I don't know why you've struggled with ick this long but, here's a tip make sure you clean under the light hoods,any and I mean any airline tubing is properly cleaned out.Anything that comes in contact with your water,including your hands should be rinsed and cleaned. Have you used quinine sulfate?
When hyposality doesnt work, whats next?
- Thread starter wednesday13
- Start date
im surprised aswell... the stars and stripes puffer still has break outs. Hes still growing and eats food soaked in vitamins. I Have a 30 cycling for him. I treated my 120 with Ruby reef rally and kick ich recently before i officially move him. Hes got about a week then i'm gonna pull him for quarentene. I'm dosing the tank again for a second cycle of kick ich because the fish handeled it well then removing the original problem of the stars and stripes puffer. He was dirty from the start/ didnt notice it well enough at the lfs he was on fine white sand. Never heard of quinine sulfate? is it reef safe? My rock is finally coming back after 3 months in hypo and its nice to see some color again lol.
with all due respect. Fresh water dips will not cure Ich. This is a protozoan parasite that boroughs into the skin of fish thus they are not affected by any type of topical treatment.
To kill the Ich parasite you have to wait for it to complete its life cycle on the fish. Then when it drops off the fish to reproduce thats when it is vulnerable to treatment. Copper kills Ich the fastest. I have never had a problem treating puffers before but they are many species that are not tolerant to copper so be careful, Do some research on your puffer first.
Here is a very good article and gives a couple different treatments.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.php
To kill the Ich parasite you have to wait for it to complete its life cycle on the fish. Then when it drops off the fish to reproduce thats when it is vulnerable to treatment. Copper kills Ich the fastest. I have never had a problem treating puffers before but they are many species that are not tolerant to copper so be careful, Do some research on your puffer first.
Here is a very good article and gives a couple different treatments.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.php
Thanks Big-G. I've read of copper just dont want to destroy my live rock in my 120 again. Theres 100lbs in the tank. I am not opposed to just treating the puffer in copper though so i'll have to read your link. Much appreciated. I gave them a spot on hypo treatment for 3 months with a refractometer and precise levels. The puffer carried the disease the entire time. Unbelievable! lol My other stock cycled out and are perfectly fine. I do not plan on adding any other fish to this tank so i believe removing the puffer will remove the problem. I'm still going to treat the tank to remove the disease for the future and adding cleaner shrimp again for a fail safe. My cleaners were killed in the 3 month hypo.
Puffers been dipped since i talked to you miguel with no improvement. I left him in for 10 min. as you directed and he never dropped the ich. I believe this is because hes been in hypo for so long. I also believe i lowered the salt at such a small rate the disease adapted. It subsided at levels of 1.009 but did not disapear. This is why im turning to chemicals. I've even been using medicated food and have seen no results. I battled ich in a triple tank system (150gal.) a year ago and hypo levels of 1.014 were enough to solve the problem in a few weeks. My fish are extremly healthy, eat daily and continue to grow but ichs still in the tank and it needs to go. Its going on 6 months. I'm willing to try anything. I also plan on dipping the puffer one more time before hes put in quarentene.
Also Formalin was the active ingredient in the Ruby Reef Kick ich they were already treated with
Dips will not cure Ich.
If you have another tank that you can move the puffer to and treat it there it would be better.
If you have a very hardy strain of Ich it can be difficult to cure.
I had a similar problem once with a yellow tang. The way I was able to cure my problem was by moving this problem fish to a separate tank (it was a 20 gallon I think),and every three days I would break this tank down completely sterilizing it. By doing this I was able to remove and destroy the Ich parasite when it was in the reproduction stage and not attached to the fish itself. I also raised the Temps to 82 which will speed up the life cycle of the Ich. I continued this until there where no signs of Ich. I let the fish stay in this tank for about a month after the last sign of Ich just to be sure I had gotten rid of it.
Now I know this Is labor intensive but It will remove the parasite and without chemicals.
Another way to rid a reef tank of Ich without treatment of chemicals is to remove all the fish (if you have other tanks) and let your reef go fallow with NO fish in the tank the Ich cannot reproduce and will eventually die out. Raise the temps a little will speed this up.
i've debated the fallow process aswell...My other fish include an 8"miniatus,6-8" niger trigger, 4-5" clown grouper, and a 4" yellow tang. I'd toss them in another tank but i think that risks setting off another infestation and they get along quite well. Puffer will be pulled soon. Just want to let his tank cycle so he doesnt break out more during the move. Its been running for 11 days so its about time. The puffer is uneffected by anything and its kinda funny. He was about 5" when i got him and now hes a solid 8-10".....juuuust dirty. has had ich every day for 4 months. sounds just like your tang big-g. For me it was just one puff too many hah...
Puffer's are very susceptible to the Ich parasite. One thing to think about if the treatment is done separately is that the other fish in your main tank may come to a sort of compromise, so to speak, with the Ich in that they will show no signs of ich but it may still be present in the tank in low numbers. As soon as another fish that is more susceptible is placed in the tank their will be another full blown outbreak.
Just be sure before the puffer is returned to the main tank that there isn't any Ich left in the main tank. Or you risk another infection. Good luck
Just be sure before the puffer is returned to the main tank that there isn't any Ich left in the main tank. Or you risk another infection. Good luck
