[mapman]

Has anyone heard of, or had success with, treating ick in a reef tank with ultra violet lighting? Please share any experience or opinion.

[mapman]

anyone?

[ravenmore]

my personal belief is that uv sterilizers do more harm than good, as they indescriminently kill anything in the water column, including many beneficial bacteria and planktonic organisms. I also believe ich is going to almost always be present in a reef tank, but as long as you maintain a healthy tank, the fish's immune system will keep outbreaks from becoming a problem. When fish become stressed, their immune system is lowered and, pow, you get an ich outbreak.

Also, the more filter feeders you encourage to grow in your tank the better. This includes things like clams, fanworms, sponges, ect... Filter feeders can remove the free floating stage of the ich parasite from the water column, thus providing some biological control of the parasite.

Lastly, you can employ biological cleaner organisms to remove the parasites from the fish. Cleaner shrimp and neon goby's (anthing from the gobiasoma family) are good choices. Stay away from cleaner wrasses, as their survival rate in home aquaria is dismal and their numbers are being rapidly depleted in the wild. hth

-Mike

[SPasse]

Hi All,

I agree completely with Ravenmore’s position on this issue.

Regards,

Scott Passe