Ride out ich?

So my purple has had some ich for a few days and just noticed the hippo has it. Only 3 fish in the tank with the other being a foxface who does not have it. I've been feeding twice a day with garlic and some feedings get selcon. I put a sheet of algae in there either everyday or every other. I've read where I should just wait it out and not to do any treatments like kick ich. Am I doing the right thing by upping the feedings? They are all swimming around, eating like the usual pigs they are. The purple is looking better today. What is the usual life cycle on where the ich stays on the fish? Thanks.

 

If you have a scarlett shrimp, or other cleaner you may be able to ride it out, at least in my case I was able to. the shrimp cleaned my tang every time it presented, and within a month it was gone never to return. (the ick not the fish) however, if your fish begin to show any sign of stress you need to treat asap

 

is the purple a new addition? when i put mine in, it had little white dots. from the stress im sure. but cleared up after a few days and all is good. no outbreaks or anything

 

IMO you are doing the right thing...keep up on soaking the food in garlic to help boost the immune system but keep an eye on the ich. I normally just ride it out and use food to help but I also have a cleaner shrimp as well.

 

That is what I did. I lowered the salinity just a little, soaked all food in garlic and watched to make sure that the fish were eating. Its been 2 weeks and presto ich is gone. I figured the stress of moving the fish to a QT tank was harder on the fish. I do have a cleaner shrimp that cleans the fish too. If you don't have one.. suck it up and spend the money on one.. Well worth it!! Oh and I raised the water temp up to 82....slowly of course.

 

Here is an article I found:


Therapeutics: saltwater fish have a number of natural defenses against ich, and if the fish are healthy enough and the outbreak mild enough, sometimes the fish may cure themselves, just as they would in nature. We can assist them to some degree by maintaining good water quality and providing a nourishing diet. Raising the water temperature shortens the disease cycle and may add vigor to the fish's defense system. Lowering the salinity to about 1.015 seems to inhibit the breeding cycle of the parasites. Giving the fish a two minute freshwater dip may eradicate parasites from the outer layers of skin and gills. Keeping only a few fish in a large aquarium (as in the currently popular "reef" type tanks) can make it harder for each parasite to be successful in finding a host, and the disease may die out.

Treating Saltwater "Ich"

 

Red Sea Cleaner Wrasse is in there as of today...maybe I'll add a cleaner shrimp over the weekend if it does not look any better...they don't look terrible tho, a few here and there...the hippo and purple were added on May 17...so almost 2 weeks now...I think it was the temp swing I had this week when it got to about 84 in the tank with the hot temps here in the north east. I added a fan to the top of the tank after that and it hasn't been above 80 since.

 

I believe the warmer temp shortens the cycle of the ich. That is what I have found while I researched it. It's hard to say, so many different opinions in this hobby.

 

i believe you can also add drops of garlic straight into the water to help out as well. from what i read they suggested 1 drop per gallon of aquarium water. i also got some cleaner gobie's for my coral beauty and they seem to love to pick at the ich

 

are you referring to neon gobies? just drops out of an eye dropper? i also use vita-chem and selcon on their food, i know both of those can be added directly to the water but i have not heard of garlic directly to the water?