I do...well actually my new fish does. I have not had to deal with this yet. I am assuming copper? I was looking at Seachem Cupramine and just winging it without a test kit. Any experience or advice? It is a Royal Gramma and is in QT. Has a couple of spots so far. Thanks, James
I researched this a couple of years ago and this worked for me: Slowly lower specific gravity to 1.009, raise the temp to mid 80s and treat with copper (0.15-0.25 ppm) for 7-10 days plus. Too much copper is toxic and too little is ineffective so a test kit is important.
you have a cleaner shrimp? they are known to eat parasites, but copper kills inverts. but of course copper should do the trick.
He is in QT all by himself...thank goodness. I have bought some CopperSafe and am going to give that a whirl. He has a few more spots now. His appetite is so-so, I have tried PE Mysis shrimp, flake, and Cyclopeze. Nothing he is really going crazy for so far. Any other recomendations on what a Gramma or a fish in general just can't resist? Thanks, James
try soaking the food in some garlic extract http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&pc=1&N=0&Nty=1 when i had ich and the fish weren't eating people on reef central recommended that i try soaking their food in this and they did seem to eat better. also the garlic is supposed to help the fishes immune system so they can fight off the parasites better. The other day Norman was talking about something else that would do basically do the same thing but I don't remember what it was off hand.
This is an excellent thread on ich, and deseases in general, including hypo and how to quaranteen. http://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=127007 Hypo is probably a good idea to make sure you kill the problem. It just means 4 weeks of quaranteen.
Cyclopeeze should be as irresistible as anything for omnivores and carnivores. What do you have in the QT tank? Grammas need hiding places.
Yes, Grammas need hiding holes. put some half inch pipe fittings so you can sterilize them later. Royal Grammas are not picky eaters at all. I have one that goes just as crazy for flake as he does frozen. By the way, my QT is just a few pieces of rock in a 20 gal, HOB filter, heater, and a skunk cleaner shrimp. No chemicals, just a handy shrimp station. I bought a purple tang one time because it was COVERED in ick and I did not want it to suffer and die at the store. I put it in my QT with the shrimp and the next morning not a spot of ick left. I left the fish for a total of 4 weeks to let the remaining ick grow and mature so the cleaner could eat it. Never saw the parasite again.
I know that some tangs really "enjoy" being cleaned by shrimp. Do other fish readily accept the service as well?
As far as I can tell, Angels also enjoy it. My Pink skunk clowns get cleaned in the main tank every once in a while, I have seen my purple firefish being rolled around by the cleaner shrimp, my Chromis even takes a cleaning. But, my skittish orange-finned bristle tooth tang doesn't enjoy it as much as you would think though. I like getting a free fingernail cleaning when working in the tank. :lol:
I have a cleaner in my display but nobody likes to be cleaned by him. The two tank raised clowns had never seen one I am sure and the firefish just doesn't seem to want a shrimp picking at him. I already have copper in the QT so no shrimp in there. About the most reliable food has been PE Mysis Shrimp for this guy, he is good for one good meaty bite per feeding. I try to feed him 4 times per day. Shrimp twice, then flake once, and Cyclopeze once. I think I let the SG get a bit high and that might have been making him feel bad. It was 1.026 last night. I have eased it back to 1.025 by this morning and plan to go to 1.024 tonight. Might keep going down a bit more as I understand it makes it easier for them to regulate their internal osmotic balance with the salinity a bit lower. Anyway he seems pretty perky just not a huge eater yet. Hopefully that will come. Thanks for all the advice. James
I often put garlic in my food that I make up, but it is mostly been reported as a preventative not a a cure for ich. I would hesitate in using any addative to cure problems, no matter what they are. I currently have flat worms and have, on and off, for over two years know and can't muster the nerve to use flatworm exit. Perhaps one day. I applaud your use of a QT tank that allows you to address these issues before they become a problem for your main tank.
Yeah QT's are great, especially when people buy live stuff but don't come back and have to send their cools stuff home with someone else! :wink:
He ate his first decent meal today at lunch. It was OmegaOne flake and he ate about 7 good bites. The spots are falling off. Last night I siphoned out two gallons of water, I used the siphon hose to clean the bottom of the tank really well in the hopes of sucking out some of the cysts that have fallen off of him. I know this stage of the process can be the calm before the storm as those cysts are lying around and inside them the ich is multiplying and will be hatching out again soon. Hopefully the copper will take the suckers out. You just want these little fish to live after you have plucked them off of a reef somewhere. I will keep at it and see if we can't get this fish back as good as new. James
Even in the best of circumstances there are alot of variables that stress a fish over the corse of getting there from where ever it came from.
I guess the LFSs move their livestock so fast they don't take the time to quarantine/medicate? This just solidifies the need to QT all new livestock at home.
His name is Little Fish but we are considering changing it to Little Pig. He is doing really well now, eating like crazy. He has been in copper for two weeks now and I think I am going to stop the copper and give him a couple of more weeks in QT, then into his new home. I told my wife this was the last fish for my reef as I didn't want the bioload too high. She couldn't believe we would only have four fish in that "big old tank". Then she accused me of using that as an excuse to get a bigger tank! Would I do something like that??? :twisted:
