First Ich Attack...Help!

[curator]

After nearly two years of no significant disease or pests in my tank, I am having my first experience with Ich. My orchid dottyback has it...no sign of it on my chromis. I do not have a separate tank in which to treat it. Just catching the dottyback would be a challenge - however I am breaking down the tank on Sunday to move it. Please advise.

Thanks,

John

 

[chymos45]

If you do not have a separate tank to treat, you may want to consider a bucket with a heater, piece of PVC for the patient to hide, and a power head for circulation. Don't worry about lighting as low light levels would be better anyway.

 

[chymos45]

Forgot to mention, do not let the heater touch the sides of the plastic bucket. Trust me, it will melt.

 

[stacy22]

I have a 10gallon tank that you can borrow if you want. It has had copper meds in it before so using chemicals in it to treat would be OK. Just let me know...

 

[skriz]

You don't need meds.

Do a water change and make sure you keep the fish fed well. You can even shut down the lighting for a day. The fish's immune system will do a beeter job than any medication will.

 

[curator]

That's wonderful news! I'll do it tonight.

Thanks!

 

[lees]

That is good to know Raj. I think I may have actually killed my clown treating it.

 

[curator]

Barbara,

I have to move on Sunday...wish I could delay it!

 

[basscyn]

I have read where GARLIC is a great for boosting the fish's immune system. I just got some GARLIC EXTREME from my LFS. A couple of drops soaked into a cube of frozen food daily is said to be a good habit.

Might speed up the recovery process.

Its stinky though.:yuk:

 

[chymos45]

Yes, Garlic Extreme is VERY stinky, but lasts a LONG time. I recommend keeping the plastic tube it comes in to keep the smell down to a minimum. I've been using it for a couple of years now (one drop per day) and am only on my second bottle. I haven't had ich for that entire time period. I will admit is it a scientifically unproven rumor whether it works or not, but has for me.

Now where's that wood Barbara was knocking on?!?

 

[thanhreef]

a cleaner shrimp will help cleaning the ich

 

[curator]

Skriz,

I've had my lights off for two days, except for about a half-hour each day. I've done a ten-gallon water change...in a 29 gal. with lots of rock. When would you guess I should see a decrease in the amount of Ich?

Thanks,

John

 

[coolsurf]

Sorry to hear your going through the ich ordeal. It's tough as I am going through the same right now with my CB. Garlic would be a good way to start. I use garlic Xtreme everyday with ALL my fish on a regular basis. I tried raising the temp, lowering the lights except for feeding and using Metro. Unfortunately, I had to resort to using a QT and treating with Cupramine. I hate going that route with meds and copper but I was running out of time. Good luck with your situation and hopefully it will go away on it's own. keep feeding heavy to keep the strength up as well.

 

[ralph atl]

<span style="color: black">here are some things to read over:</span>

<span style="color: black">http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?p=281656">http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?p=281656</a></span>

<u><span style="color: #22229c">[IMG]http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.php">http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.php</a></span></u>

<u><span style="color: #22229c">[IMG]http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-10/sp/feature/index.php">http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/20...ture/index.php</a></span></u>

<span style="color: black">[IMG]http://atj.net.au/marineaquaria/marineich.html">http://atj.net.au/marineaquaria/marineich.html</a></span>

<span style="color: black">[IMG]http://forum.marinedepot.com/Forum10-1.aspx">http://forum.marinedepot.com/Forum10-1.aspx</a></span>

<span style="color: black">[IMG]http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=21804">http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forum...ad.php?t=21804</a></span>

<span style="color: black">[IMG]http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=3661">http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forum...ead.php?t=3661</a></span>

<span style="color: black">[IMG]http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=21804">http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=21804</a></span>

<span style="color: black">[IMG]http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?p=265394">http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?p=265394</a></span>

 

[sethfloydjr]

I did a 50% water change and saw a good effect the very next day. Ill also note that I did the change in the late afternoon so that by the time everybody had settled down for the night it was lights out for the evening. Within two days I couldnt really tell id had a problem.
All of the other ideas above are great too.