angel
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My Husband's A Birdbrain
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Post by angel on Jun 9, 2011 11:15:11 GMT -6
My 3,800th post is a happy one! I can now say from experience, that saltwater ich can be eradicated from your tank for good! But it does take removing the fish, treating them, and letting the tank go fishless for 6 weeks. More is recommended, but all my fish are now back in the tank--including the tang--with NO ich present. When I isolated and treated the tang the first time it was for 2 weeks, put it back in and it had ich within 2 hours. I put the tang back in this time after Mark left and still now not a spot on it. Or any of the fish I put back in the 2 weeks prior. So if you decide to try saltwater, realize a few things to help you along. Ich is a high probability. It's not the same ich as freshwater ich. It cannot be removed through higher temps and higher salt--in fact, lower salt can do it, but will kill your inverts. You cannot treat a tank with inverts in it, fish have to be removed. Copper or hyposalinity for the fish and the display tank goes fishless(fallow) for 6 long weeks, and the ich starves and dies off. No host means no ich. Ich can be carried by inverts even though they don't get ich so during the fishless cycle, add no new inverts. It's brutal waiting this long, but it pays OFF!!!!!!!!! Finally, I learned something I can share.
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Post by ree123 on Jun 9, 2011 11:45:32 GMT -6
Wow ! 3,800 ! You are an inspiration for all of us to speak up !
Let's all use Angel/Tina as our mentor and post more often.
As I have said before, the more the merrier !
Reading visitors, speak up !!! We need ya !
Rick
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Post by Jess Puff on Jun 9, 2011 11:54:06 GMT -6
3,800! Whoa! That's awesome! It's so great to have someone so involved... I agree with Rick... we need more to speak up like Tina.
Thanks for sharing about the ich problem with saltwater. I won't dare mess with saltwater until I can get the freshwater stuff figured out... HAHA baby steps.
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allierw
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Post by allierw on Jun 9, 2011 19:26:35 GMT -6
Man, that is pretty intensive. I have freshwater ich but while I was researching solutions (I was concerned about the salt harming my snails, but it has not) I saw a couple of "reef safe" remedies that are supposed to be safe for inverts. I wonder if those work?
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angel
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My Husband's A Birdbrain
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Post by angel on Jun 9, 2011 19:41:21 GMT -6
They're snake oil. There are some that don't really work and others that do harm the inverts. It's a hard thing to deal with because it has to be done the right way but it's worth it.
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Post by b0caj1985 on Jun 10, 2011 3:14:40 GMT -6
;D
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Post by glenoweth on Jun 15, 2011 10:24:02 GMT -6
Man, that is pretty intensive. I have freshwater ich but while I was researching solutions (I was concerned about the salt harming my snails, but it has not) I saw a couple of "reef safe" remedies that are supposed to be safe for inverts. I wonder if those work? For Freshwater Ich the best thing i have found that works is to first off feed you fish good fish food that helps provent fish from getting ich by helping them build up more of a slime coat witch will not allow ich to stick to them as easy... But if you do get ICh just crank that heat up to about 80F (or 83 if your fish can take it) for about a week. this will kill the ich in the full tank ,and you dont have to ever move the fish out of the tank. i stay away from chem's for Ich because IMO they are a waiste of money. NOTE*This is not the case for salt water because they need cold water. FISH FOOD I USE... the best ever read up on it at thier site! I use nlsfishfood.com/ New Life Spectrum fish food. Yes you pay alot more for it ,but it is worth it in the end IMO. i have noticed my fish showing FAR MORE COLOR than they did when i was not using it. it took about 2 month for me to notice a huge differance in the adult fish (pellet size .50-1.0). and for my fry i use the Grow formula i get it in a really small pellet like .35 and they will not touch any other food, i dont even give them brian shrim any more. |
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angel
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My Husband's A Birdbrain
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Post by angel on Jun 15, 2011 11:21:21 GMT -6
Those are good tips. But you'll probably want to post that in freshwater diseases section, as freshwater ich and saltwater ich are two different diseases, treated two different ways. The problem with putting it here, is very few of our members read the saltwater section being that they have no interest in doing it. So they would miss your great ideas.
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angel
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My Husband's A Birdbrain
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Post by angel on Jun 15, 2011 11:25:23 GMT -6
For anyone trying saltwater fish, and getting ich, please do not do the same treatment as freshwater ich. Saltwater tropical fish like water around 80F and will not thrive in water that drops much below that, but the snails and other inverts get more uncomfortable in higher temperatures and can die. Also, in higher temperatures of any water you need to add more oxygen to the water column, as higher temps reduce the oxygen and make it harder for the fish to "breathe."
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Post by glenoweth on Jun 16, 2011 7:58:35 GMT -6
For anyone trying saltwater fish, and getting ich, please do not do the same treatment as freshwater ich. Saltwater tropical fish like water around 80F and will not thrive in water that drops much below that, but the snails and other inverts get more uncomfortable in higher temperatures and can die. Also, in higher temperatures of any water you need to add more oxygen to the water column, as higher temps reduce the oxygen and make it harder for the fish to "breathe." True angel, I saw both topics were brought up in the page so i just added some info on it. I did say not to use this with saltwater treatment because they are coldwater fish. I have just lost way more fish treating them with meds than doing it natrualy with heat ,and food. Yes you do need to have more air flowing in the tank, what i do is add a opened peace of tube to my power heads so they are adding air to the tank through the power head jets. The food i wrote about above though will help provent ICH altogether because of the extra slime coat on the fish so even if u get ich it will not stick to you fish and die off. its really neet I see it like puting a flea gaurd on your dogs. I am sure food with garlic added will help saltwater fish also? not sure never had saltwater tanks. |
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angel
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My Husband's A Birdbrain
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Post by angel on Jun 16, 2011 11:37:34 GMT -6
Yes it is said that garlic will help increase immunity and the slime coat. It won't stop an infestation though--I tried garlic. It doesn't always work. There's another product to put on the food that also is used to boost immunity--selcon. It's effective, but again with saltwater the only sure way to get rid of ich is to let the tank go fishless. The ich cysts can get in the gills and make us think they're gone(at least with salt) but they aren't. The hardest thing to comprehend is why they called both diseases ich. They're two different things that look the same. Freshwater ich is Ichthyophthirius multifiliis while marine ich is Cryptocaryon irritans. It only causes confusion when it comes time to treat. I'd still suggest moving your solutions to the disease section so the freshwater readers will see them. VERY few hobbyists come to this board. They don't even look often at videos of saltwater, as you can see! It's something worth seeing--especially the food suggestion. In treating parasites good quality food with immune boosters is sometimes overlooked.
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Post by glenoweth on Jun 16, 2011 13:20:56 GMT -6
Kool Angel I will do a full write up on it in the fresh water section. i am really happy to hear you are Ich free as of now. I remember the pic you 1st posted with the fish you thought had it. Did you figure our what fish started the ich ? I guess with saltwater it can be carried in more things than just the fish. When i got the Ich in my tank it was from some Plecos i bought at petco.... even though i knew better!
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angel
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My Husband's A Birdbrain
Posts: 40
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Post by angel on Jun 16, 2011 16:23:33 GMT -6
It was the hippo blue tang. They're ich magnets. It was fine until I put in a coral beauty angel. It stressed out and the ich came out. Funny thing--now they're the best of buddies.
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angel
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My Husband's A Birdbrain
Posts: 40
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Post by angel on Jun 16, 2011 16:24:16 GMT -6
The only way to not impulse buy is to stay out of the stores. That's not gonna happen! We've all made those kind of purchases I think.  |
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Post by glenoweth on Jun 20, 2011 9:03:05 GMT -6
True =)
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