ick

i have been battling ick for couple weeks in my tank. Have gotten a uv sterlizer and been feeding garlic continuesly. My engineer gobys have it the worse and then my clowns. I got some brine shrimp flake that has metronidazole in it. Has anyone had any luck with this?

Yea I got a quarintine tank downstairs right now cuz ick took out a good number of my fish down there. Im treating with copper which seems they are doin better now even though I lost the weaker ones. I dont know if I can catch my fish in my reef tank with all the rock. But will prolly try the night method tonight. The clowns have been off and on with it but my gobys seem to be gettin the worse of it. When my tank downstairs is done goin through the process I am moving everything down there(will be couple more weeks).Since I lost all my aggresive fish, its not aggressive no more. Do coral carry ick also?

I dont know alot about hypo and seen so many talk about copper. I may try it next time though to see how it works. I am deffinatly using a QT tank for now on. Since I am sure were the ick came from. When I transfer all my stuff should I quarintine the fish and corals and let the rock sit in the tank for a few weeks before transfering all of it? or could I just pull all of my fish out and leave everything else sit in the tank for a few weeks? Since I read without fish it usually dies off?

Reef'd Up wrote: Just curious, but why did you choose copper over hyposalinity?  I've had great success with hypo - seems a lot more gentle on the fish.  It slows their metabolism/energy level, so they aren't as stressed and can focus more on healing.  The fish also don't have to expend as much energy regulating the osmotic pressure difference.  It takes about 6 weeks to go through, but that's about how long your main tank should be fallow anyway.  Corals can have ich present on them, but they don't really "carry" it.  In certain life stages, the ich go to live on the sandbed to reinfect the fish at night while they sleep.  Thus, the coral could have ich present on them.  I QT all my corals in a fish-free setup to prevent reinfestation with ich.  Keep in mind, it's a low probability, but it is a possibility.  I'm a bit psychotic when it comes to QT (and so I don't have any issues with AEFW, red bugs, bubble algae, byropsis, etc), but there's a point we all need to reach with QT...and I think treating all fish for ich is one of those goals.    There's a big misconception that every tank has ich, and it's just something we all have to deal with occassionally.  It's not...it's a parasite...and like all parasites can be treated.

Put some fresh AC in there and you should be ok having only used it twice. Metronidazole works best for internal parasites, it doesn't do much with Ich. Copper/Formalin is IMO the best medication to use if you're medicating for Ich if Hyposalinity isn't an option. I would just make sure that they keep eating and are getting nutritious foods. 9 times out of 10 if a fish keeps eating it will beat Ich. 

You can leave the corals & rock in your main display - just take all the fish out to QT.  Corals and rock don't need fish to live (I went about 1.5 years without fish in my tank after losing them all to ich.)  Since there won't be any fish for the ich to infect in the main display, the ich will die naturally without treatment in the display. 

I would add....be safe and go 8 weeks with the display being fallow....I did 6 weeks one time, put all the fish back in and boom, ich hit again.....

Mark Peterson wrote: Leaving the tank without fish for 1.5 years? I'm curious to know what all was in the tank during that time? May we see some pics? You sound like a very responsible hobbyist. What steps do you take to ensure that no Ich Parasite re-enters the tank?

Reef'd Up wrote: There's a big misconception that every tank has ich, and it's just something we all have to deal with occassionally.  It's not...it's a parasite...and like all parasites can be treated.

The deal is, you may the only hobbyist that does what it takes to keep the parasite out. As you have said, the critter can come back in a drop of water clinging on anything. Hobbyists just aren't that careful. So we pretty much figure that all tanks have the parasite, except maybe yours.


The way to keep Ich from becoming a problem has everything to do with good husbandry techniques and reefkeeping tips. Most hobbyists have been in the hobby around a year, which in my experience is not enough time to learn enough about good husbandry. From what you have said about the stores and hobbyists in your area, I imagine you would agree with that.

I believe that things are a little different in our area, mainly because of this club and it's forum. Hobbyists that frequent this forum come up to speed a lot quicker in their understanding of what it takes to make a healthy reef.

I found this link to help understand a little better seems pretty informative

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1985626