Quarantined Blue Tang with Ich

[Thraciandrummer]

I've read through it. I'm looking at what I saw in my situation which is this...
1) Bought a tang with no ich, which developed ich most likely due to stress from being plucked from the ocean shipped and stuck in a 20 gallon tank.
2) Ich appeared and I dosed Copper Power based on recommendations from a friend who used it with great success always.
3) Copper Power gave me no success. (Which kind of proves that each situation and fish is different, just like in the ginger scenario).
4) I came onto this forum to get advice, which was to ditch the copper power and use Cupramine.
5) Was unable to get the Copper Power out of the water quickly via carbon or a 75% water, so in the mean time I decided to try out ginger.
6) Fed with ginger 3 times
7) Ich gone.

Now, I understand people are skeptical about treatments like this, but hey it worked for me on this fish. I am not going to take this fish and immediately put it in my display and consider it cured. It will now start Cupramine treatment and have it sit in there another month. But I have to admit the only thing that got the ich off the fish was feedings with ginger. It helped the fish's immune system and brought back all it's color, just like chicken soup would do if I had a cold. I monitored this fish for 3 weeks with copper in the water and with frequent water changes and it spent most of its time lying on the bottom of the tank or hiding. After it got the ginger in it everything changed. It's not a cure, but it's definitely a treatment for this particular situation. Not saying it will work for another fish or another reefer, but it worked here. Also, just as a general question...let's say I use the ginger and the ich completely goes away. If that fish remains in the QT for a full month without the ich returning, wouldn't it be considered that the fish is cured? The life cycle of ich says that if it doesn't find a fish host after multiplying, it dies. So if the ginger improves the immune system of the fish enough for it to fight off the ich and the ich therefore dies because of that, isn't that good enough to say that the ginger's ability to boost the fish's immune system cured it?

Now that we are past off of the bashing about it not being scientifically proven. The real story here is that there is an animal that was sick that is feeling and looking much better. Treatment will continue with copper as recommended by everyone and I will keep you posted. Hopefully I can get this guy into my display soon.

 

[Humblefish]

The only problem is you will never know if it was the ginger or copper that ultimately cured the fish.

But do please use copper before you place him in your DT. :thumb:

 

[Thraciandrummer]

Currently there is still .5 mg/l of copper power in the water. I can't get the rest of the copper power out of the water to put cupramine in and the dosage of cupramine is suggested to be .5 mg/l. Should I just dose the copper power to 2.5 ppm which is its suggested dosage or try to get the rest of the copper power out of the water so I can use the cupramine?

 

[4FordFamily]

USe cuprisorb, fresh carbon, and heavy water changes. It'll go away

 

[Humblefish]

USe cuprisorb, fresh carbon, and heavy water changes. It'll go away

+1 Poly filter works well too. Use it until it stays white.

 

[4FordFamily]

+1 Poly filter works well too. Use it until it stays white.

Great idea. Where does one acquire that?

 

[Humblefish]

Great idea. Where does one acquire that?

Aquarium Water Quality: Poly Filters Filter Media

It will turn blue so long as copper is present in the water. Once it stays white for, say, 24 hrs... you know the copper is gone.

 

[Humblefish]

Here's more info on the poly filter: Poly-Filter And Its Usefulness In The Marine Aquarium

 

[Thraciandrummer]

Thanks. Also an update on the blue tang. He is 100% spot free.

 

[Thraciandrummer]

Here's an update on my Tang situation. I used the Poly-Filter as suggested above to removed the Copper Power from the water completely. I then wanted to do a little experiment, so I left the fish in there with no copper and stopped feeding with Ginger to see if the Ich would return and it did not. So whether the ginger helped or the Copper Power was the cure, idk nor do I care. All I care about is that the fish is better. I went about a week with no copper and no ginger feedings and then I dosed Cupramine and have let it sit that way since then. I will leave them in there until they have been free of Ich for 1 month and then get them in my display.

 

[4FordFamily]

Here's an update on my Tang situation. I used the Poly-Filter as suggested above to removed the Copper Power from the water completely. I then wanted to do a little experiment, so I left the fish in there with no copper and stopped feeding with Ginger to see if the Ich would return and it did not. So whether the ginger helped or the Copper Power was the cure, idk nor do I care. All I care about is that the fish is better. I went about a week with no copper and no ginger feedings and then I dosed Cupramine and have let it sit that way since then. I will leave them in there until they have been free of Ich for 1 month and then get them in my display.

Good idea. And that's hardy an experiment

 

[Thraciandrummer]

Again, not looking to be a scientist here. I just wanted the fish to get better by any means necessary. What I found from this particular case is that the copper power seemed ineffective on the Ich, so I will not be using that again. The Ginger definitely helped the fish's immune system which in my case seemed to be what initially cleared him off Ich. After that the ich did not return when treatment of any kind was discontinued, and just to make sure I do everything right, I am using Cupramine solely for the remainder of the treatment before these guys get put in the display.