. Better read up on it. This post touches on garlic and immunity that is worth a read: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/22242-garlic-fish-immunity.html.
With regards to curing fish of Marine Ich Wingflier, please read and follow this: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/52236-curing-fish-marine-ich.html
The filefish can be safely and easily cured of Marine Ich by either hyposalinity or by using Cupramine. In the last linked post there are other posts linked for you to read. Read especially all the myths that go around and the truth about this parasite.
In my experience and knowledge: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/45723-lees-bio-k-leebca.html if any alternative cure of Marine Ich is/was discovered it would hit the front pages of fish journals around the world. It just doesn't exist. The cures available to the hobbyist that don't require the use of human carcinogens or a prescription are given in the above linked post. There are no cures that are 'reef safe' and that can be done to a tank with live rock, invertebrates, benthic creatures or corals. Sad, but true.
Best you can is prevent it from getting into your aquarium by using a quarantine process. Marine Ich is like hard drives when you don't use a quarantine process: It isn't a matter of will it crash, but when will it crash. It will catch up to even the very lucky hobbyists. One fish that has it means all fish have to be treated for it.
With regards to catching fish -- it's just that you (and I) are not used to it; thus not good at it. Get an LFS employee that has been catching tank fish for years and they'll have all your fish caught in a few minutes to half an hour. Here are some tips that might help you catch your fish: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...41546-goin-fishin-catching-fish-aquarium.html
Good luck!
dmatt88
Has been struck by the ban stick
Short answer? Nope. Lee will b more eloquent however the same answer is the outcome. Sorry buddy. Hypo or cupramine. Only option. Plus an 8 week wait to return to dt.
......something smells fishy.
The 'cleaner' fish and shrimp is one of those myths. The parasite is not sitting on the surface of the fish. When you see the spot, that is the parasite's stage of 'pregnant' and about to drop off a packet of more parasites. But the actual iiving and thriving parasite is under the skin of the fish.
In addition to knowing the above, studies have been done. Fish with Marine Ich (heavily infested with it) were put in tanks with cleaner fish and then cleaner shrimp of various species. After a few days the insides of these cleaner life forms were examined. Inside every one of them no, none, zero, dead parasites were found. These life forms don't pick off the parasite and the reason seems to be what I've written in the first paragraph.
Just more myths. Be sure to read through :read: this post, which does mention the above: Marine Ich - Myths and Facts
In addition to knowing the above, studies have been done. Fish with Marine Ich (heavily infested with it) were put in tanks with cleaner fish and then cleaner shrimp of various species. After a few days the insides of these cleaner life forms were examined. Inside every one of them no, none, zero, dead parasites were found. These life forms don't pick off the parasite and the reason seems to be what I've written in the first paragraph.
Just more myths. Be sure to read through :read: this post, which does mention the above: Marine Ich - Myths and Facts