# help with Marine ICH



## badmedicine (Oct 27, 2012)

Firstly I would like to say that I TRIED to search for MARINE ICH and also ICH but not find results…. This topic probably has been discussed before (why wouldn't it be) but I didn't find what I was looking for….

It would appear that some of my fish have ICH. (White spots on the skin). Tank temp. dropped this week a couple of times to somewhere around 21 degrees. (My wife and daughter didn;'t tell me that they left the tank unplugged only to spike the temp. up before I arrived home with 4 heaters)…. I think that this is the causes because I havent added anything to my tank in months. Each fish entering the tank was quarantined prior for six weeks. I was really hoping to buy LED lights this boxing day--- looks like APEX controller would be better.

Okay, how do I get rid of it???

I have coral and fish in my 180 gallon. ANy suggestions on how to rid of it that is coral safe? If I REMOVE the fish, doesn't the cycle still continue in the gravel?
HYPOSALINITY will affect my coral won't it? What about CUPRAMINE/no carbon.

Thanks for suggestions !


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## goldfish (Nov 22, 2011)

Do a google search on marine ich or go to reefcentral.com

This topic has been discussed many many times.

You have to remove all your fish and put in a hospital tank and treat with copper or hyposalinity.

Leave your tank for at least 8 weeks minimum with no fish at all - snails/invertebrates can stay.

Eventually, all the ich parasites will die off with no fish to host and you are good to go.


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## crab (Jul 7, 2013)

Been there, done that, I found all the answers here:

http://www.reeftime.com/reef-articl...ng-marine-ich-brooklynella-hyposalinty/19.htm


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## badmedicine (Oct 27, 2012)

Thanks everyone!

What a pain this ich is! I had to tear apart my rock work to get to the fish (it never gets exactly together the same way twice does it)? 

The fish are in a 90 gallon tank that I had lying around. I read that hypo salinity and cuppermine are effective ways to rid it, so that is what I am doing (both). I started with normal reef water and cuppermine and slowly reduced the salinity over 24 hours. Today (48 hours later)I will test the copper content and reduce it (water change) as per the directions on the bottle. 
I feel confident that I caught the ich on time because when I transferred the fish over I didn;t see any spots (salt spots) on them. They still don't have any spots and everyone is eating (albeit they remain scared) I placed a few plastic plants in the tank and 2 power heads to keep water flowing. No gravel or rocks.

8 weeks is going to be a long time (especially over the Christmas holidays). 

Tank controller (APEX) + L.E.D lights at boxing day sales (maybe another MP40) is sure gonna put me in the "dog house". My wife is gonna shoot me !
IS IT EASIER TO ASK FOR FORGIVENESS THAN PERMISSION ???


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## Bayinaung (Feb 24, 2012)

I think white ich is present in the fishes. they appear when the fish' conditions deteriorate and immune system is down. like colds in humans. I know that in freshwater, I never get ich once the tank is cycled and mature. which happens quickly in fresh. it's usually a new tank symptom. of stress. 

So I think the ich is a symptom of stress from recent events (i.e. in the store, being moved to new water and not get acclimatized properly) or an indication of deterioration of water conditions. as fish's immune system declines, ich comes out. 

that's my thought anyways, and unless the fish starts to deteriorate rapidly and your water is absolutely pristine, I'd work on the environment first and not stress out the fish.


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## badmedicine (Oct 27, 2012)

In my case what stressed the fish was the fluctuation of temp. 72-80 a couple of times in one week. I haven't added anything (fish /corals) in a couple of months and the tank is relatively mature.
I like your analogy of the cold- it is always present and waiting for weakened immunity to strike.


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## goldfish (Nov 22, 2011)

The temperature fluctuation could trigger their immune systems to go weak and then more prone to getting sick.

You can always soak the food in garlic or selcon in order to keep the fish well and healthy.


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## badmedicine (Oct 27, 2012)

I have decided to go with HYPOSALINITY from this point forward. I am sure that cup ermine works great but the testing for copper is ridiculous. I bought a copper testing kit and don't like how it works (not exactly precise measurements and end result is colour matching).

Hyposalinity is the alternative and is easier to monitor/apply. I haven;t heard any negative comments regarding this method over the 8 week period.


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## Dax (Sep 29, 2010)

IME, I found that Cupramine starts to work right away and hypo takes more time. I never cared for the copper test either so I relied on the dosage calculation and had no issues. If you are already comfortable with hypo go for it but if you notice another bout of spots, IMO ditch the hypo and start back with the cupramine.


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## loonie (Mar 29, 2008)

I like to know from you guys whether Melafix works. I had tried before, end of the day, the fish died.


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## TankCla (Dec 31, 2010)

I have marine ich in my tank.
I say I have, because I only boosted fish immune system to fight it. Good food soaked in vitamins, metro + focus + garlic guard, and regular wc.
My tang is clean and eating like crazy, and I did it without stressing him in QT. It is not a safe approach, but the only one fitted for me.
You can not put anything in your DT to cure it from ich. Only way is to keep it fishless for 10 weeks (if I remember correctly)
You had ich in your tank, before this outbreak, and your fish fought it. Help them increase the immune system and they can live with it. The only downside is you can not put new fish in DT for about 2y untill the ich really dissapeares from your system. 
And also I would increase mechanical filtration to stop any swimming ich (I did it between the sump buffles) 
Thats just my 2 cents...


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## Flameangel (Sep 25, 2013)

I had an Ich infestation before in my reef tank and it killed 4 of my expensive fishes unfortunately.I tried using reef friendly medication to no avail until I bought a 45 watt UV sterilizer.After I have installed the UV sterilizer,after about a week only then that I got rid of the pest ICH and for added bonus my tank water is much,much clearer not to mention never had a problem with hairy algae.Now my 90 gallon tank is going 5 months and no ICH,hair algae and red slimy algae.Now for maintenance,I feed my fish with omega 3 and garlic added to the fish food.


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## Dax (Sep 29, 2010)

Healthy fish can fight off ich but they usually get it when they are stressed so don't get your hopes up too much. I let mine try to fight it off for too long and by the time I decided to quarantine, it was a bit late. I tried reef safe cures, garlic soaked food, etc. and all it did was make me lose time. It is not a bad idea to let fish try and fight it off on their own, but I say if your fish have it after 2 cycles, separate and treat right away. Copper or Hyposalinity are the only proven cures.


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## Nicole (Aug 2, 2013)

i've had luck with Kordons all natural ich attack. it's reef safe.


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## cica (Feb 10, 2013)

Kordons ich attack, it does not kill the ich but it boosts the immune sistem to help the fish fight it. It won't work if the infestation is bad, only in mild cases. 
Bought a PB tang last year, in two days it got lots of spots, tryed the ick attack on it. Lost the fish (I did all of this in a qt tank). 
Some lfs keep the fish at 25-28 ppt salinity, the ick will show up after you put it in proper (34-35 ppt) salinity. Yes, I measure the salinity of the water when I buy a fish. 
This is only my opinion, and I might be wrong!


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## deeznutz (Aug 21, 2013)

Don't waste your time QT your fish or doing hypo. I had an Achilles tang that was perfect, but as soon as I got lazy with the seaweed feeding he would develop ich. 3 days of seaweed feedings and he's back to normal. This is true as I had him for 4 years. Ich is always present and just waiting to attack a stressed, weak fish. Keep your tank consistent, clean, well fed and your golden.


-dan


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## loonie (Mar 29, 2008)

We all learn everyday with different experience. If your tank is doing well for a good time. there will be no problem but when you introduce a new fish, then you find sometimes you have ich problems etc. I have gone thru this and I will strongly agree that any new fish its best to have a QT tank for a couple of weeks before you introduce the fish to the main tank
Also some of you might agree that when you buy fish from some LFS, its best to QT the fish, for some reason the fish might have ich or do not eat for some reason. More often you have problems when you introduce a new fish into your main tank.
Just sharing my two cents experience.....


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## wildexpressions (May 3, 2010)

Nicole said:


> i've had luck with Kordons all natural ich attack. it's reef safe.


I've used Kordons several times on several types of systems and it works. It is not an aggressive treatment. It is a gentle relatively slow treatment and I did have some fairly delicate sps's react but overall it works well. It is a lot easier to remove a couple of sps's from a system before treatment than to tear a tank apart to catch the fish for quantine, not to mention much less stressful to the already stressed fish.

It takes a lot of Kordons. When you use Kordons you should also be doing all of the other things like soaking fish foods in garlic/vitamin soaks, water changes, etc.

Marine ich is unlike freshwater ich in the sense freshwater ich generally starts on the body and works into the gills, salt water ich often starts in the gills and moves out onto the body.

The result is the window of treatment is often smaller.


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