help

[reeftankgirl13]

My tank has ich in it I had a clown and it died now I just have a bunch of snails and a star polyp. So my question is medicate the tank vs. Leave it to rid the disease itself. Either choice I have to wait 6-8 weeks to get any more fish ( might wait longer so I can be sure it is gone). What luck has anyone had with attack ich, kick ich, etc.?

 

[mike007]

If you have corals are snails i would not add any meds to tank. You just never know when you buy fish if they are stressed out. Thats why many people have a hospital tank so they can medicate before putting into a reef. Some people use a uv sterizer but i don't. I have only a few fish in my reef and i am very picky on what goes in it. If i want to add a fish i will watch it at my lfs for a couple of weeks to make sure it is okay. Most good fs will treat there fish before selling them.

 

[mrfixer]

I think all fish carry ick . I think they get stressed or over feeding brings it out.I would leave it and do some 20% water changes ever week or 2 and it should be fine. Lots of people install a inline UV light, it will kill parasites. Some people say it kills good stuff to but I ran one for years and never got ick. I got cheap and never replaced bulb.If you are a new reef keeper you may want to run one.

 

[reeftankgirl13]

Even reef safe meds?

 

[mrfixer]

No meds are good for a tank.WATER CHANGES ARE BEST!
The only thing I ever ran in my tank was Maracyn its pretty safe
I ran that because of red slim algae years ago.

 

[mike007]

Water changes will not help with ich. Check out websites such as saltwater .com and learn from the experts. Bob Goeman who has wrote many books will help you . He will answer your emails and has a vast knowledge of all aspects on reef keeping.

 

[Dana]

My tank has ich in it I had a clown and it died now I just have a bunch of snails and a star polyp. So my question is medicate the tank vs. Leave it to rid the disease itself. Either choice I have to wait 6-8 weeks to get any more fish ( might wait longer so I can be sure it is gone). What luck has anyone had with attack ich, kick ich, etc.?

Guess you didn't bother to read your other thread on the subject in which I told you how to get rid of iCh and not to use meds in your tank. Good luck

 

[Mhumbach]

Since there is no fish just leave the tank alone for 2 months minimum I would say. Ich needs a host and will eventually die off and there is no need to put chemicals in if you dont have to. I would highly suggest a QT tank as others have said. Good luck and be patient

 

[sherita]

All fish do not have ich, nor do all tanks. It's possible to have an ich free system as long as you rigorously quarantine everything (and I do mean everything) before it goes in your tank. I'm currently running 6 tanks, none have ich. Water changes don't get rid of it, cleaner shrimp/fish don't either. The only way to kill it is to deprive it of a host (fish).

Since your tank is fishless, leave it without fish for a minimum of eight weeks. The ich must have a fish host in order to live, no fish=no ich. And quarantine everything new before you put it in your tank. There are a lot of very good articles out there about ich, the life cycle of the parasite, and how to get rid of it forever. And there is no reef safe medication to eliminate it from a reef tank. Kick ich, Rid ich and the like are all snake oil. The truly effective treatments must be used in a bare hospital tank.....copper, quinine sulfate, hyposalinity treatments, all effective, and none can be done in a reef.

 

[SmokeyCFH]

+1 above...you have to get rid of the hosts to wipe it out of your tank. Most if not all ick meds are NOT reef safe, more so, they're not invert safe. Leave your tank fish free for a few weeks to a month and you should be good to go. If I were you I'd set up a QT and if any fish has signs of ick, medicate them in there.

 

[rworegon]

I have to agree with the above posters who suggest a Quarantine tank. I QT all new fish. Since you now have a fishless reef, leave it that way for a couple of months. As posted above, without a fish host the ich will die off and no longer be an issue. Use the downtime to get a QT system setup and start QT your first new fish.

 

[reeftankgirl13]

Guess you didn't bother to read your other thread on the subject in which I told you how to get rid of iCh and not to use meds in your tank. Good luck

I did indeed read my other thread but since that is not an option of a hospital tank at the time or to quarantine I needed advice weather or not to use meds. In fact I did some research on rising the temp and due to the fact that it is less effective in marine aquariums and the high temps would probably kill other things in the tank and decided against your advice. Therefore I posted this thread to get different opinions on med vs. No meds. Thanks