Losing fish to Ick

[twocute2b4u]

I just lost the 4th fish in less than two weeks. I've lost 2 anthias, a black clown and a powder brown tang.

The powder brown tang broke out with ick really bad shortly after I cleaned the tank about 3 weeks ago. I was trying to eradicate the hair algae by sucking it off the rock, apparently little brownie did not like that.

Initially we tried garlic, he was eating really well for about 2 weeks, then it appeared that the ick overtook his entire body. I did the heavy feeding and water changes for another week, in addition I started using Kick-Ick, that did not work because apparently I needed to remove the filter media. To make a long story short I lost brownie, a few days later the anthias were lost.

I got back into town the other day to not really pay any attention to the tank, Cindy had been taking care of it and did a great job. She mentioned that one of the black clowns had ick, but I didn't really pay much attention. This morning when I woke up we did a 20 gallon water change. Shortly after the water change the black clown had really shown signs of being covered with ick. When I was in Chicago I went to Petland and picked up some Seachem Cupramine. Seeing that I dont have a hospital tank, I used a 5 gallon salt bucket, brought the temp up to the temp of the main tank, added fresh salt water, put in our nano power head and the bubbler. I let the water mix like that for about 1.5-2 hours, at that time I took the clownie out of the main tank and put him in the bucket. To make things less stressful for him I covered the bucket with a rag. Unfortunately an hour after doing so he was dead.

What didn't I do right? I followed the directions on the bottle of cupramine, adding two drops per gallon. I had not tested the copper because I had just prepared everything. Had the clownie done well, I would have tested the copper later tonight.

I had my RSM (34 gallon) set up as a hospital tank for situations like this. However all of the pumps went out on the tank a couple of months back. Because of financial constraints I have not been able to order the pumps in the past. Today I did go out on a whim and bought the pumps from Marine and Reef. I am horribly saddened by the events and lose of livestock over the last few weeks, therefore I am going to hold out to get the hospital tank set up.

The other black clown in the display tank is showing some signs of ick, what should I do with him? Should I use the kick-ick and remove the filter media? I want to be absolutely sure that no other livestock is affected.

In advance I appreciate the input --
Denise

 

[jmaneyapanda]

There are a few sure fire ways to treat ick, most which involve removing the fish and putting them in QT. Dont waste your money on any more snake oils or "reef safe" treatments. They are garbage. First and foremost, be sure you are dealing with ick, and not other issues.

Copper (cupramine) is a good treatment, but is useless as a dip. The fish must remian in it for a period of time.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

 

[dakota9]

I'm sorry Denise. Recently, I saw a thread a thread which suggested Ick was going around. My fish purchases are few and far between (still just the two b&w misbar clowns), so my experience with parasites is limited. You'll come out the other end of this being a better reefer as you'll gain knowledge I'm certain you wish you'd had when symtoms first revealed themselves.

 

[skriz]

Denise,

Go ahead and toss the kick-ich in the trash; it won't do anything for you in the tank.

I would've used tank water rather than fresh sw in the copper "tank". This gives the display a wc at the same time.
Ich will doubtfully be the cause of your problems. I guess it's possible that you stressed out the fish so badly, their immune system broke down leading to ich. Copper will work, but you'll need a dedicated hospital tank for it. A dip won't do too much; you want the fish to live in the copper water for a period of time.

I've found that a massive wc and heavy feeding helps (in the display) fight ich. You can also kill the lights to further reduce stress.

 

[twocute2b4u]

I appreciate the advice. Raj, the reason I used fresh SW was because I had just done the 20 gallon WC. However looking back at things I probably should have done as you suggest.

You are not the only one to say that kick-ick is garbage. When I was in Chicago I talked to the folks at Petland, they recommended Ick-X which apparently is a new product, they were not too fond of kick-ick either.

I did read a previous post which you recommended the feed, feed, feed, followed by WC, WC, WC. Unfortunately that did not work for us. At that point I think the ick had already done its damage and nothing would have worked.

The temp of the tank (reef) is about 74 degree's, would raising the temp help kill off the parasite?

Denise

 

[william1]

skriz;392805 wrote: denise,

go ahead and toss the kick-ich in the trash; it won't do anything for you in the tank.

I would've used tank water rather than fresh sw in the copper "tank". This gives the display a wc at the same time.
Ich will doubtfully be the cause of your problems. I guess it's possible that you stressed out the fish so badly, their immune system broke down leading to ich. Copper will work, but you'll need a dedicated hospital tank for it. A dip won't do too much; you want the fish to live in the copper water for a period of time.

I've found that a massive wc and heavy feeding helps (in the display) fight ich. You can also kill the lights to further reduce stress.

+1

 

[scout]

Sorry for your loss...I had something similar happen a few months back and lost nearly everything. Almost left the hobby because of it.

So for those who say to not use Kick Ich, I'm interested in the reasons for it. Thanks for your guidance!

 

[skriz]

twocute2b4u;392961 wrote: I appreciate the advice. Raj, the reason I used fresh SW was because I had just done the 20 gallon WC. However looking back at things I probably should have done as you suggest.

You are not the only one to say that kick-ick is garbage. When I was in Chicago I talked to the folks at Petland, they recommended Ick-X which apparently is a new product, they were not too fond of kick-ick either.

I did read a previous post which you recommended the feed, feed, feed, followed by WC, WC, WC. Unfortunately that did not work for us. At that point I think the ick had already done its damage and nothing would have worked.

The temp of the tank (reef) is about 74 degree's, would raising the temp help kill off the parasite?

Denise

The "feed & wc" method will only work if done immediately. If ich is left for too long, the fish are usually too weak to respond.

74 degrees is pretty cold water. Raising the temp would have only accelerated the spread and growth of ich.

Although a fw dip can be done incorrectly, if done right, they can be quite beneficial against ich. So is hypo treatment.

The problem with ich is it begins on the inside. By the time you can see it, it's already settled in, so you're a step behind before you even started.