Ich Treatment

Ariana R.

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I started treating my fish over a week ago with ich-x. Once a day and I do a 20% water change prior to re-dosing the tank as directed. So far no casualties! However when I first noticed the ich, only 2-3 fish had one to two spots of ich. But now it seems like they have it everywhere. Prior to a few days ago, my clowns hadn’t had any areas and now their tails and filled with it, and my fire fish is covered in cysts. Should I attempt to do a different treatment. Ich-x was recommended by my lfs so I had gone with that one. I currently have them in a quarantine tank since my main tank is a reef tank. I was planning on leaving the main tank fishless for the next 76 days since that’s the recommendation since there’s no way of truly treating a reef tank. Any help would be great! https://share.icloud.com/photos/04mZ-49b-JkXBkS5CsPY_fJWw
 

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I’m curious to see what people here think of that treatment product (malachite green). I’ve never used it myself so I can’t help here.
My preference for ich is a copper product because you can easily test copper levels with a Hanma checker so you always know what dose you’re really using on the tank.
 
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Ariana R.

Ariana R.

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I’m curious to see what people here think of that treatment product (malachite green). I’ve never used it myself so I can’t help here.
My preference for ich is a copper product because you can easily test copper levels with a Hanma checker so you always know what dose you’re really using on the tank.
Do you have any other recommendations for testing kits? Do you know is seachem is good as well?
 

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I haven't used ich x but typically ich medicines work in the stage right before the fish get infected rather than while the fish is infected.

If you use copper, go with copper power.


Also you only really need to do 45 days plus 2 weeks observation (or two weeks prazi if it's a general qt) rather than 76 days. Jay Hemdal the disease expert here uses that.
 

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For Ich I use Seachem Cupramine, alot of folks talk about copper powder but if all your LFS has is cupramine it's perfectly fine. I can't read the Seachem copper test though and use the Hanna copper checker to get and maintain correct levels. Normal treatment for all my inbound fish now is 30 days cupramine, 14 days Seachem metroplex, and then 2 treatments of prazipro followed by 2 weeks of observation.

Did the polyplab medic before with no luck. Never used ich-x.
 

Tft12

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Do you have any other recommendations for testing kits? Do you know is seachem is good as well?
That’s the only test kit for copper that I like using. I hate estimating shades of color - I never feel very confident with the colors on the other copper test kits.
 
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Ariana R.

Ariana R.

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Thanks for the info, I’ll go check out the stores tomorrow and see what I can find. I appreciate it!
 

Tft12

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This is a great info source for using copper to treat common parasites. It’s from a member here.
 

Anthony Scholfield

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I started treating my fish over a week ago with ich-x. Once a day and I do a 20% water change prior to re-dosing the tank as directed. So far no casualties! However when I first noticed the ich, only 2-3 fish had one to two spots of ich. But now it seems like they have it everywhere. Prior to a few days ago, my clowns hadn’t had any areas and now their tails and filled with it, and my fire fish is covered in cysts. Should I attempt to do a different treatment. Ich-x was recommended by my lfs so I had gone with that one. I currently have them in a quarantine tank since my main tank is a reef tank. I was planning on leaving the main tank fishless for the next 76 days since that’s the recommendation since there’s no way of truly treating a reef tank. Any help would be great! https://share.icloud.com/photos/04mZ-49b-JkXBkS5CsPY_fJWw

I would recommend doing the Tank Transfer Method on the infected fish. I believe it works the best and no testing is required. It is what i have used in the past for infected fish. It always works as long as done correctly. Also, I know there is some info out there about going fallow for less than the 76days which may work fine but its my opinion if you are going to go through the trouble of eradicating ICH from the display stick with the 76days. Why gamble when you’ve put the work in already. Any questions feel free to ask.....Ive gone through this on 2 different systems and have a lil experience.
 

Jay Hemdal

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I started treating my fish over a week ago with ich-x. Once a day and I do a 20% water change prior to re-dosing the tank as directed. So far no casualties! However when I first noticed the ich, only 2-3 fish had one to two spots of ich. But now it seems like they have it everywhere. Prior to a few days ago, my clowns hadn’t had any areas and now their tails and filled with it, and my fire fish is covered in cysts. Should I attempt to do a different treatment. Ich-x was recommended by my lfs so I had gone with that one. I currently have them in a quarantine tank since my main tank is a reef tank. I was planning on leaving the main tank fishless for the next 76 days since that’s the recommendation since there’s no way of truly treating a reef tank. Any help would be great! https://share.icloud.com/photos/04mZ-49b-JkXBkS5CsPY_fJWw
Ich-X is malachite green and formalin. It works well for freshwater ich. I have never gotten that combination of drugs to work with marine fish though - I don't know why. Coppersafe and a good test kit is the way to go for the fish and setup that you have. What you should do is siphon the bottom of the tank (to remove as many resting tomonts as possible) changing part of the water. Then, calculate the volume of the tank (water depth x width x length in inches and divide by 231). Then, figure out half the copper dose and add it. A few hours later, test the water and adjust the amount of copper to reach a full dose, which is 2.5 ppm for copper safe.

Jay
 

Val1064

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Jay, I started ich-x yesterday and all my fish broke out with more spots overnight. Would running carbon to remove the medicine and doing a 50% water change, removing the carbon and starting copper-aid or cupramine work? I have these two coppers on hand. I know I would have to ramp the copper up slowly. Which would you recommend?
 

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