Using PolypLabs Medic to Treat Ich: Write up and Results

[GoodKat]

Hi Everyone,

Since PolypLabs Reef Medic is a relatively new medication, I thought I'd do an indepth review of the product for anyone considering using it to treat Ich. If you have any questions (or advice) leave a comment and I will provide an update after the 10 day treatment period.

I only have a few very hardy soft-corals, so I'll focus my review/results on whether the Medic is 1) safe for inverts and 2) effect at curing signs of ich and ich irritation.

As most of us have learned, there are very few intank "reefsafe" or "invertsafe" treatments for Ich. By far the most effective treatment is holding cooper at therapeutic levels in a hospital tank for several days. Unfortunately, I recently moved to NYC and had to downsize my operation to a 20 gallon AIO tank, so I no longer have time or space to setup to setup a hospital tank.

After picking a neon goby (Elacatinus) from an LFS, I experienced an ich outbreak and I've been looking for the easiest treatment to manage the ich. Ich management is different than eradication and there are already threads on this if you are curious.

Treatment Regiment

Healthy food is key during anytreatment to boost the fishes immune systems and keep them eating a varied diet. I'll be feeding seaweed soaked in Selcon and vitachem, and Hichari frozen Mysis, and Cyclopsis, and gut loaded Brine Shrimp.

Equpiment: Running a 10 Watt UV system
(not sure if it will work or have any effect). (I might rethink this as I go.)

Medication Dosage:
I dose 1 scoop of Medic twice a day. 10am / 10pm

This is a relatively high dose for the size of my tank. The instructions read:
1 scoop twice daily per-50 gallons (minor ich) ich or 3 scoops for (severe ich).

I'll post a picture of the full claims and instructions but basically, PolypLabs Medic is a "peroxide salt" that targets marine ich when it is in the free floating stage of its life cycle (theronts). Therefore, there is a 10-20 day medication period.

The medical comes in tiny white droplets that look much like sodium peroxide, however without the yellow coloring.
To my knowledge, peroxide will react with UV light, and since they are peroxide salts are oxidizing agents they may be effected by Ozone systems.

I'd love for someone with more chemical knowledge to make a guess on why peroxide salts would or would not be effective on ich. Ill monitor PH and alkalinity over the treatment period and post results for those interested.

My Stock List:
Helfrichi Fire Fish - few signs of ich
2 Clown Fish - no signs of ich
Midas Blenny - medium signs of ich
Neon Goby - heavy signs of ich
(It's probably in their gills as well)

Invets:
Sand Star
Various hermits
Snails
Urchins
Blood shrimp

Coral:
Kenya Tree
Green Star Polyp
Xenia
ToadStool

Note: This treatment might not work for fish that are more prone to ich (like some tangs). For these, eradication might be the preferred option. See cooper treatment and Tank Transfer Method threads.

Thanks for coming to my TedTalk and Happy Reefing.

 

[reefz]

That stuff is useless. Tried it several times and didn’t help at all. It’s more of a water conditioner then a medication IMO. Maybe you’ll have different results, good luck

 

[flashsmith]

I was successful beating ich back just adding selcon in with my feedings. Could have been a fluke but I had 3 cycles and each time it was less and less. I also use UV too. I'm speculating that the added supplement strengthened their systems to help fight it off maybe?

 

[reefz]

I was successful beating ich back just adding selcon in with my feedings. Could have been a fluke but I had 3 cycles and each time it was less and less. I also use UV too. I'm speculating that the added supplement strengthened their systems to help fight it off maybe?

Me too, I beat it with a similar brand Vitachem. I also used UV too.

 

[TheDragonsReef]

Good luck, didn't work for me. It only crashed my tank. It killed all my bristle worms and micro fauna in a 15 yr old system. I'm talking thousands if not 10s of thousands of worms. It set the whole ecosystem out of whack and had massive nutrient spikes that killed quite a few coral

 

[GoodKat]

That stuff is useless. Tried it several times and didn’t help at all. It’s more of a water conditioner then a medication IMO. Maybe you’ll have different results, good luck

In fairness PolypLabs do say it's a water conditioner, but I'm unclear on what that classification means. I'm hoping by keeping high levels of the Medic, that it will create water conditions that kill free floating ich? I have seen a few negative reviews but PolypLabs normally backs their products with considerable research. An intank, reefsafe, ich treatment is the "Holy Grail" of fish medicine tho, so I also harbor some skepticism.

A true test would probably evolve isolating the UV and feeding normal foods (without selcon/vitachem). But if what I'm doing works I'd love to be able to give people some hope. Nothing sucks more than having an established reef and seeing those little white specs show up.

 

[GoodKat]

Good luck, didn't work for me. It only crashed my tank. It killed all my bristle worms and micro fauna in a 15 yr old system. I'm talking thousands if not 10s of thousands of worms. It set the whole ecosystem out of whack and had massive nutrient spikes that killed quite a few coral

Good to know! I'll keep an eye on nutrients as well. Since the system is only 20 gallons, water changes are a breeze. I don't have any bristle worms so I can't speak to that.

 

[GoodKat]

Me too, I beat it with a similar brand Vitachem. I also used UV too.

What Watt was your UV and system size?

I'm running a 10 Watt on a 20 gallon system on the lowest flow possible. Maybe 30gallons per hour?

 

[clhardy5]

Any updates on the progress?

 

[01xp]

I tried it didn't work. Now I've list to much livestock and calling it quits

 

[SlugSnorter]

Hi Everyone,

Since PolypLabs Reef Medic is a relatively new medication, I thought I'd do an indepth review of the product for anyone considering using it to treat Ich. If you have any questions (or advice) leave a comment and I will provide an update after the 10 day treatment period.

I only have a few very hardy soft-corals, so I'll focus my review/results on whether the Medic is 1) safe for inverts and 2) effect at curing signs of ich and ich irritation.

As most of us have learned, there are very few intank "reefsafe" or "invertsafe" treatments for Ich. By far the most effective treatment is holding cooper at therapeutic levels in a hospital tank for several days. Unfortunately, I recently moved to NYC and had to downsize my operation to a 20 gallon AIO tank, so I no longer have time or space to setup to setup a hospital tank.

After picking a neon goby (Elacatinus) from an LFS, I experienced an ich outbreak and I've been looking for the easiest treatment to manage the ich. Ich management is different than eradication and there are already threads on this if you are curious.

Treatment Regiment

Healthy food is key during anytreatment to boost the fishes immune systems and keep them eating a varied diet. I'll be feeding seaweed soaked in Selcon and vitachem, and Hichari frozen Mysis, and Cyclopsis, and gut loaded Brine Shrimp.

Equpiment: Running a 10 Watt UV system
(not sure if it will work or have any effect). (I might rethink this as I go.)

Medication Dosage:
I dose 1 scoop of Medic twice a day. 10am / 10pm

This is a relatively high dose for the size of my tank. The instructions read:
1 scoop twice daily per-50 gallons (minor ich) ich or 3 scoops for (severe ich).

I'll post a picture of the full claims and instructions but basically, PolypLabs Medic is a "peroxide salt" that targets marine ich when it is in the free floating stage of its life cycle (theronts). Therefore, there is a 10-20 day medication period.

The medical comes in tiny white droplets that look much like sodium peroxide, however without the yellow coloring.
To my knowledge, peroxide will react with UV light, and since they are peroxide salts are oxidizing agents they may be effected by Ozone systems.

I'd love for someone with more chemical knowledge to make a guess on why peroxide salts would or would not be effective on ich. Ill monitor PH and alkalinity over the treatment period and post results for those interested.

My Stock List:
Helfrichi Fire Fish - few signs of ich
2 Clown Fish - no signs of ich
Midas Blenny - medium signs of ich
Neon Goby - heavy signs of ich
(It's probably in their gills as well)

Invets:
Sand Star
Various hermits
Snails
Urchins
Blood shrimp

Coral:
Kenya Tree
Green Star Polyp
Xenia
ToadStool

Note: This treatment might not work for fish that are more prone to ich (like some tangs). For these, eradication might be the preferred option. See cooper treatment and Tank Transfer Method threads.

Thanks for coming to my TedTalk and Happy Reefing.

The way these meds (at least kick ich) works its that they bind ich in the water column, they typically don't treat the fish directly, which is why I usually say to use in tandem with Metro + Focus for reef safe treaments

 

[Saltees]

I ran the full course (3 weeks) of POLYLAB MEDIC in the maximum strength at the first sign of ICK on my Tangs. ICK still there but it RTN 80% of my SPS. Immediately thereafter, I tried OCRALAB RESQ (another peroxide salt) for another 3 weeks in maximum dose too. It didn’t rid the ICK but lessen the spots, but my LPS were showing signs of distress. All these while, I had my DELTEC (80W) UV switched off.

Now that I’m done with peroxide salts, I have my UV backed on “parasite killing” flow of 1500LPH (3X turnover per hour on my 500L/120G tank) 24/7. I’m see still the random spots here and there on my tangs but at least my corals are happy.

I’m managing ICK on my fishes with Dr G’s “Chloroquine Phosphate” feed for the past 3 weeks, now onto his “Praziquantel” feed. So far I’m seeing better result than the peroxide salts. Fishes and corals seem to enjoy this course of action.

In a month or two once my corals and fishes are fatten up, I will try give @Humblefish H2O2 dosing a go in the quest once again to eradicate ICK.

 

[clhardy5]

I ran the full course (3 weeks) of POLYLAB MEDIC in the maximum strength at the first sign of ICK on my Tangs. ICK still there but it RTN 80% of my SPS. Immediately thereafter, I tried OCRALAB RESQ (another peroxide salt) for another 3 weeks in maximum dose too. It didn’t rid the ICK but lessen the spots, but my LPS were showing signs of distress. All these while, I had my DELTEC (80W) UV switched off.

Now that I’m done with peroxide salts, I have my UV backed on “parasite killing” flow of 1500LPH (3X turnover per hour on my 500L/120G tank) 24/7. I’m see still the random spots here and there on my tangs but at least my corals are happy.

I’m managing ICK on my fishes with Dr G’s “Chloroquine Phosphate” feed for the past 3 weeks, now onto his “Praziquantel” feed. So far I’m seeing better result than the peroxide salts. Fishes and corals seem to enjoy this course of action.

In a month or two once my corals and fishes are fatten up, I will try give @Humblefish H2O2 dosing a go in the quest once again to eradicate ICK.

Thanks for sharing! I just started @Humblefish H202 dosing for a light ick outbreak. I did try Polyplab medic first - and didn't really see any change. Ich didn't get worse, but also didn't get better. So far with H2O2 dosing - only about 5 days in - and all fish and corals are doing fine. I'm running a UV along with it as it was recommended and is supposed to help as well. H2O2 Dosing for parasites from Humble Fish Site

 

[BoneDoc]

The peroxide method seem more promising.