ICH is it a four letter word?

[bhopwood]

Can any one explain why ich is more noticeable when the lights first come on and seem the reduce as time passes. Is Garlic the answer or is UV sterilizing. Are there any chem. treatments safe for reef thanks?

[tims]

there is a another thread that has a lot of what you are asking .. it also has a few worth reading articles on Ich

[pcolagirl]

Hi! I am a newbie but have had experiences already with Ich. We have a 20gal and the first time we had live rock w/ sponge, feather dusters and clam and a humu trigger and a brown tang well tang got ich and LFS told us to use copper safe but didnt explain how to use so we put in tank and killed all inverts as well as ich. Well tang didnt make it through Hurricane Ivan and then because of losing interest and not doing what needed to be done with tank unfortunately we lost the trigger (salt and ph WAY too low). So we took all out and started over still have rock although not sure if live or dead havent seen any life form yet but never smelled foul odor associated w/things dying on it so still watching for life put 10lbs of crushed coral and then 10lbs of live sand on that got 2 four striped damsels and 2 blue chromis and a scooter blenny got them in tank and day later one of damels started acting weird and had white spots on him then died 24hours later figured he was just too stressed. Got a bi color angel and mandarin goby and horseshoe crab for tank. Two days later one of blue chromis started getting little white spots checked with another LFS(not one that gave us copper advice)and was told sounded like Ich was told to get product called "Kick-Ich" this product is reef safe bottle says safe for all fish, corals, and invertabrates. Biodegradable. Safe for Nitrosomonas, Nitrobacter, and other bacteria essential to biofiltration. The treatment takes a little longer (about 2-3weeks) but it really does work unfortunately the blue chromis was a little further along than we thought and he didnt make it. This product is put out by Ruby Reef and is a little expensive but the benefits and the ease of use is worth it.

[tims]

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.htm

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-1...ture/index.htm


the only thing i dont like about using chemicals in a reef tank. something usally is effected by it in a bad way..
above are two articles about Ich and what to do..
HTH

[rachyl756]

What does Ich look like? after reading soo much stuff about it I feel I should be watching for it, but I've never seen it

Then again I do own a grand total of 4 fish But our 220 is going to be a Hippo Tang habitat, so Might as well start researching now

[bhopwood]

Read Tim's #4 posting the links are very informative.Thanks Tim !

[rachyl756]

Originally Posted by bhopwood

Read Tim's #4 posting the links are very informative.Thanks Tim !

I was hoping for pictures One person's text description never seems to match anothers. Its something I've never seen. Never did freshwater and my first salt water venture has never really been big on fish

[tims]

it will look like you put salt on your fish

[aussiereefer82]

Originally Posted by pcolagirl

Hi! I am a newbie but have had experiences already with Ich. We have a 20gal and the first time we had live rock w/ sponge, feather dusters and clam and a humu trigger and a brown tang well tang got ich and LFS told us to use copper safe but didnt explain how to use so we put in tank and killed all inverts as well as ich. Well tang didnt make it through Hurricane Ivan and then because of losing interest and not doing what needed to be done with tank unfortunately we lost the trigger (salt and ph WAY too low). So we took all out and started over still have rock although not sure if live or dead havent seen any life form yet but never smelled foul odor associated w/things dying on it so still watching for life put 10lbs of crushed coral and then 10lbs of live sand on that got 2 four striped damsels and 2 blue chromis and a scooter blenny got them in tank and day later one of damels started acting weird and had white spots on him then died 24hours later figured he was just too stressed. Got a bi color angel and mandarin goby and horseshoe crab for tank. Two days later one of blue chromis started getting little white spots checked with another LFS(not one that gave us copper advice)and was told sounded like Ich was told to get product called "Kick-Ich" this product is reef safe bottle says safe for all fish, corals, and invertabrates. Biodegradable. Safe for Nitrosomonas, Nitrobacter, and other bacteria essential to biofiltration. The treatment takes a little longer (about 2-3weeks) but it really does work unfortunately the blue chromis was a little further along than we thought and he didnt make it. This product is put out by Ruby Reef and is a little expensive but the benefits and the ease of use is worth it.

I'm more concerned with this post. I sincerely hope that this was a typo and you meant 200gal. To start with tangs, triggers and bicolor angels are a no definate no go in a a 20gal let alone all the other fish that were in there as well, 3-4 small fish in a 20gal is enough. Secondly, once you add any copper based product to a tank it is useless for any tank containing inverts of any kind in the future as copper will leach very quickley into the rock, sand and even the plastics on filters, pumps and the silicone that holds the tank together. NEVER PUT COPPER BASED PRODUCTS INTO A DISPLAY AQUARIUM, QUARANTINE TANKS ONLY!!!!

[tims]

WOW! aussie i did not catch that!
i agree your tank if it is a 20 gallon is way too small..

[pcolagirl]

I am sorry to say that no that was not a typo. It is a 20gal tank. We dont have the trigger anymore but he was only about 2" long we bought him from lady who was getting out of it she sold us him,tank and lr said he was about 2yrs old. Right now the only things in tank are 1-mandarin goby(about 1"), 1-scooter blenny(same size), 1-fourstripe damsel(same size and soon to be removed and taken to LFS), 1-blue chromis(same size and same fate as damsel) and 1-horseshoe crab size of a nickle.
Unfortunately we learned our lesson the HARD way about copper safe we ARE VERY new to this hobby and a different LFS than what we use now told us to put copper safe in our tank to cure an ich problem he didnt warn us of any of the effects of this product. WE WILL NEVER USE COPPER SAFE in a display tank again!!! Many different HELPFUL people have advised us on this now.
We did get a copper test kit and I keep testing the copper level in our tank and so far the most it has tested is .5ppm.
We know this tank is small but we thought since we were just getting into the hobby smaller would be easier but we have learned that it is opposite bigger is easier. We have a 75gal that is predrilled and can be set to be SW that we did have as FW tank with a large oscar in it that we are going to be setting up but we want to make it a reeftank and we want to be sure that we know what we are doing b4 we get into corals and such. My hubby just loves the corals and inverts he hates dealing with fish and worrying about ich, marine velvet and all the other things we have been dealing with he wants just corals, inverts and such. So the 75 gal will be his and we may get me one for fish since I love the fish.

[akeyzoo]

well crud. The mandarin goby is probably not going to last in your tank. Do you witness the mandarin eating your prepared foods? If not (and most likely not) it will wither away and starve to death. They need lots of pods (imagine mini shrimps that reproduce naturally in your tank) that a 20 gallon tank cannot support (not a large enough ecosystem). Not sure about scooter blenny, but that tank may be problematic as well.

Your tank is very small so you will need to pay special attention when buying fish. The first question you should ask your LFS owner is, I have a 20G tank, is this fish appropriate. They may assume you have larger.

Sounds like you have learned some lessons the hard way, but patience and research will help.

Good luck.

[pcolagirl]

Thank you akeyzoo. I have noticed mandarin eating a little bit we did feed some brine shrimp(live) and he and the blenny went to town on it. Yes we are learning the hard way because the first LFS that we were using we assumed knew what to tell us but since then we have changed LFS's and we deal with one particular person who always checks with us on how we are doing(we stop in weekly just to see what new items they have) and also with the help that have been getting here by reading and posting. I just wish there was a local SW club around here that I could join. We are in the Panhandle of Florida (you know where Hurricane Ivan just hit). So if anyone on here is in our area and knows of one let me know.

[akeyzoo]

pcolagirl,
If you can get the mandarin to eat shrimp, try weaning him onto other prepared foods. Reason is that brine alone will not sustain him. That is a good sign though!

Chris

[pcolagirl]

Well thanks for the suggestion Chris but you were right about the mandarin. He died today and got to looking at him and his body was caving in. I had just gone and got some shrimp pellets and some frozen food to try to get him to eat also and he wouldn't touch a thing. We are going to wait until we get our 75gal reef tank set up and going before we try another mandarin. I just feel bad because I feel like was my fault he starved and I feel like he may have suffered. So now I am down to a scooter blenny and a horshoe crab in that tank(I had a 4stripe and a blue chromis but took them to LFS because they were just TOO mean)