ich is back... help!

[jenstaley]

Okay, first of all I know that the way to go is a quarentine tank, but right now i do not have one, nor can I afford one right away, it is on my list. So, what else can I do? My puffer has just a few spots on him and I am scared to death. I do have a starfish and snails in the tank.... it is an 80 gallon. Ideas please!

[Poseidon]

Well if it wasn't a puffer I would recommend a cleaner shrimp, but that would just be lunch to the fish. Only other biological control is a cleaner wrasse, but they are NOT suitable for home aquaria.

On Medication, you can't/shouldn't use copper on puffers, eels, any scaleless fish. THat only leaves Malachite Green, which is pretty nasty stuff, it will stain your silicone, and possibly kill some of your beneficial bacteria.

Best option may be hypo-salinity, but you have to do that very slowly. IF you lower the SG to 1.019, 1.018, maybe even 1.017 it will make life difficult for the parasite to reproduce. If you have any corals or anemones this is NOT an option though.

[sere]

is that guy still alive? If so what did you do? First of all why did he get ich? Was he new? If he was not new then something may be wrong in your tank that needs fixing. Temp fluxuations, ph swing, high nitrates etc. I have the best luck treating fish by fixing the living conditions. I have done hypo a few time usually unsuccesful, FW dip same, chemicals same. So anyways I hope that guy pulls throughJerod

[Reefland]

Can't do hyposalinity in the display since there are snails and stars in there.

[Poseidon]

Oops! Thanks for the correction Scott.

[Reefland]

I figured you were meaning in a q-tank, just wanted to make sure the thread starter was aware.

[jenstaley]

The poor guy is still alive, he does not seem to have a terrible case, and it actually doesn't seem to bother him at all, he is still eating, swimming, and socializing like normal, just has white dots on him I test my water all the time, and have never had a bad test result, everything has always been within normal ranges. I can't find an expiration date on my test kit, it is a saltwater master kit, so I just ordered a new one just in case... I hate to think that my kit could be not working all this time! I have been only treating my puffer by soaking his food with garlic. I don't have the money or room for a quarentine tank right now, so I can't take him out.....

[makko75]

I have a 46 gal tank. I have some fishes and a few corals. I've had only one case of ich and I was able to get rid of it using a combination of Melafix and Ick-attack. They are both natural medicines and the did not hurt the corals and it cured the ich. I also started using a UV in my tank and the ich has not come back. It took about a week to cure the fish with the medications. Also, to help boost the immune I add a little of garlic oil to their food. It really works! I just use the oil that comes in a jar of minced garlic and mix it in a cup with flakes or frozen food. Let it sit for 1 or 2 mins and let them feast on it. Hope it works for as it did for me. ;)

[Poseidon]

Makko, what do you mean by "natural medicines"?

Oh !

[Steven Pro]

Aquarium Pharmaceuticals MelaFix claims to be a Tea Tree extract.

Kordon's Herbla Ich-Attack gives less information only saying it is made of "multiple natural herbals".

As for 'natural' products being inherently safe, palytoxin is totally natural and can kill you.

[BubbaWPB]

I have a buddy who used Ich-attack.... after he added a UV sterilizer in addition to using the Ich attack daily for about 10 days, his fish stopped dying of ich (he didn't have much success with ich-attack or UV alone). It doesn't warn you on the bottle, but the ich attack stinks to high heavens and it looks like pouring tar in your tank... the whole house smelled, sorta like a combination of mildew and wet dog (both natural smells, of course). I must admit though, the ich attack didn't kill his bubble tip anemonies, his skunk shrimp, his blue-leg hermits, or his turbo snails.

[makko75]

The Ick attack does smell pretty bad and it will cloud your water. But as soon as I placed the carbon back on the filter the water cleared up. Male fix works very well too. It doesn't harm my corals or snails. It's clear and it doesn't smell that bad.

[Poseidon]

As for 'natural' products being inherently safe, palytoxin is totally natural and can kill you.

I just can't see any medication being totally safe. Maybe garlic extract, but I have never used that either.

I still say a Q tank is the best way.