My very first ich outbreak!! Yay?

Sharkbait19 · Aug 25, 2020

Well, I predicted something fishy was up with my new royal gramma, and I shouldn’t have been so surprised to see more white dots on his face, and two on the firefish. I’m not panicking, since everyone is still swimming and eating, but I just need to know what to do from here. What are the most effective, yet efficient, ich remedies? I’d also like to note the fact that I’m looking into a cleaner shrimp or neon/sharknose goby, but will not be able to get either until Thursday. Additionally, I have no quarantine tank, so that is off the table as well.

How are clownfish/firefish/basslets with ich? Will they pull through? Or am I looking at a $100 loss this week?

Qasimja · Aug 25, 2020

ich isnt a very fast killer the best way to treat ich is to treat them with copper in a QT tank and to leave your display fallow for 76 days or you could take the route of ich management

Sharkbait19 · Aug 25, 2020

Qasimja said:
ich isnt a very fast killer the best way to treat ich is to treat them with copper in a QT tank and to leave your display fallow for 76 days or you could take the route of ich management

Thanks, but unfortunately I do not have a QT tank, and I have inverts who may poorly react to copper.

Bpfor3 · Aug 25, 2020

There is an article here on ich management. and tons of other threads on this topic. Just do a little search.

Sharkbait19 · Aug 25, 2020

How would a cleaner shrimp/fish help the situation? Which is the best one?

vetteguy53081 · Aug 25, 2020

Ruby rally very safe and effective

Sharkbait19 · Aug 25, 2020

vetteguy53081 said:
Ruby rally very safe and effective

Which one? Pro treatment or kick ich?
The product reviews don’t seem very promising.

vetteguy53081 · Aug 25, 2020

Pro. Kich ick also good

Sharkbait19 · Aug 25, 2020

Do you think my fish will pull through on their own after a water change? I canNOT afford to lose anything!

Bpfor3 · Aug 25, 2020

Sharkbait19 said:
How would a cleaner shrimp/fish help the situation? Which is the best one?

Unfortunately, it would not help.

Sharkbait19 · Aug 25, 2020

Here’s some pics of what I’m seeing

Sharkbait19 · Aug 25, 2020

The firefish has his fins clamped and is clearly stressed. I plant to do a water change soon, though. My sponge filter hasn’t been hooked up properly so I’m have to fix the filtration.
I ain’t too panicked yet, as I’ve had many FW fish introduced that looked like they had ich, then recovered. I’m mainly concerned by how the firefish is now affected too. The clownfish seems fine.
What are the chances they’ll all pull through?

Bpfor3 · Aug 25, 2020

The first to go will be the firefish. Gramma does not look too bad right now. Try doing large water changes to get some of the free swimmers out.

Sharkbait19 · Aug 25, 2020

Bpfor3 said:
The first to go will be the firefish.

Hincapiej4 · Aug 25, 2020

Sharkbait19 said:
How would a cleaner shrimp/fish help the situation? Which is the best one?

THey wouldn't help.

Hincapiej4 · Aug 25, 2020

Try a freshwater dip for temporary relief.

Hincapiej4 · Aug 25, 2020

You don't need much for a QT. Get like a 5 or 10 gallon. You can either lose 100 bucks and buy more fish wasting more money. Or, buy a 100 dollar or less QT setup and prosper.

TvanB1 · Aug 25, 2020

Sharkbait19 said:
How would a cleaner shrimp/fish help the situation? Which is the best one?

Cleaner shrimp wouldn’t help for ich as it is buried under the ‘skin’. Same goes for cleaner fish.

vetteguy53081 said:
Ruby rally very safe and effective

I haven’t found this to be effective for ich. It contains acriflavine and formalin which will only help treat brook, velvet, flukes, etc. Formalin may also reduce the overall lifespan of the fish.

Hincapiej4 said:
Try a freshwater dip for temporary relief.

This also won’t help with ich being that it is under the skin of the fish. It would likely stress the fish out more compromising the already stressed immune response of the fish.

If you don’t plan to set up a QT system or manage the ich, there is a good chance you’ll lose the fish you have and continue to have trouble adding any new fish after that.

Jay Hemdal · Aug 25, 2020

Sharkbait19 said:
How would a cleaner shrimp/fish help the situation? Which is the best one?

Who cleans the cleaner is always the question with cleaner wrasse and gobies. IMO Lysmata cleaner shrimp will eat ich from fish (if the fish hold still for them!) But will never cure an active infection.
Jay

Hincapiej4 · Aug 25, 2020

TvanB1 said:
Cleaner shrimp wouldn’t help for ich as it is buried under the ‘skin’. Same goes for cleaner fish.

I haven’t found this to be effective for ich. It contains acriflavine and formalin which will only help treat brook, velvet, flukes, etc. Formalin may also reduce the overall lifespan of the fish.

This also won’t help with ich being that it is under the skin of the fish. It would likely stress the fish out more compromising the already stressed immune response of the fish.

If you don’t plan to set up a QT system or manage the ich, there is a good chance you’ll lose the fish you have and continue to have trouble adding any new fish after that.

Actually, from what I understand, and the same reason it works for flukes etc. Is the freshwater makes the scales of the fish swell, basically pushing anything under the skin off. Which is why you do it for flukes etc and why they show at the bottom of the water after the dip...You wouldn't see the ICH though, too small. But you don't want to freshwater dip too late either.. it does add stress for the duration.