Looks like Ick help!

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Whatnow

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Well my Blue hippo tang (2") has Ick on his sides and fins probably 10 dots on each side. He got stuck in my natural magnetic frag rack and took him about 3 hours to get unstuck now he has Ick white spots but is eating just fine. I'm transferring him to a QT and need ideas on how to treat? I have 2 10 gallon tanks with equip for both -air stones, air pump, new ammonia badges, heaters and PVC elbows. Should I tank swap or dose copper (never dosed copper and kinda scared cause its copper after all) next should all my fish need to be QT. (2 clowns, Blue hippo, Yellow tang) hippo is the only one showing Ick. Any and all ideas and help, Thanks
 
Hi! sorry for the troubles here. Yes all your fish need to go into QT. You can do TTM, but depending on the amount of fish and their size, I would suggest larger tanks/buckets/totes to use for it. You'll want to leave your display fallow for 76 days to eradicate ich from the display as well.

TTM: http://reef2reef.com/threads/spars-tank-transfer-method.209690/

Other methods:
Copper: Treats Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans), Marine Velvet disease (Amyloodinium); possibly Uronema marinum

How To Treat - First, it is important to know what kind of copper you are using. Cupramine is fully charged (ionic) copper, and has a therapeutic range of 0.35-0.5 mg/L or ppm. You would use a Seachem or Salifert copper test kit for Cupramine, as those are capable of reading copper in the low range. Coppersafe, on the other hand, is chelated copper. It has a much higher therapeutic range of 1.5-2.0 mg/L or ppm. As such, you need a “total copper test kit” such as API’s to measure Coppersafe.

Standard copper treatment lasts 30 consecutive days. The reason it takes so long is copper only targets the “free swimming stage” (the same holds true for all chemical treatments & hypo). While 7-14 days is the “norm” to reach this stage, certain strains of ich have prolonged life cycles. Indeed, even 30 days may not be long enough in some rare cases. This is why it is so important to observe after treatment ends, to ensure symptoms do not return.

Therapeutic copper levels must be maintained at all times during the 30 days, so testing often is important. If the level drops even slightly out of range, then the 30 day clock starts all over again. One reason your copper level may drop unexpectedly is if you are treating in a tank with rock and substrate; those should not be used in the presence of copper due to absorption. Conversely, if you exceed the therapeutic range you risk killing the fish.

Copper is a poison, pure and simple. It only works because most fish are able to withstand being in it longer than the parasites. Knowing this, it is wise to raise your copper level very slowly (over 3-5 days) instead of the usual 24-48 hours recommended on the labels. Doing so increases your odds of successfully treating a “copper sensitive” fish. Remove copper after 30 days by running activated carbon.

Pros - Readily available

Cons/Side Effects - Appetite suppression is a common side effect. If a fish stops eating, don’t add more copper until he resumes. If the fish is still not eating after 2-3 days, start doing water changes (lowering the copper concentration) until he eats. If this happens a second time after you resume raising the copper, you’ll know you’ve encountered a “copper sensitive” fish and an alternative treatment should be used instead. Some species of fish, such as angels, puffers, lions and mandarins are notoriously difficult to treat with copper.

Hyposalinity: Treats Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans) only.

How To Treat - Place the fish you wish to treat in a quarantine tank with SG & temperature matching the tank they came from. Over a period of 48 hours, gradually lower the SG down to 1.009. You must use a perfectly calibrated refractometer at all times while doing hypo. Treat for 30 consecutive days, and during that time the SG must always remain at 1.009. If it inches up even slightly, the 30 day clock restarts. For this reason, many people use an auto top off system while performing hyposalinity. Some have even used hypo to successfully rid their display tank of ich, while others have failed. All corals and inverts must be removed beforehand if you wish to try this.

One of the challenges posed by hypo is maintaining a proper pH for the entire duration. While fish aren’t overly sensitive to low pH for short periods of time, anything continuously lower than 7.5 is going to be a problem. So, you will have to constantly test and then buffer the water to raise the pH. This can be accomplished by using supplements (available at most LFS) or you can “bake” your own DIY supplement by using baking soda. 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. You will need to experiment (start with a very small amount) to determine how much is needed to raise your pH to the desired level.

Pros - Chemical free solution to ich, gentle on the fish.

Cons/Side Effects - Difficult to execute properly, and hypo resistant strains of ich have been proven to exist (study done by Yambot in 2003.)

Chloroquine phosphate: Treats Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans), Marine Velvet disease (Amyloodinium), Brooklynella hostilis & Uronema marinum.

How To Treat - Chloroquine phosphate (CP) is a “new drug” that actually was widely used to control external protozoa in saltwater aquariums back in the 70s & 80s. It was even used in some aquarium medications sold at LFS. Nowadays CP requires a prescription to purchase legitimately, making it more difficult to obtain. Fast forward to today and thanks to the power of the Internet, CP has come roaring back! The biggest obstacle to overcome is obtaining pharmaceutical grade 99% pure CP. I cannot stress the importance of this enough. Do not buy it from some guy on eBay or even an online vendor. The only way to be sure you are getting 99% pure CP is to get your vet to write you a prescription that can then be filled at a local pharmacy.

CP is a “one and done” medication, meaning you dose once and that’s it. There are no test kits for CP, so it’s important that you dose accurately using a digital scale. Also, don’t forget to dose any replacement water (from water changes, but not top off) with CP. The dosage rates are as follows:
  • Prophylactic treatment is 40 mg per gallon.
  • Active infections (visible symptoms present) is 60mg/gal.
  • For Uronema marinum and really bad infestations, you can dose up to 80mg/gal.
As you can see, there is quite a bit of wiggle room between the minimum & maximum dosage. Practically speaking, 40mg/gal will treat all external protozoa issues… it’s just that the higher dosages may get the job done a little faster. Treatment lasts 30 consecutive days, and no carbon, UV, etc. may be used during this time (although it can be used later when you wish to remove the medication from the water). A little quirk about CP is that it is light sensitive, so you cannot use a light on the aquarium while treating. However, this does not mean your fish have to remain in total darkness; ambient lighting (say, from a window across the room) is fine. CP is NOT reef safe. In addition to killing your corals, it is a very strong algaecide.

Pros - Gentle on most fish (DO NOT USE with wrasses), a “one and done” medication that treats most external protozoa. CP is the closest thing there is to a “wonder drug” in our hobby.

Cons/Side Effects - Expensive, hard to get (requires a prescription), light sensitive; some evidence of appetite suppression with certain species (especially wrasses.) Attempts to feed CP laced food are usually not successful due to its bad metallic taste.
 
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^^Agree with above, except don't use Chloroquine phosphate on a Hippo Tang. And as Meredith said, ALL your fish need to be treated and you need to go fallow in the DT to eradicate ich.
 
Okay only have 4 fish and 1 skunk cleaner shrimp. The 2 clowns are under 1.5" and the hippo tang is 2.5" and the yellow tang is 3" what size tanks should I use if I'm using the Tank swap method and would using just air stones be okay for that? If I treat with Cupramine and use the matching Seachem test kit what size tank would be best and any kind of filtration? My main QT has 2 fish in it right now to eventually go into my 30. So I'll need to make a run to get another tank or two...
 
^^Agree with above, except don't use Chloroquine phosphate on a Hippo Tang. And as Meredith said, ALL your fish need to be treated and you need to go fallow in the DT to eradicate ich.

Oh man! Good catch Bobby! Totally slipped by me :)
 
Okay only have 4 fish and 1 skunk cleaner shrimp. The 2 clowns are under 1.5" and the hippo tang is 2.5" and the yellow tang is 3" what size tanks should I use if I'm using the Tank swap method and would using just air stones be okay for that? If I treat with Cupramine and use the matching Seachem test kit what size tank would be best and any kind of filtration? My main QT has 2 fish in it right now to eventually go into my 30. So I'll need to make a run to get another tank or two...

You might be able to get by with 2-10 gals if you do TTM. But I would use a 20 gal QT for copper treatment (or as the observation tank post TTM).

Below is a video outlining how to do TTM:


 
^^Agree with above, except don't use Chloroquine phosphate on a Hippo Tang. And as Meredith said, ALL your fish need to be treated and you need to go fallow in the DT to eradicate ich.

Why not? Is this all Tangs?
 

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