ich and fluke cure on a FOWLR?

[lonewonderer]

Hello, I have a 120 bare bottom 120 gallon FOWLR tank and my fishes contracted ich and flukes. what is the best medicine or treatment for it? I was thinking of using Polyp Lab Medic, Prazipro or nuke it with copper since i don't have any inverts and corals . Any suggestions? 3 out of 10 fishes have the parasites. I have a QT but it's only a 10 gallon which they will not fit in. help please!

for now I'm feeding them with some metroplex.

 

[Humblefish]

Prazipro will treat flukes, even in a DT.

Copper would be your best bet for ich, but please list all of your fish so we can see if you have any copper sensitive species.

Hypo is another option which treats both ich & flukes. Sounds ideal except hypo resistant strains of ich have been proven to exist (study done by Yambot in 2003.)

Blue links above provide more detailed info on each treatment. @4FordFamily has more experience than I with treating ich in a FOWLR.

 

[lonewonderer]

hello Humble fish, here is the list of fishes that have.

Yellow tang
3 damsels
tomato clown
snowflake eel
french angel

with flukes
Blue Gridled Angel
Niger Trigger

with ich
Harlequin Tusk

 

[melypr1985]

That eel will have a very hard time in copper. I would suggest running hypo in this case.... BUT, be sure your refractometer is freshly calibrated and perfectly.... also make sure your ATO is working properly so that your salinity stays rock steady when you get it down to 1.009. You'll want to be sure you keep it there for the full 30 days. Also make sure to watch your fish very carefully during the entire process to check that you don't have the few strains of ich that are hypo resistant or in case you actually have velvet... better yet, pictures of the infected fish should help with that last part.

 

[lonewonderer]

Ok. So if I do hypo. Can I drop the SG at once to 1.009? Or do i have to gradually lower it?

 

[Humblefish]

Ok. So if I do hypo. Can I drop the SG at once to 1.009? Or do i have to gradually lower it?

I would take 3-4 days to slowly lower it all the way down to 1.009

 

[lonewonderer]

Ok. So I'll start doing that later today. Lastly when rising up the SG back to 1.022 what is the ideal length of days to raise it?


you guys are the best!

 

[Humblefish]

Lastly when rising up the SG back to 1.022 what is the ideal length of days to raise it?

You'll want to take much longer raising SG than lowering it. I personally would just top-off using saltwater until it's back at 1.022.

 

[lonewonderer]

That is the best Idea Humble fish. I was really thinking on how will i raise the SG. that Top off idea is brilliant!

 

[lonewonderer]

one more thing @Humblefish @melypr1985 I read on reef central that Hypo is good for ich not bacterial infection like flukes. So is it ok for me to dose prazipro while im on hypo?

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1991470

 

[Humblefish]

one more thing @Humblefish @melypr1985 I read on reef central that Hypo is good for ich not bacterial infection like flukes. So is it ok for me to dose prazipro while im on hypo?

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1991470

Flukes are worms (not a bacterial infection), and scientific research has shown that hyposalinity for 2 days eliminated juvenile and adult flukes. When maintained for 5 days, egg hatching was prevented.

 

[lonewonderer]

Oh ok. thank you for that. I did FW dip last night for my Blue Gridled angles and some of the adults fell off. Now off to the LFS to get some RO water. I have an RO Buddie unit and it only produces 5 gallons per day. and that thing is only 2 months old : (

 

[lonewonderer]

@Humblefish @melypr1985 So I'm planning to do water change to lower the salinity 10 gallons per day. Do I have to watch out for PH change? the tank is 120 gallon and the sump is around 20 gallons. What is your recommended amount of water to be changed while the PH doesn't get affected. sorry i have so many questions.

 

[Humblefish]

@Humblefish @melypr1985 So I'm planning to do water change to lower the salinity 10 gallons per day. Do I have to watch out for PH change? the tank is 120 gallon and the sump is around 20 gallons. What is your recommended amount of water to be changed while the PH doesn't get affected. sorry i have so many questions.

Yes, you will need to monitor pH while dropping salinity and during hypo. Use “baked” baking soda to raise the pH as needed. Spread baking soda onto a clean baking sheet, and bake at 300F for 1 hour. This process drives off water and carbon dioxide from the baking soda, and the result is an effective pH buffer.