Ich Treatment

[Allyson]

Well it looks like ich may have played a part in the death of my 6 line....the clown that's been in the tank for a month now has it. I've researched threads and was going to pull out the 10 gal from the garage and set up a hospital tank to treat him but also read that the parasite can live in the water for 72 hours. So do I have to pull out & stress all 3 fish (2 clowns & scooter blenny...what about my brittle star?) or can I soak their food in garlic for the next week?

The clowns are tank raised so they'll be fine in the hosp tank but I don't think the blenny is going to feel safe in a 10 gal with the two clowns...he's been a little skittsh since I added the second one (raising his dorsal fin quite often).

[Alice]

Hi Allyson;

Ich doesn't effect inverts so no worries about the brittle star. And that's 72 days, not hours, for the ultra fail safe. Does your scooter blenny eat prepared foods? Even frozen or fresh brine? If not, moving him long term to a hospital tank may not work out, he would probably starve.

How badly is the clown affected? Covered with spots or just a few? Is it just the one? If it hasn't taken over the whole tank yet, I'd try feeding them with garlic rather than tearing the tank apart to chase them down and stressing everyone in a small tank. You can get water soluble garlic gelcaps at the health food store, some drug stores and even at the grocery store vitamin/herb section on occasion. Soak the fish's food in that and some Selcon every day before feeding. The ich parasites don't like the smell of garlic fish and will drop off, be unable to complete their life cycle and will eventually die. There shouldn't be any problem with the clowns eating it, I don't know about the scooter

Alice

[Allyson]

72 days! Persistant little boogers aren't they? I had no idea. In the past when I've gotten an outbreak of ich in my FW tanks a couple of doses of "ich rid" and all's well.

The blenny does eat frozen brine. I didn't get to check the clown this am...left for work before the lights came on...but last night there were just a few spots. I think I'll try the garlic first since it seems some people have had luck with it...I really don't want to stress the blenny out but then I don't want loose him either, Homer has already become family.

[Alice]

Allyson; here's a link to the article that our own Horge wrote on garlic treatments

garlic