Ick

A

Amanda

[Miracle treatment- No. Do you have cleaner shrimp? They cant cure a case on thier own but definately are a big help. Ill bring some anti-parasite food with me tonight if you like. Its the only med you can use in a reef! Freswater dips are good. If it gets out of hand you are looking at 4-6 weeks QT with appropriate meds.
Ich usually does look worse in the morning, the parasites tend to feed more at lights out and when fish are less active. PH related Im not sure.]
 
[Glad you chimed in Amanda. I knew the "fish girl" would know!]
 
[Yeah I have similar flashbacks myself.
What is temp in your tank? How long have you been garlicing the food? What exactly are you feeding?
A large QT can be setup super cheap if need be. There are a few options making it cheap if money is the problem. If space is the problem, I guess some of Shane's toys will have to go....Just kidding of course!
Ill bring you some of the food tonight.]
 
[Russ
You cant get the anti-parasite food. It was discontinued a while back. It is made by tetra, you can check big lots as they get close out items. I got lucky and picked up every bottle I found. So I have some to share. There is also a food called pepso food for parasites but I dont have experience with it.]
 
[Soaking all our fish food in 100% pure garlic is working for our little Hippo Tang. She's showing no visible signs of ick, but still rubs a rock now and then. She got ich a few days after adding her to our tank. We were feeding frozen formula 2, which has garlic and vits in it- so we didn't add garlic? I did a lot of research on RC and various resources.

I concluded that quarantine in a hypo tank- all of the fish and leaving the display tank empty of fish for 4-6 weeks was the only way to try to get rid of the ich. We were gonna do it too.

But, while we were in the process of buying a Q-tank and figuring out how to actually get our small, very fast fish out of the big tank- I started adding extra garlic to the fish food. I make 7-10 doses w/ formula2 or brine or "greens". They soak in my fridge for at least 2 days and the fish get about a 1/2 to 1 teaspoonful daily. 2 weeks now and our Hippo looks ich free. Oh yeah, it was about 2 days before she showed improvement in the 1st place.

My thoughts on all this are-

1st, was she starting to adjust to her new home anyway...

2nd, I guess ALL those people who said Garlic worked for them actually knew what they were talking about... and I will continue to give our fish garlic soaked food for a while...

3rd, after all the reading and research I did and it was a lot -there is no definite answers when it comes to ich.

last, Still doing research on the hypo and empty tank thing- I am getting 50/50 info on whether a ich free tank is even guaranteed?

Nancy H]
 
[Nancy,

I agree with you. There are no hard and fast rules. I've only had the slightest bout of ich in my tank once for a few days about 3 years ago. But, I also believe that the organism still exists with in it.

Many people who have had bouts with ich will see their fish get better, but in fact the organism is still alive dormant within their tank. Conditions that cause a fish to succumb to the parasite are numerous, but imo, involve exposure stressors. New surroundings, new food, hostile tank mates, poor water quality, and improper or too small a tank are all conditions that can stress a fish to the point they are succeptible to ich.

Dealing with ich should include eliminating the stressors, as well as actually treating the disease. To treat the disease without addressing the stressors is simply a waste of time, imo.]
 
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