Ick/Ich

[eaburns]

I recently treated my tank for ick because one of my damsels
had some white dots on it's head. I used mardel CopperSafe.
Will this treatment be dangerous for my 2 hermit crabs and
my emerald crab? According to the package it is only dangerous
to inverts with no exo-skeleton. Also the treatment instructions
say to use 1tsp per 4gallons and that it will last up to a
month. Does anyone have any experience with this medicine?
Am I suppose to treat it 1tsp/4gallon per month or is this
a daily dose for a whole month? (currently airing on the side
of caution and only treated once for this month).



Thanks,
--Ethan--

 

[1979camaro]

any copper treatment will be harmful to inverts...i haven't had marine ich (knock on wood) so I can't help you with the dosage but i would say if the ich is gone dont use it any longer

 

[spiffergirl]

I have a freshwater tank with two crawfish. When my oscar got ich, i used coppersafe. I also worried about the effect of coppersafe on the crawfish, but i figured if they died, i would just get a couple more at the local grocery store. Surprisingly, though, nothing happened to them. I think you may be okay, but you may want to try to remove the coppersafe once the ich clears just to be safe.

 

[TRe]

how do you guys feel about the fresh water dips??

 

[aresgod]

depends on the fish, some deal with dips better than others, it also depends on the malody, it can be more effective on some problems than others

 

[SALTY WATERS]

How did ICh get introduce into your system...did youjust recently add somthing new? I would not recomend using this in your main tank if only the one fish had ICH, you should quarentined him and treat in there.

I have had ICH before, I believe it is cause from the fish becoming stressed out and not being able to fight this parasite off. alot of the time it will go away with proper nutitional requirments for the fish. In my experiance with this I used a food soak called GarlicGaurd and as well raise the tank temp up a few notches(speeds up the ICH's cycle time). The Ich does not like the garlic and will not attach itself to the host and then eventualy DIE from starvation. I have had great results with this and have not have ICH since.

As well invest in a "cleaner shrimp". But do not put him in if there is copper in the tank. Once you stop using the coppersafe make sure you put back in your carbon and do a good water change this will help minimis the copper left in your tank.

 

[1979camaro]

garlic will not get rid of ich...that remedy works for internal parasites only

 

[seastaar88]

i'm a big fan of FW dips.. but like aresgod said, some handle it better than others.

 

[aresgod]

the best solution for ich is to quarantine, it is the only way to assure that it is not in the tank anymore, because if you treat in the tank, it can seem like it is gone but i can live on the substrate for up to 4-6 weeks and then re-attach itself to the fish

 

[eaburns]

I do not have the resources to get a quarenteen tank. Also the fish with the ick has a chunk taken out of his nose i have noticed since it has gotten the ick. It is not eating, can i save it some how?

 

[aresgod]

whats the chunk missing from, it shouldnt be ick, go out and buy a 5 gallon tank and thow some water and LR in there and put you little buddy in there and treat him, 5 gallon tanks are like 5$ and a small filter for them should be cheap too

 

[SALTY WATERS]

garlic will not get rid of ich...that remedy works for internal parasites only

Worked for me and I was recommended by another in the hoby. It is still a parasite and feeds off the host, and if they have garlic in them the parasits do not like that. Infact you can even use real garlic from the kitchen to soak the food in. Work in humans to!(only downfall is it will keep the women away as well)

 

[eaburns]

I was just thinking. Since i already put the coppersafe in my main tank. Could i take the fish out and grab one of those $5 5gallong tanks you mentioned, put all the fish in there. Then empty out my main tank to get the copper out and clean that all out while the other fish are in quarenteen. Or will there STILL be copper in the tank?

 

[aresgod]

how many fish do you have?you would really have to break the entire tank down, and copper can stay in LR and substrate so yuo kind of would have to start all over,

 

[eaburns]

So should i just NOT clean it out if i do not plan on getting more inverts?

 

[S.Reef]

Garlic has no proven effect on external parasites.

eaburns...if you want more inverts, take the tank down and wash it out. IF you dont then dont wash it out.