Help Please!

[hutsler]

I saw a posting before on how to treat ich but i can't seem to find it any longer and this morning i was checking my tank and i noticed that my damsel and my coral beauty both have the white spots on them. We also have a chocolate chip starfish but he seems to be doing ok. it is a 20 gallon tank (us) and ahs fish and live rock. Please tell me the best way to treat this. I really love my fish, we even name them so i really want to save them, please help thank you!

 

[fish_keeper2]

this a PM i got from NAV:
Hi Ken,
I had a similar problem like yours ponly mine was oodinium rather than ich but the treatment is roughly still the same.

Remove the fish and quarentine them as you have done and then leave the tank fallow and devoid of fish for about 5-6 weeks. During this time i would treat the QT with copper to fight the parasite effectively. Once this has been done i would only add a single fish back in and watch it for about 3-4 days. If no ich returns then its ok to add the rest back into the tank at the same time. Dont forget to continue to feed the main tank during this time so that the bacteria will have an ammonia source to continue working on.

Once the fish are back in the main system i would feed regular feeds of garlic as this is a very effective medication against ich. You can use a finely chopped clove of garlic or products like "Kent Garlic Extreme".

Hope this helps.

ive done this(except my inpatiants got my to 4 weeks and i decided to add my fish back to the main tank and i still have to get some garlic extract) and it has worked out well. my fish have been back in the main tank for several days now and they are doing great and no ich. good luck. oh and all treatments for ich will kill inverts(including corals and such) so leave the inverts in the main tank only remove the fish.

oh btw the cause of ich is probly stressed caused by poor water quality. i would QT all the fish ASAP and then moniter the water stats in the main tank and do regular partials to get stats were they should be.

 

[Chac]

Mixing Food with Crushed Garlic and/or ginger (apparently increases appetite of fish)helped in my latest outbreak of Ich, I fed a variety of Marine Dream, Flake, Frozen etc. & increased the amount of feeding to around 8 times a day but decressed the qty per feeding so there was very little waste

I still include garlic in my food (except Marinedream as it is already included in the ingredients)

Also IMO your tank is way to small to keep a chocolate chip starfish

 

[redhotlynn]

this a PM i got from NAV:
Hi Ken,
I had a similar problem like yours ponly mine was oodinium rather than ich but the treatment is roughly still the same.

Remove the fish and quarentine them as you have done and then leave the tank fallow and devoid of fish for about 5-6 weeks. During this time i would treat the QT with copper to fight the parasite effectively. Once this has been done i would only add a single fish back in and watch it for about 3-4 days. If no ich returns then its ok to add the rest back into the tank at the same time. Dont forget to continue to feed the main tank during this time so that the bacteria will have an ammonia source to continue working on.

Once the fish are back in the main system i would feed regular feeds of garlic as this is a very effective medication against ich. You can use a finely chopped clove of garlic or products like "Kent Garlic Extreme".

Hope this helps.

ive done this(except my inpatiants got my to 4 weeks and i decided to add my fish back to the main tank and i still have to get some garlic extract) and it has worked out well. my fish have been back in the main tank for several days now and they are doing great and no ich. good luck. oh and all treatments for ich will kill inverts(including corals and such) so leave the inverts in the main tank only remove the fish.

oh btw the cause of ich is probly stressed caused by poor water quality. i would QT all the fish ASAP and then moniter the water stats in the main tank and do regular partials to get stats were they should be.

We found that doing a fresh water dip really helped our fish but only dip in fresh water no more than one minute or they will die trust me i found out the hard way but do it all the time now because ick is not in your water it is on a carrierer everytime you add something new to your take you add other peoples problems..

 

[Fish Fingers]

Garlic works great, I've just finished using it to treat my own ich problems. Just soak you food in some garlic extract before feeding and do this for about 6 weeks after there are so signs of ich. I wouldn't reccomend freshwater dipping, it has been proven that it is an ineffective ich treatment and netting and dipping the fish will cause more stress on the fish than need be, possibly causing your problem to worsen.

Good luck.

 

[redhotlynn]

Garlic works great, I've just finished using it to treat my own ich problems. Just soak you food in some garlic extract before feeding and do this for about 6 weeks after there are so signs of ich. I wouldn't reccomend freshwater dipping, it has been proven that it is an ineffective ich treatment and netting and dipping the fish will cause more stress on the fish than need be, possibly causing your problem to worsen.

Good luck.

it works very well for us guess you have to know what your doing

 

[Fish Fingers]

Garlic works great, I've just finished using it to treat my own ich problems. Just soak you food in some garlic extract before feeding and do this for about 6 weeks after there are so signs of ich. I wouldn't reccomend freshwater dipping, it has been proven that it is an ineffective ich treatment and netting and dipping the fish will cause more stress on the fish than need be, possibly causing your problem to worsen.

Good luck.

it works very well for us guess you have to know what your doing

From the research I've done and my own experiment I've found FW dips to be totally ineffective (unless you treat them after the dip, but doingthis would get the parasites off in the first place anyway). If you do get the parasites off during a FW dip (although there are usually still some attached (research has shown that the parasites can still be attach longer than (I think) 18 hours after being exposed to FW)) the fish will become infected again as soon as it gets back in the tank. Just not worth the stress to the fish and the hassle IMO.

 

[Chac]

Garlic works great, I've just finished using it to treat my own ich problems. Just soak you food in some garlic extract before feeding and do this for about 6 weeks after there are so signs of ich. I wouldn't reccomend freshwater dipping, it has been proven that it is an ineffective ich treatment and netting and dipping the fish will cause more stress on the fish than need be, possibly causing your problem to worsen.

Good luck.

it works very well for us guess you have to know what your doing

From the research I've done and my own experiment I've found FW dips to be totally ineffective (unless you treat them after the dip, but doingthis would get the parasites off in the first place anyway). If you do get the parasites off during a FW dip (although there are usually still some attached (research has shown that the parasites can still be attach longer than (I think) 18 hours after being exposed to FW)) the fish will become infected again as soon as it gets back in the tank. Just not worth the stress to the fish and the hassle IMO.

I 2nd your thoughts on fresh water dips - just way to sressfull

 

[Aquascaper]

I'm an advocate of freshwater dipping, its worked well for me in the past

 

[redhotlynn]

I'm an advocate of freshwater dipping, its worked well for me in the past

Like I said before guess you have to know what your doing

 

[steelhealr]

Dipping will help the fish, but, not rid the tank of the parasite. The fish should be quarantined optimally and the main tank allowed to lay fallow. Recent articles show there is NO benefit to garlic, BUT, 'it couldn't hoit'. SH

 

[hutsler]

thank you for all the help, i appreciate how everyone responds but unfortunately all but my starfish died
I have one question though, my coral bueatys fins were all mangled and deteriorated so could i have miss diagnosed? she was not fighting with any tank mates and she did have white spots.

So could any one advise me on what to do from here, like how long before putting fish in and some help with what to put in because i have absolutely no trust in my lfs any more.

Thanks again

 

[fish_keeper2]

im sorry about your loss . ive lost several fish in my nano myself.

if all the fish are gone(as in there are only inverts left ie cleaning crew, the starfish, any corals etc) then leave the tank empty for a minnimum of a month perferably longer. during this time i would concentrate on keeping the tank clean and water stat at the best. if your cleaning crew isnt completed yet you can do this during this time. also keep feeding the tank like you had fish to keep the bacteria alive and have food for the inverts. after the minnimum of a month is over you can then add a single small hardy fish. wait atleast a week and if there are no signs of stress or disease and the fish is happy and doing well then every week to 2 weeks you can add another fish untill you are at the limit your tank can safely hold. also during this time you can research fish that you might want and make a plan for the possible stocking. liveaquaria.com is a good place to look for ideas.