Is there anything I can buy to get rid of Ick on my saltwater fish?

Question

I know that there is an Ick Guard you can buy for freshwater fish but, Im not sure if they make anything for SaltWater. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

It is more difficult to treat marine ich because of the salt and any invertibrates there might be. Basically, you can just manipulate the natural environment a little. Set your heater to raise the temp to 82 degrees farenheit. Remove 50% of the water in your aquarium by doing a through bottom vacuming to remove whatever parasites may be in the trophont stage. Lower specific gravity to 1.017-1.018 as follows: replace half of the removed water with fresh saltwater using a good quality salt mix. Replace the other half of the syphoned water with freshwater-RO/DI water is best. When ich are no longer visible on the fish(within 24 hours), the treatment may be ended. If necessary, it is safe to continue the treament for up to 30 days. Set the thermostat back to normal temperature. Do a 50% water change,,,throughly vacuming the gravel again. This method is very succesful when treating ich. It also has other benefits like correcting poor water quality. This method can affect invertibrates, however, so you may wish to remove them to another tank if you have any. There is another product, called Ruby Reef Kick Ich which I have never used, but found doing some research, that says it does not contain copper or malachite green and does not affect the health and vigor of fish, corals, invertebrates or nitrifying bacteria. Trying this would be at your own discretion.

Answer 2

Here's a link to a website with info of diagnosis and treatment for marine fish diseases: http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=16&cat=1992&articleid=2420

As magicman said, the best treatment is copper, but if you have any other types of organisms other than fish (or if you plan to get any) you can't treat the fish in the tank. You will have to set up a separate hospital tank to treat them. This also doesn't take care of any of the parasite in the WATER! Here, you would ave to interrupr the entire life cycle by taking all your fish out of the tank and keeping them out for at least a month! This way, the ich infection dies when there are no fish to continue that portion of the life cycle.

ALSO: as to what Venice Girl suggested, this can be done if you have only fish - if you have inverts, many won't survive salinity below 1.023. The ich infection won't bother the inverts, so they can stay in the tank as long as all fish are out. Really, how you treat this depends on what you have in the tank!

Answer 3

no i think its confined to freshwater fish,unless its another type but heres some info.hope it helps...Ichthyophthirius multifiliis is a species of ciliate protozoan which parasitizes freshwater fish. It is probably the most common aquarium fish disease and there are few Aquarists that have not met it on one or more occasions[1]. "Ich" (the colloquially abbreviated form of the name) is the largest known parasitic protozoan found on fishes. Adult organisms are oval or round and measure 0.5 to 1.0 mm in size. The adult is uniformly ciliated and contains a horseshoe-shaped nucleus which can be seen in older individuals. The disease it causes is usually called ich or white spot, and becomes especially serious in enclosed areas, where it spreads quickly from one fish to another. Ich is the disease responsible for the most fatalities in freshwater aquarium fish and can cause notable damage to aquaculture. Marine ich is caused by a different ciliate, Cryptocaryon. After approximately one week of parasitism, mature trophozoites leave their host, settle to a substrate and secrete a cyst. The encysted cell, called a tomont, undergoes rapid division over approximately twenty-four hours to produce 600-1000 daughter cells called tomites. Once these reach maturity, they exit the cyst and develop into a theront stage, which is highly mobile. Theronts then infect new fish, digging their way into exposed parts, under the scales, or more commonly into its gill plate. The entire life-cycle takes about seven to ten days to complete

Answer 4

Yes, IF you have a fish only tank you can use copper sulfate but ONLY if you have a fish only tank. The copper WILL kill and inverts in the tank. If you have any intertebrates you will need to resort to natural methods. Google for saltwater ick treatment and you will find info on several ways to deal with it.

MM

Answer 5

YES, but do not put the treatment into the tank.. take the fish out and put it in a little jar.. put just about a drop of Rid-Ich in it.. (NOT TO MUCH) this medicine has a lot of chemicals in it, so thats why you have to put it in a jar... leave the fish in the jar for about 30 mins..

Answer 6

You cannot use copper sulfite in a salt tank. DON"T DO IT. They sell a product called KickIch (I have used kick ich and it works wonders just remember it is a 15 day treatment period) This is really the only thing you need. Any other ich medicines unless they state they are for salt water will not work and kill the rest of your tank in the process. KickIch will kill 3 different kinds of ich parasites.

Cryptocaryoniasis, White Spot Disease or Marine Ich is caused by an infestation of the ciliated protozoan Cryptocaryon irritans. Although Cryptocaryon becomes a parasitic organism at one stage in its life cycle like Oodinium and Brooklynella do, and it progesses less rapidly than these other ich diseases, in a closed aquarium system it can reach overwhelming and disasterous numbers just the same if it is not diagnosed and treated upon recognition.

Unlike Oodinium and Brooklynella that typically attack the gills first, which allows these ich diseases to advance into life-threatening levels quickly as they go unnoticed, Cryptocaryon usually appears at the onset as salt-sized white spots visible on the body and fins of a host fish, and when the organisms become parasitic, it is then that they move inwards to the gills. Because crypto is more easily recognized in its beginning stage, this makes it much easier to treat and cure before it gets out of control.

Aside from the appearance of the white spots, fish will scratch against objects in an attempt to dislodge the parasites, and rapid respiration develops as tomonts, mucus, and tissue debris clogs the gills. Fish become listless, refuse to eat, loss of color occurs in patches or blotches as the trophonts destroy the pigment cells, and secondary bacterial infections invade the lesions caused by the trophonts.

Although copper is very effective on Oodinium, and it works well to eliminate crypto organisms in their free-swimming tomite stage, it is not as effective on the Cryptocaryon trophonts that burrow deeply into the tissues of fish. A combination of freshwater and formalin treatments adminstered by means of dips, baths, and prolonged treatment over a period of time in a QT is recommended

Reinfection will occur no matter how effectively the fish have been treated if Cryptocaryon is not eradicated from the main aquarium, which can be accomplished by keeping the tank devoid of any fish for at least 4 weeks. For fish-only aquariums hyposalinity can be applied, and to speed up the life cycle of the organisms, elevate the tank temperature to 85 degrees for 10 days to 12 days. For treating reef tanks, FishVet No-Ich Marine, Ruby Reef Kick-Ich, and Chem-Marin Stop Parasites are Cryptocaryon specific remedies that are said to be "reef safe". Several days prior to returning fish to the main aquarium, clean all filtering equipment, change any filtering materials, and do a water change.

Remember to remove all filters media and turn off protein skimmers when treating for any types of Ich.

Although many over-the-counter remedies contain the general name Ich or Ick, carefully read the product information to be sure it is designed to specifically target and treat "Cryptocaryon"

Brooklynella hostilis - these protozoa reproduce asexually by means of simple binary fission through conjugation, which is why they are able to multiply so much more rapidly than Cryptocaryon (White Spot), and Oodinium (Velvet Ich), and why it can kill fish within a few days and even hours upon recognition

Most similar symptomatically to Oodinium, this too is a parasite that primarily attacks the gills first. At the onset fish may scrap up against objects, rapid respiration develops, and fish often gasp for air at the surface as the gills become clogged with mucus. Fish become lethargic, refuse to eat, and colors fade, but the most noticeable difference that sets Brooklynella apart from Oodinium is the heavy amount of slime that is produced. As the disease progresses a thick whitish mucus covers the body, usually starting at the head and spreading outward, skin lesions appear, and it is not uncommon for signs of secondary bacterial infections to arise.

Suggestions range from copper, malachite green and other remedies, with some recommended being used in conjunction with formaldehyde. However the general consensus is these types of medications are either largely ineffective or do not work at all, and that the best and most effective treatment for Brooklynella is formaldehyde alone. Typically a standard 37% formalin solution (shop & compare prices) is mixed with either fresh or saltwater in a separate treatment container, initially all fish are given a quick dip or a prolonged bath, followed by continued treatment and care in a QT. Of course the longer fish are exposed to the formalin treatment, the more effective it will be at eliminating this "disease". Whether to administer a dip or a bath to start with is something you will have to determine yourself, but there's a very simple way to do this.

Since these are Free swimming parasites which are in watersources, come attached to our fish etc. The only way to ensure NO ICH is to get a UV Sterilizer and addit to the tank. The UV Sterilizer kills the free swimming forms of various ich and other parasites.

Hope this helps

Answer 7

Listen to williams, DO NOT PUT ANY CHEMICALS INTO YOUR DISPLAY TANK.