ich

[Salt Freak]

all my fish get ich i keep using greenex my water is as follows

ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite:0 ppm
Nitrate: 7 ppm
Salinity: 1.024
tempature: 78 F

Once it goes away and everything is doing good I put a fish in and it gets ich. I'm seriously considering a UV sterilizer. Help Please

 

[Tindy]

i dont have a marine tank but have got ich in my freshwater tank and have exactly the same problem as you. i have read that a cause in marine tanks is that the white spot is only attacked when not on a fish so some of your old fish may have the spots still on them or the medication is not so effective.

i think as i dont have a saltwater tank and am not too hot on technical aspects of freshwater tanks and diseases

 

[Ed4567]

From what I've read there isnt really any sure way of treating ich in an invertebrate tank uv or ozone might help depending on the unit, and if you maintain a stress free tank with good feeding and high water quality it should go away by itself. Your only other option is to take all the fish out an isolate them for a month.

 

[RamJet]

Melafix and Pimafix both are reef safe and work well. You can also give the fish a fresh water dip. (Read up on this before doing it) UV works well to keep ich from going from one fish to another. You can also add garlic extract to the food or water, it will help with the immune system and boost the appatite.

 

[Fishy411]

ditto on the garlic. There are cleaner wrasses that eat the ich parasites but after the ich is gone they have nothing to eat.Cleaner shrimp probly help out a bit. if u can find a UV sterilizer get that and than u can isolate the fish and treat them one at a time because the uv sterilizer will keep the ich from going back to that fish.

Just thought of this. Are u quarantining yur fish b4 u put them in?

 

[Navarre]

All the coments above are excellant advice but i will add something extra on this...

Ich is a parasite that lives in tanks alongside the fish all the time. Its like a common cold, we are all exposed toit every day of our lives but its only when out immune system is weakened that it usually manifests itself as a full blooded cold. Therefore when you add fish to the tank something is lowering their resistance. The main cause of this is usually stress. Stress is one of the largest killers in a marine tank as it will bring on ich faster than a blink of an eye. a UV sterilizer is an excellant bit of kit and i have one for emergencies but this only kills the free swimming parasites and doesnt address the issue at whats causing the stress in the first place.

How large is the tank? what type of fish do you have? (Tangs in small tanks are usually a major cause of ich outbreaks in marine tanks)

 

[fraservet]

I agree with Navarre.

I never had any problems with Ich until my porcupinefish became very ill. He was completely lethargic and seemed to be blind. He recovered completely from this, but a couple of weeks later broke out in spots. I am sure the original illness suppressed his immune system, letting the parasite get a foothold.

Anyway, I have found Kent Marine RX-P to be very effective at treating Ich. It is supposedly Invert safe if used as directed with good skimming and filtration.