# ich?



## hyphen (Apr 4, 2004)

i was absolutely PISSED when i noticed that my coral beauty had what seemed to look like ich on his fins and body. not much, just a few flecks of white dots. not only that, but my clown had them too!! i know that treating ich is a royal pain and i don't have a hospital tank (yet) and i was just about to pull my hair out.

anyway, i went to sleep and woke up the next day to find that the coral beauty had less spots. after i came home from school it was practically gone. the clown was down to only one or two on his fins. today none of the fish are showing signs of ich.

it's been a day and i haven't seen any signs. should i still get a hospital tank going?


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## rchan11 (May 6, 2004)

I thought ick can't live in salt water.


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## evo8ny (Jun 11, 2005)

Is the Ich in saltwater the same as in freshwater? If it is wouldnt the salt in the water kill it off?


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## evo8ny (Jun 11, 2005)

rchan11 said:


> I thought ick can't live in salt water.
> [snapback]1117810[/snapback]​


beat me to it.


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## Blitz023 (Feb 19, 2004)

ich is caused mainly by stress, give it some time it should be gone without treatment.


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## hyphen (Apr 4, 2004)

rchan11 said:


> I thought ick can't live in salt water.
> [snapback]1117810[/snapback]​





evo8ny said:


> Is the Ich in saltwater the same as in freshwater? If it is wouldnt the salt in the water kill it off?
> [snapback]1117811[/snapback]​


saltwater ich is a bit different from freshwater ich. the saltwater ich is a parasitic protozoan.


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## Guest (Jul 19, 2005)

hyphen said:


> rchan11 said:
> 
> 
> > I thought ick can't live in salt water.
> ...


Its funny how you kill saltwater ich with a freshwater dip, and kill freshwater ich by adding salt.

Anyways, a 10g with a heater, some PVC, and an AC500 goes a long way.

Make it bare, then add some LR rubble to AC500. Everytime you feed your base tank, add a pinch of food to the AC500.

--Dan


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## Raptor (Jan 3, 2003)

Copper and hyposalinity are a good way to cure ich,(But copper cant be used with liverock because it will stay in it forever, and it will kill everything you want in a reef) and i believe good waterconditions and a healthy diet is the best cure and its safer to do. I am one of those believers that ick is in the water all the time. A fish will get it if it's stressed, or health declines. 
FW dips wont work on them because they are nestled under the fish's slime coat. I have eliminated it on new fish (In a quarinteen tank)with pristine water, and garlic extreme soaked in their food.


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## hyphen (Apr 4, 2004)

i thought ich was in the water all the time as well, but theres one thing: ich is not immortal. they will live through their life cycle and if they have no host to breed on, they will eventually have no predecessors. meaning that the population will eventually die out. but, i do agree that infection is in conjunction with poor water quality.

just an update, all visible signs of ich are gone. no spots on any fish.


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## Genin (Feb 4, 2003)

given the very fast duration of your ich outbreak, may I just say this one thing that I first got confused with when I first started out. with corals in a tank and an anemone, sometimes a certain amount of slime can get attached to a fish, especially a hosting clown. little pieces of sand and debris can attach themselves to the fish then and make it appear to have ich which can then magically disappear overnight because it was rubbed off or pushed off by the fish's swimming. Just food for thought. I had that same type of scare once and that was my conclusion.


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## hyphen (Apr 4, 2004)

alrighty, my fish definitely have ich. i can see it increasing in numbers on my clown. not so much on my damsel, but i do see it.

i'm ready to set up a hospital tank. question is, how do i do the hyposalinity? should i use established tankwater then slowly remove water and replace with fresh? or could i just put the fish in a bucket with tank water and drip acclimate really slowly to 1.009?

should i use some liverock rubble? i have TONS of it. how frequent should the water changes be, if i need to change water at all.


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## Genin (Feb 4, 2003)

Hyposalinity Treatment

follow that link hyphen and all will be know it will (that was my yoda impression)


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## hyphen (Apr 4, 2004)

sweet. wish me luck


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## Pmemo (Apr 5, 2004)

one of my blue tang brought ich when I had salt water fish tank with live rock. and killed half of my fishes in the tank. In my experience, clowns and damsels are strong enough to get over the ich. you will get them back healthy. Don worry too much.
Good luck!


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## Pmemo (Apr 5, 2004)

Oh, one more, I set up hospital tank and used copper to cure ich. It worked better and faster than hyposalinity treatment.


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## Genin (Feb 4, 2003)

good luck hyphen, keep us updated.... either here or via PM.


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## hyphen (Apr 4, 2004)

although i'd like a quick treatment, it wouldn't be of much use because it's already in my tank. so, i'd need to quarantine the tank anyway. i'll keep everyone updated on the progress.


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