Reef-Safe Ich Treatment

Okay, a couple of my fish have ich, my Klein's Butterfly and my Sunburst Anthias (both are still eating well). What is a reef-safe ich treatment? I have no choice but to medicate my display tank so I need to make absolutely sure whatever medication I use it is 100% reef-safe as I have a lot of SPS, a few LPS and some ricordeas and zoos. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!
 
I know there are some medications for ich that claim to be reef-safe, these may not work as well as hyper salinity or copper treatments but unfortunately due to lack of room removing the fish and putting them in a quarantine tank is not an option so I need to know which of these so called reef-safe ich medications works best and is the most reef safe?
 

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
If you are not going to treat for the parasite then your best bet is to boost the imune system of the fish to give them the best chance of fighting off the parasite. Garlic is said to boost the imune system and adding vitamins to the food is also a good idea. You can also run an UV. It can kill the parasites that go through it. You will never get them all but it can help reduce the population.
All of the so called "reef safe" potions are at best a waste of money and at worst a danger to your tank.
 

Clownfish518

Razorback
PREMIUM
Ich is a parasite; an invertebrate in actuality. Anything that harms ich will harm other invertebrates.

Sorry, but facts are facts
 
I have no other inverts other than a few hermits (no shrimp) and a Tiger Tail cucumber. If ich is an invert than would dosing something that kills invertebrates like Interceptor (works great for red bugs) kill the ich?
 

Joseriv047

New Member
I had ICH in my tank a few weeks ago and used Kordons ICH*Attack. My anemone, serpent, snails and crabs faired well through the process and the ICH is gone. Took 2 bottles and I had to remove the carbon and turn of the skimmer. I know most people say it doesn't work, but all I know is my ICH went bye bye...
 

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
Went bye bye or is simply in a stage of life where you don't see it? Some fish can live through an ich infection and some even develop a limited immunity. The reality is that the ich is still there. If the fish become stressed in some way, the symptoms ultimately return.
Many people have chosen not to take the care to rid their tank of the parasite and often they get away with it. You just need to realize you are taking that chance with the life of your fish and do your best to keep them healthy so they can hopefully fight off the parasite when it does attack.
 

fivel

Member
I agree with Lynn - from personal experience. I've used "Reef Safe Ich Treatments" on my tank before and they worked... to the point where I no longer saw symptoms of the parasite and all the fish looked healthy. However, I continued to struggle with my tank getting Ich time after time after that. It wasn't until I actually tore apart my reef and moved all of the fish to a Quarantine tank for 3 months did I really see the difference. Moving them to the QT was over 2 years ago and I have yet to have another Ich outbreak *knocks on wood*.
 
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zy112

Active Member
I am a fan of using garlic. I have succesfully treated 3 fish to health that had ich by soaking there food in garlic. I like it bc I know its not going to have long term adverse effect on my tank, where if i starting pouring stuff in from a bottle, I'm not chemistry inclined enough to tell you there is or isnt adverse effects. So I don't take that chance
 

leebca

Well-Known Member
I've tested marine fishes after 'reef safe' treatments where there was no visual evidence of the parasite. The fish were still infected.

As fivel has experienced, it is the truth.

Consider just the impact Marine Ich has had on fish farming. Millions of dollars are lost annually to this parasite. Do you really believe that if there was a 'reef safe' cure, that it wouldn't have hit the headlines and would be used by every marine fish farmer in the world?

The copper treatment can't be performed on food fishes according to government standards; the hyposalinity treatment can't be applied to captive ponds; and the transfer method is unmanageable on a large scale. Fortunately, those three treatments are available to the hobby, and are the only ones proved to be over 99.99% successful.

 

l3fty999

Member
Went bye bye or is simply in a stage of life where you don't see it? Some fish can live through an ich infection and some even develop a limited immunity. The reality is that the ich is still there. If the fish become stressed in some way, the symptoms ultimately return.
Many people have chosen not to take the care to rid their tank of the parasite and often they get away with it. You just need to realize you are taking that chance with the life of your fish and do your best to keep them healthy so they can hopefully fight off the parasite when it does attack.

I agree here in that it's just in the stage that's not visible. I have seen it go, only to return and kill some of my fish, and I lost 3 different species of tang this way. Definitely start a quarantine tank, it's going to be more inexpensive in the long run, considering how expensive some species can be.

Take care
Aaron
 

Rjones

New Member
I had ICH in my tank a few weeks ago and used Kordons ICH*Attack. My anemone, serpent, snails and crabs faired well through the process and the ICH is gone. Took 2 bottles and I had to remove the carbon and turn of the skimmer. I know most people say it doesn't work, but all I know is my ICH went bye bye...

I found this on the Kordon site.
MODE OF ACTION
The therapeutic action of Ich-Attack on protozoan and other infections is due to its binding with cytoplasmic structures within the cell of the infecting organisms.

Maybe it does not kill it but simply slows it down. this is much better than nothing or snake oil. For people of the camp that say. "I don't care if ich is in my system, as long as my stock is not dying I'm fine"

I wrote the company for a more expansive explanation of its mode of action and if it kills vs inhibits.
 

Rjones

New Member
According to Kordon the Ich Attack product is used on ponds.
Maybe it does not kill it all like copper but if it inhibits the cycle to the point that fish are 2 percent infected vs a bloom situation (Dead fish) the product could be viable as a preventative measure.

Would like to see 2 tanks with similar set ups. Introduce ich to each tank.
treat one tank with Ich attack and do not treat the other.
See how many fish die in each tank after a year.
If Ich attack shows to reduce deaths by 80 percent, well that might be an acceptable alternative for some people. Some people can't do the copper or hyposaline. There is a difference between not working at all and therapeutically effective.

I've tested marine fishes after 'reef safe' treatments where there was no visual evidence of the parasite. The fish were still infected.

As fivel has experienced, it is the truth.

Consider just the impact Marine Ich has had on fish farming. Millions of dollars are lost annually to this parasite. Do you really believe that if there was a 'reef safe' cure, that it wouldn't have hit the headlines and would be used by every marine fish farmer in the world?

The copper treatment can't be performed on food fishes according to government standards; the hyposalinity treatment can't be applied to captive ponds; and the transfer method is unmanageable on a large scale. Fortunately, those three treatments are available to the hobby, and are the only ones proved to be over 99.99% successful.

 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
I know there are some medications for ich that claim to be reef-safe, these may not work as well as hyper salinity or copper treatments but unfortunately due to lack of room removing the fish and putting them in a quarantine tank is not an option so I need to know which of these so called reef-safe ich medications works best and is the most reef safe?

Istorc has already told you, correctly, that there is no such thing as a "reef safe" ich treatment.

No matter what the bottle says, no matter what the manufacturer says, no matter what the LFS tells you, no matter what others might say, there are no "reef safe" medication that actually work.

Now that we have that point worked out, the only additional question is what to do about your fish. Either get the quarantine tank you need, and treat the fish; or give the fish away, and let someone else treat them; or consider getting out of reef keeping as far as fish goes.

Like it or not, if you want fish, you are going to need a quarantine tank, because you are going to want that new fish. If you don't quarantine, you are going to repeat the whole process of treating ich over and over again. Period.

I know this post may sound a bit harsh, but this is what you need to do.

Keep in mind that if these "reef safe" medications actually worked, in that they treated the disease and didn't destroy the reef in the process, we would all be using them.
 
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grtdaddy

Member
According to Kordon the Ich Attack product is used on ponds.
Maybe it does not kill it all like copper but if it inhibits the cycle to the point that fish are 2 percent infected vs a bloom situation (Dead fish) the product could be viable as a preventative measure.

Would like to see 2 tanks with similar set ups. Introduce ich to each tank.
treat one tank with Ich attack and do not treat the other.
See how many fish die in each tank after a year.
If Ich attack shows to reduce deaths by 80 percent, well that might be an acceptable alternative for some people. Some people can't do the copper or hyposaline. There is a difference between not working at all and therapeutically effective.


i like 0% infected. I dont want this in my system thats why i am QT'ing all my fish. my lesson has been learned and i'm willing to take the time needed to take care of my pets properly.
 

Icee

New Member
I used Ruby Reef Kick-Ich when my fish were infected. It slowly solved the problem as all the white spots on my fish decreased in number til there were none left.

Things I liked about the product:
-Solved my problem over the course of treating
-Was able to use in a tank with snails, hermits, and starfish with no viable adverse effects
Things I didn't like:
-Treatment included using tons of this stuff to treat my 70g tank, that is a lot of chemical being added to a closed environment
-Was not able to run my skimmer while I was treating as per manufacturer instructions


In the future I plan on using a hospital tank so I can apply copper treatments to sick fish as well as installing an UV sterilizer.


Ruby Reef Kick-Ich


There's many more people on here with much more experience than I have. I'm just sharing my personal experience with Ich.
 

jnohs

Member
ok here it is. Slowly over the course of the next 2 weeks sipone out your sand bed. Once you have all the sand out. Do a large water change and wait 2 weeks and bam!!!! no more ich. If you remove the sand the ich will not be able complet its life cycle. Truthfully the ich is a survivor and will probably be present in the water for quite some time but it will slowly just die off.
 
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