New Life Spectrum ick shield, Snake oil?

143MPCo · Mar 30, 2015

Is this new life spectrum ick shield safe for a reef tank, or is it better used in a QT... heck or is it just snake oil?
I'm all for giving each and every fish the best chance and don't mind the expense if it works.

whats claimed:

New Life Spectrum Ick Shield is a life-saving medicated fish food that combats devastating Ich and a variety of other ectoparasites including Velvet Disease, Trichodiniasis, etc. These 2 mm sinking pellets are specially formulated to disrupt the trophont, which is the most harmful feeding stage of Ich-causing parasites.

In addition to its active ingredients, Ick Shield features a highly concentrated nutrition profile to support the general health and well-being of your aquarium fish. To entice ailing fish that are less inclined to eat, these wholesome pellets offer an extremely palatable taste. They incorporate all-natural ingredients to mask the infused medication, and will not induce stress or suppress appetites when administered as directed.

New Life Spectrum Ick Shield pellets provide a safer method of treatment (especially in delicate reef aquariums), as they enable you to medicate your fish without dosing the entire aquarium. They are equally effective in treating freshwater and saltwater fish, and will not negatively impact your aquarium's biological filter. Made in the U.S.A.

Humblefish · Mar 30, 2015

There is both a medicated food and treatment powder version of New Life Spectrum ICK Shield. Both supposedly contain Chloroquine phosphate (CP) as an ingredient - which does eradicate the free swimming stage of most external parasites including ich - so we're off to a good start at least.

However, as usual, the devil is in the details. :smokin:

I have had great success using pharmaceutical grade 99% pure CP in a bare bottom, rockless QT. When dosed in a DT with rock/substrate the same CP almost always fails probably due to absorption. CP is also a strong algaecide, and IS NOT coral/invert safe. I've seen threads on RC where people buy CP off ebay or some other online source; sometimes it works, sometimes it fails.

I think it all comes down to whether or not you are getting the "good stuff" (i.e. pharmaceutical grade), or something that has been watered down with various fillers. Now which does Life Spectrum ICK Shield contain? :noidea: I've been thinking of calling them to see what they'll say, but even then I'd need to see a chemical analysis to be sure they weren't lying to me.

(Sorry, but I'm a skeptic of anyone who tries to sell me something without proof of what they say.)

Now about the food... even if it were properly soaked with pharmaceutical grade 99% pure CP, I highly doubt it would work because CP has only been proven to successfully target the free swimming stage of external parasites. Which is why you must dose the powder in a QT. There is no proof it is effective on trophonts feeding on the fish. Even if food soaking were somehow effective on preventing trophonts from attaching, you'd have to be sure each & every one of your fish ate it for 72 consecutive days (same as going fallow.) No small feat considering how bitter tasting CP is. When I use the powder on tangs in QT, they usually stop eating fresh nori after about an hour... presumably because CP has soaked into it.

If you'd like to read more on CP, look here: https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/fish-disease-treatment-diagnosis/192309-chloroquine-phosphate.html

TheGrimmReefer · Mar 30, 2015

Spreading the knowledge everywhere, Eh Bobby?

Humblefish · Mar 30, 2015

TheGrimmReefer said:
Spreading the knowledge everywhere, Eh Bobby?

Hey Adam! They even gave me my own little sandbox to play in over here!

4FordFamily · Mar 30, 2015

Would sure be great if it DID work or did prove remedially effective, it's in all three of my tanks (although my fish don't show symptoms and are thriving). However, new additions will show symptoms and on some occasions do succumb to it. It would be nice if there was something that tipped the scale a bit more in their favor as they build up the same defense my other residents have.

Humblefish · Mar 30, 2015

3fordfamily said:
Would sure be great if it DID work or did prove remedially effective, it's in all three of my tanks (although my fish don't show symptoms and are thriving). However, new additions will show symptoms and on some occasions do succumb to it. It would be nice if there was something that tipped the scale a bit more in their favor as they build up the same defense my other residents have (many of which are tangs, angels, etc including an established PBT and Achilles tang).

There are many things you can do to tip the odds more in your favor when it comes to ich management. Most of these you probably already know about, but everything I know on the subject is here: https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/fish-disease-treatment-diagnosis/188775-ich-eradication-vs-ich-management.html

Of course, @Paul B is the master. Someday when I have more room, I hope to setup a "Paul B tank" using this methods. Can't wait for his book to be released. :wink:

4FordFamily · Mar 30, 2015

Humblefish said:
There are many things you can do to tip the odds more in your favor when it comes to ich management. Most of these you probably already know about, but everything I know on the subject is here: https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/fish-disease-treatment-diagnosis/188775-ich-eradication-vs-ich-management.html

Of course, @Paul B is the master. Someday when I have more room, I hope to setup a "Paul B tank" using this methods. Can't wait for his book to be released. :wink:

Yup. I do my best to keep ideal water parameters. I just had my angels wiped out by flukes, didn't see that coming. So now PraziPro for a couple weeks in 3 treatments to follow.

I am treating all of my tanks as I move fish from tank to tank often and suspect this was what plagued other angels for awhile. I do have a frozen passer that passed I could dip and see if flukes fall off, but after being frozen I am not sure I could identify scales that fell off vs. flukes.

I also have a lot of leopard wrasses which initially promoted my prazipro purchase, strange coincidence.

Humblefish · Mar 30, 2015

3fordfamily said:
Yup. I do my best to keep ideal water parameters. I just had my angels wiped out by flukes, didn't see that coming. So now PraziPro for a couple weeks in 3 treatments to follow.

I am treating all of my tanks as I move fish from tank to tank often and suspect this was what plagued other angels for awhile. I do have a frozen passer that passed I could dip and see if flukes fall off, but after being frozen I am not sure I could identify scales that fell off vs. flukes.

I also have a lot of leopard wrasses which initially promoted my prazipro purchase, strange coincidence.

Angels & wrasses are very susceptible to gill flukes. There is some controversy as to whether or not flukes can be managed like ich. I think not, since the worms never leave the fish. Then again, I know someone pretty knowledgeable about fish diseases who claims she had a clownfish with intestinal worms that lived 9-10 years. :noidea: Do clownfish even count when talking about the impact of disease?

At least with ich, the fish's immune system gets a "break" whenever the trophonts fall off.

You do know Prazipro is basically reef safe, except for tube worms/feather dusters? The only other real danger is if you happened to have a large number of bristle worms or similar, and the resulting die-off triggered an ammonia spike.

4FordFamily · Mar 30, 2015

I've seen no spike, my worms are thriving and so too are my pods. But yes I read the rc thread (28 pages worth) on flukes and prazipro. I agree that flukes need to be addressed not ignored such as ich. Just my .02

My feather dusters were upset first few hours and now are fine

Humblefish · Mar 30, 2015

3fordfamily said:
I've seen no spike, my worms are thriving and so too are my pods. But yes I read the rc thread (28 pages worth) on flukes and prazipro. I agree that flukes need to be addressed not ignored such as ich. Just my .02

My feather dusters were upset first few hours and now are fine

Interesting. My one & only time treating with Prazipro in a DT resulted in all my worm-like creatures and pods being nuked. I've read of similar anecdotal experiences, but also ones like yours where everything was fine. I guess it's hit or miss.

4FordFamily · Mar 30, 2015

Humblefish said:
Interesting. My one & only time treating with Prazipro in a DT resulted in all my worm-like creatures and pods being nuked. I've read of similar anecdotal experiences, but also ones like yours where everything was fine. I guess it's hit or miss.

In all 3 of mine all is well but I will dose again and it will be more potent because some will remain in the water (first dose) and I will dose again 5 days after that (but skim and carbon in between).

People reported accidentally dosing 3-5x recommended dose without negatively impacting anything. Shrug we will see! Lol

Cabinetman · Nov 24, 2017

So what's the scoop on these pellets? And I don't want to hear from you unless you have actually tried them. My initial finding is these are amazing and will clear up an ich infested fish in a few days. In only 4 days my fish went from some being covered to completely clear. And I'm not talking about regular fish. I'm talking powder blue, powder brown and Achilles. I've been battling with ick for months and couldn't get it cleared up. Fish ate them with hestitation at first but now they all gobble them up and the results are seriously impressive. Who else has had the same result?

Dogtown · Nov 24, 2017

I use ick shield powder. I’ve used it in a display tank quite effectively. The thing you have to know to watch for is algae die off and return. On first dose, the cp kills algae fast and your glass, rock, and sand will be clean all the time. In a few weeks the glass starts to take on some algae. That is when you know more ick shield is needed.

Dogtown · Nov 24, 2017

I haven’t tried the pellets

Cabinetman · Nov 24, 2017

I've read a bunch of bs about fish won't eat them. Guys flapping thier gums without ever trying. Mine gobble them up. My Achilles hasn't looked this good since I got it a few months ago. Been broke out all along. 2 days of pellets it's clean. 4 days later still clean. Impressed to say the least.