# Help with Ich Breakout



## xr8dride (Feb 24, 2009)

Hey all I need some advice and quick. I have an Ich breakout which I noticed approx a week ago. I bought what was supposed to be a "safe" product Chem Marin's Stop Parasite. Well needless to say after following strict directions on the bottle and administering treatment for a week, the problem is now even worse, the infestation even more horrible.
I've since switched to Seachem's Metroplex previously known as Metronidazole and am on my first day of treatment heading into my 2nd. At first it was just my Porcupine Puffer "Poker" showing signs, then my Stars & Stripes Puffer "Patriot", and now even my Klein's Butterfly is ridden with ich. Plz Help!!!! Any suggestions in combating this would be greatly appreciated.


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## ruffyruff (Dec 28, 2008)

you might want to QT the fishes at an earlier stage... The best way of killing off ich is now, getting a large enough bucket, placing all fishes in there and go Hyposalinity


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

I dont think that med will do much. It is not really the right stuff to treat ich.

I would look into another type of med. I dont know what to suggest because I am not sure what types of meds will work in a SW tank sorry.

I would bet on it that ameekplec will have the answer you need for sure


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## xr8dride (Feb 24, 2009)

Jackson said:


> I dont think that med will do much. It is not really the right stuff to treat ich.
> 
> I would look into another type of med. I dont know what to suggest because I am not sure what types of meds will work in a SW tank sorry.
> 
> I would bet on it that ameekplec will have the answer you need for sure


thanks for the responses, the klein's showing vast improvement after only one night with the Metroplex and temps increased to about 85, let's hope the rest follow suit. as for quarantine, well with the infection in my main tank I would assume the entire tank needs treatment not just the fish. Why put them thru more stress by fishing them out and secluding them to a tiny confinement?


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## blossom112 (Mar 19, 2008)

Yep you need to treat the whole tank as it can live in the rocks and stuffs ... so you have no choice at this point unless you want to move the fish to containers and still treat both tanks ... 
my only concern if it isnt going away after treatment you may have to Quarenteen your main tank so the fish dont get reinfected ...
Oh boy this really sucks in SW ...
If it was my tank this is what I would do:

Put fish in rubbermaid with powerheads heater HOB .....with nothing else no sand or rock and waterchange everyday or every other day and treat with meds as well as up the temp.
Then also treat the tank with meds and waterchanges and up the heat at least 6 to 8 weeks to be sure all the ick is killed in the tank .

I know its bad so sorry ... If you dont have a tank or rubbermaid ,You are coming here for snails and we have many big rubbermaids I could give you one that hasnt been used .
Good luck!
even if you had caught it in an earily stage it would still have been too late the tank would still need to be treated .......


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## xr8dride (Feb 24, 2009)

blossom112 said:


> Yep you need to treat the whole tank as it can live in the rocks and stuffs ... so you have no choice at this point unless you want to move the fish to containers and still treat both tanks ...
> my only concern if it isnt going away after treatment you may have to Quarenteen your main tank so the fish dont get reinfected ...
> Oh boy this really sucks in SW ...
> If it was my tank this is what I would do:
> ...


I've begun hypo treatment on the main tank with fish remaining inside, only a day into it and i can see the kein's butterfly showing improvement but my poor porcupine puffer is saturated with them. Aside from some up and downward swimming he really isn't showing much of a personality difference,, still eating, etc.
From numerous sites and experiences that i have read the hypo treatment works so I'm going to continue with it and hope for the best. Thanks for the advice and very generous offer Blossom, it is greatly appreciated. For now I'm going to sit back and continue watching them as they go thru the hypo and see what developes. *crossing fingers* Hopefully they all pull thru it.


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## blossom112 (Mar 19, 2008)

there is a fish ... you can buy that will eat the ick rigtht off the fish ...
And yes they do do that ..saw it with my own eyes!!!
I will have to get the proper name from my friend jason ... he calls them doctor fish ... I would never say buy a fish when you have ick but in this case I say do it if you can!
every tank should have one of them!


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## xr8dride (Feb 24, 2009)

blossom112 said:


> there is a fish ... you can buy that will eat the ick rigtht off the fish ...
> And yes they do do that ..saw it with my own eyes!!!
> I will have to get the proper name from my friend jason ... he calls them doctor fish ... I would never say buy a fish when you have ick but in this case I say do it if you can!
> every tank should have one of them!


I would believe that you are talking about the Cleaner Wrasse, i was at big al's looking for one but they didn't have any. They do for all intensive purposes literally eat parasites and such off fish but they have a very short lived aquarium life....some as little as a few days so i prefer not to keep them captive and support the harvesting of these fish.


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## blossom112 (Mar 19, 2008)

YES thats the fish !
my friend jason .. had them for months till he got the carpet anemone and were eaten .. 
hehehe we can get them 
... I call her the fish lady ....647-430-7861 .....just in case you want cheap fish .....
Im thinking on getting 1 they are beautifull!


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## xr8dride (Feb 24, 2009)

blossom112 said:


> YES thats the fish !
> my friend jason .. had them for months till he got the carpet anemone and were eaten ..
> hehehe we can get them
> ... I call her the fish lady ....647-430-7861 .....just in case you want cheap fish .....
> Im thinking on getting 1 they are beautifull!


yeah I had bought one months ago before doing any research on them. It wasn't until I did the research that I shyed away from wanting to purchase them. "The Fish Lady" eh? Where is this fish lady located, does she have a store??


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## blossom112 (Mar 19, 2008)

yes it is a store ... maybe the next time jason takes me we could hop over and grab you !
When I go it has to be planned and then we like to go when she gets her shipment so we get first picks lol
I plan on going in a month ... then we will drive your welcome to join us your way close to us so save up them pennies and dont be shocked at how bad I haggle her for cheaper prices lol im awefull with that in stores ....I will pm you close to the day!


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## xr8dride (Feb 24, 2009)

Just an update.....the hyposalinity treatment is working extremely well, the fish are all recovering! my porcupine puffer who was taking the worst of it is now clearing up nicely and has his voracious appetite back, he ate a whole jumbo black tiger shrimp. He's now just taking a leasurely swim around the tank. I'm so happy! lol


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## xr8dride (Feb 24, 2009)

blossom112 said:


> yes it is a store ... maybe the next time jason takes me we could hop over and grab you !
> When I go it has to be planned and then we like to go when she gets her shipment so we get first picks lol
> I plan on going in a month ... then we will drive your welcome to join us your way close to us so save up them pennies and dont be shocked at how bad I haggle her for cheaper prices lol im awefull with that in stores ....I will pm you close to the day!


Hahaha be shocked? Hell you can haggle for me too, I'm no good with that..I see a price, that's what I pay. I don't think I have ever gotten a deal on anything in my life, lol. As for the timeline, a month sounds great because I plan on treating my tank in the hyposalinity state for some time...seems 4-6 weeks is recommended by most reading i have done. Yes though, do pm me closer to the date...I'm generally available anytime since I work nights..start at 2am most nights.


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## xr8dride (Feb 24, 2009)

Here's how my fish are looking now, very good considering the poor state they were in. It all happened so rapidly and they looked like someone had thrown rock salt on them before. Patriot, my stars & stripes puffer is still a little more infected than Poker, my porcupine puffer but the treatment is working miracles. I really thought I was going to lose these guys.


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