The Ultimate Reef Tank Crypto/Ick Cure

[Tony_Caliente]

Does any one have one? And "prevention" doesn't count nor does an ample supply of mini-fishy body bags.

[1PERCULA]

I'm currently taking a shot with Kick Ich. It seems to be working and the corals haven't shown any signs of stress. I'm only 2 days into treatment. Hit me up if you want updates. Stuff cost me $35.

[EnderG60]

Ive always just cranked the temp to 82 and feed the living hell out of them. been working great for the past 7 years doing that.

[Dakota9]

Originally Posted by EnderG60

Ive always just cranked the temp to 82 and feed the living hell out of them. been working great for the past 7 years doing that.

Tried and true method........

Even moderate feeding works.

[Atlanta Aquarium]

I had an incident once when I moved my setup from my office to the appartment. I had a major ick outbreak. I used a combination of iodine and melafix. Fish wer free of ick after 3 to 6 hours. The medication is cheap too.
I never have ick problem. I think a combination of well fed and mostly compatible fish do the trick.

[Tony_Caliente]

Thank you. Never herd of the iodine and melafix.

As far as the other advice, what do you do when they won't eat?

[ichthyoid]

Originally Posted by Tony_Caliente

Does any one have one? And "prevention" doesn't count nor does an ample supply of mini-fishy body bags.

Tony,

I have always used quinine sulfate or quinine (quinacrine) hydrochloride with great success, for years. I usually combine it with Maracyn I & II (or similar product/antibiotics) plus Maroxy (antifungal). Combined, these cure everything with no chance of secondary infection from the wounds left from the parasite attachment.

National Fish Pharm (below link) has the quinine, which was not available for several years. They have another 'All-in-one' product on their site as well, but I have not tried it, called Parinox.

You can't go wrong with the quinine for ectoparasites/ich & crypto. If you try the Parinox though, please let me know how it works. Thx

http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/products4.html#Q

[ga_daisy]

To get them to eat Entice....garlic

[Atlanta Aquarium]

Iodine and melafix is my formula. Found by accident during the tank moved.
I never had a fish that won't eat. I think my fish eat too much and I feed them too much. Animal and human don't eat when they are sick or stress. Tastier treat probably get them to eat some but create a less stressfull environment (oopps, probably falls into the prevention catagory) for your fish probably would be the answer to your ick problem.

[ichthyoid]

I QT everything in hospital tank with above med's. before going into a community tank whether reef or FOWLR. I agree that happy fish are healthy fish, but had too many 'bad guys' show up after bringing them home from 'the store'. Shipping is a huge stessor!

In a community tank, I hook up my UV's when/if ever needed.

[mojo]

Originally Posted by Tony_Caliente

Does any one have one? And "prevention" doesn't count nor does an ample supply of mini-fishy body bags.

There's not one - any solution that will be effective against Ich will also be effective against anything else reef related - you can't easily kill one without another.

Also understand that Ich has a 4-week life cycle, so you may go through multiple phases and cycles before it runs it's course. Understanding the life cycle will go a long way to understanding how to deal with it. Reducing stress and letting the fish do their own thing is a large part of prevention.

Have a look at this thread: http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forum...ad.php?t=12016

Good luck - we've all been down that road.

[Atlanta Aquarium]

QT is good but as long as you have incompatible fish you will continue to get ick. Of course, feeding your fish regularly can help prevent ick too. Healthy fish don't get ick easily. Healthy human don't get sick as easy either.
I'm sure UV will help prevent ick to certain degree but ultimately good husbandry is the key to ick cure.
I don't run UV and some of my fish had been with me since the beginning of the hobby. That's about seven years. Very rarely they have ick.

[phoenix20]

Get a big UV sterilizer dude. The good ones are expensive, like $300, but it'll also kill algae spores, viruses, and other cruft you dont want in your tank.

I had a really really really bad outbreak of Ich about 2 months ago. I lost a royal gramma, scotts ferry wrasse, and a powder blue tang. After running the UV for a month, I haven't seen a single Ich-y looking spot on a fish.

Getting a neon goby and cleaner shrimp help too. Its kind of cruel introducing a neon goby into a ich infested tank, because they get ich as well, but it sure does help clean the other fish. --- So, maybe get 2x cleaner shrimp

[phoenix20]

Oh. And mix this stuff in with your fish food. Most LFS will carry it.

Metro + Focus rocks.

http://www.seachem.com/Products/prod...onidazole.html
http://www.seachem.org/Products/prod...ges/Focus.html

[mojo]

Originally Posted by phoenix20

Get a big UV sterilizer dude.

Oh right - read this thread, too: http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forum...ad.php?t=36805

[Lifestudent]

After losing about a dozen fish to ich (that was due to voltage in my tank), I went fishless for 45 days (after I fixed the voltage issue).

After that, all of my fish go through a FW dip, then go into a QT tank for no less than 30 days for observation. If all is perfect, then they go into my display, else they remain in the QT until I'm satisfied.

That's what I've been doing since 2006 and have yet to have ich reappear. (WE need a "knock on wood" image!) :redx:

[McPhock]

I would go with raising the temperature a tad and keeping them well fed. Beware of false medications like Kick Ich and Pimafix/Melafix. Pimafix/Melafix are mild antiseptics and wont do much for you.