how do you folks handle ick problem?

Many of you folks have issue with ick in your system? How did you overcome the problem?

 

to have the best chance of having an ich free tank, is for the tank to be fishless for a minimum 6 weeks. 8 would be better. thats the general length of the parasitic cycle of ich. with no fish in the system , the ich doesnt have a host to feed off of.

for tanks that do have fish that have ich. main ways to help the fish fight it off, is to keep them well fed. garic soaked food to enitice them eat well, garlics not a cure, it just a eating trigger response to help build up a fishes immune system . or you could quarantine the fish and treat the QT tank with copper meds.

 

Fish can develop immunity to ich, but that's not always the case, and some may die while affected. However, I've read if the fish develop immunity, and no new fish are introduced to the tank, the ich will die off after a year or so.

 

Make sure to feed a vitamin enriched food source. I soak all of my frozen food that I feed in Garlic Extreme and GvH (vitamins).

 

IamRit

My views and thus actions have changed over the years
I have tried , Hypo salinity, I have removed fish and put in HT whilst leaving tank fish free , I have tried reef safe meds

ask me to sum up my findings and all I can say is
I have had fish that have made it through all the above
I have had fish that have died , doing any and all of the above

my philosophy nowdays may seem cruel

I keep corals
I have fish in there for activity and colour
I check the fish I buy and dont purchase any fish that looks less than perfect
I dont buy fancy fish that are prone to parasites ( no fancy Tangs for me)
I feed them with Garlic enhanced food stuffs

what happens , happens ( thats the cruel part for some people)
I no longer want to strip my reef down to capture a fish with spots
I dont want to mess with my tanks SG and upset my corals because fish have spots
I dont want to add chemicals - I was never that impressed with the results I got with reef safe meds anyway

for me as long as the fish is active and feeding then there is every chance the fish will build up immunity to the parasite
if you provide a stress free enviroment with otherwise good water quality, then subsequent fish additions can build up immunity

but the 1st time you add a fish thats not popular with the residents, that IME will be the fish that looks like it fell in a salt shaker (and you never knew it had spot when you got it and didnt think you had it in your tank either)

Steve

 

Quarantine all new fish. Do not put in main tank until they show over two weeks of being disease free. If they do develop ich or any other disease, treat it and do not put the fish in your main tank until the disease is completely gone for over 4 weeks.
Always run UV filter. Even on quarantine. Since I have been doing this, I have not had problems.

 

This is how I have come to think, if my fish is strong enough and well fed enough they will fight it off. I just keep doing what I was doing. If my water quality is good and I'm feeding normally and they get sick and die then so be it. I have had a few recently who got ich and they are fine and happy now over a month later. The larger fish seem to fight it off a little better in my system. Perhaps because they are larger and not stressed by the other large fish. My gramma has had it twice since I have gotten it and he seems very prone to being stressed and not eating. If he dies I'm not going to worry about it, I have target fed him every time he gets ill, but if he dies despite that, I'll just replace him and move on. It's what happens in nature, the strong will overcome and the weak will die off. As long as it isn't something that I did to cause them to get ill I don't feel bad if they die. It's not worth completely dominating my display to catch one fish.

 

I was curious since I saw many question about ick hence I asked the question.
I've been in reefkeeping for about 7 years now. I don't have ick issue whatsoever. I don't use UV. I don't use garlic. I don't have QT. Am I being lucky and disaster is ready to strike around the corner?
Most of the fish I bought at the beginning of the hobby are still with me except the anthias. One by one, I'm starting to loosing them. I think it's aging issue. Maybe.

 

I am currently dealing with this same thing. I had a thread going a couple days ago about it also. There is some helpful info there, but my fish have had the visible signs of ich for about three weeks now and so far they have been stable. All forms of food are soaked in Garlic Guard to help strengthen the immune system and as a flavor enhancer, and AminOmega (Brightwell Aquatics) and Vitamarin-C (Brightwell Aqautics) both of which are also to strengthen the immune system. I have just now started doing these soaks, but realize now that I should have been doing them all along. They don't seem to be getting worse, but also don't seem to be getting better so I am just waiting it out now.

 

Sounds to me like you have happy stress free fish that are probably just reaching the end of their lives