First bout with ich - please help!

[Penguin]

My new royal gramma has ich. He's the only tank inhabitant. I noticed the white spots on the fins, and scratching 2 days ago. Otherwise he seems ok, breathing and swimming normally. I've been soaking his food in garlic the past 3 nights, and it seemed to help a little. But how should I go about getting rid of the parasite from the tank? I do have one piece of LR. Should I just sacrifice the LR and treat with copper? This is a new system, and the corraline that was on the LR has been mostly taken over by diatoms, so it looks like crap anyway. I'm not that concerned about introducing copper into the tank, since my plan was for this 20g to eventually serve as my q-tank once I get a larger system. But I did pay for the LR so it seems a shame to just waste it. What other non-copper meds might be effective and preserve the life (if any) on the LR? Or should I try hyposalinity since I don't have any inverts? If I did hyposalinity, would my SeaTest swing-arm hydrometer be accurate enough? On Joaco's web page he recommended using a glass-floating type for the hyposalinity method. Or should I continue to feed garlic, watch, and hope for the best? What do you all think would be my best option? Sorry for the rambling post, but I'm really unsure what to do. 1)copper 2)reef safe med 3)hypo 4)just feed garlic. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Water params - NH3=0 NO2=0 NO3=12 pH=8.0 SG=1.025 Temp=80

Steve

[ravenmore]

Ok - first thing: NO COPPER EVER!!!! [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img] (sorry about the strong warning but it's important.) Copper is absorbed into the rock, sand, and surfaces of the tank. If the ph of the tank drops enough it'll "disolve" back into the water column - killing any invertibrates. It also causes damage to the livers of fish and will greatly reduce their lifespans.

Hyposalinity will work - read for info on how to do that on Joaco's website. Hard to do for a reef tank, though.

I'd try biological controls. A cleaner shrimp is a good start. Neon gobys (anything in the gobiasoma family I think) are another good cleaner. Very inexpensive and hardy little fish. Stay away from cleaner wrasses - very delicate fish with a dismal survival record. Also, I've heard a lot of filter feeders(fan worms, ect...) will eat the free swimming life phase of the parasite.

Personally I think ich is impossible to completely erradicate forever in a reef tank. It usually doesn't present a problem however unless your fish is somehow stressed, lowering it's immune system.


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[mastaJ]

hello penguin...
If it was me i would most likely add a cleaner shrimp, however if my LFS didn't have any i would lower my salinity to 1.020-1.022 but this might kill some delicate stuff on your LR. i know the seatest hydrometer is accurate at lower salinities because i have checked it against a glass thermometer, but, make sure that your hydrometer is accurate the first one i had read 1.030 when it was really 1.024 even AFTER break-in period...i would also raise the tank temp. a couple of degrees to shorten the lifespan of the parasite. HTH

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-mastaJ

[Aragorn]

Penguin,

I have seen Ich from time to time in my tank. My Cleaner Shrimp are very effective in eliminating it and keeping it in check. Personally I have to agree w/ Ravenmore...you never completely eliminate it from your tank. I like "The Cleaner Shrimp" method the best. As far as medication(s), I've heard some great things about "Kick Ick" from Ruby Reef. Supposedly it's a completely invert/reef safe medication in the treatment of Ich. I personally have not tried it though. Others have with good results and no losses. FWIW

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[Penguin]

Thanks, everyone. I like the cleaner shrimp idea. I'm going to check my LFS tonight and see if they have any.

[jmick01]

The cleaner shrimp really helped me out in the battle against ich. But remember its not the ich that kills the fish its the secondary infection(bacteria) and such. Have you tried a freshwater dip of the fish? This will nock off whats on the fish and then what that didnt take care of the cleaner can handle

JMM

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Remember Fish are alive when we get them, lets keep it that way!!!