Help with Ick

[harleyrider]

Wanting opinions on curing possible Ick. Thanks

[larrynews]

i used no ick about 4 years ago and it worked for me but other have said they dont like it, you have a reef right??? no ick is reef safe, at least i was  you should make sure if you go that route

[METZCOOL]

Here is a reply Joel left on earlier post:

Products such as no ich , kick ich, rid ick and clones rarely work well (if at all) and seem to be very slow about decreasing parasite populations. I doubt the use of this product will cure what ever parasite your dealing with before the parasite kills the rest of your fish.

The use of garlic extract or vitamin supplements soaked into your fish food is not a bad idea. This practice helps the fishes natural defense / immune system deal with the parasites better. This method can work well in the beginning stages of  parasite out brakes, the fishes boosted immune system reduces the parasites ability to successfully prey on the fish. As a result, the parasite is unsuccessful at completing it's life cycle and doesn't reproduce into an enormous population. Again, I think it is a good idea to soak your foods in garlic / vitamin supplements to help strengthen your fish but at this stage, I don't think this is going to be the solution. It sounds as if the parasite population has grown quite large and may need some intervention.

Definitely, setting up a stable quarantine system would be the best option but I stress the the term, stable. A quarantine system is not all that different from any other aquarium that if not fully established, it will quickly develop ammonia & nitrites.

Removing your fish from the aquarium although not the most conveinent option, is probibly the best one. Removing the fish from an environment with an active parasite alone can cure them, sometimes with out the use of any medications. Additionally, removing the fish from the aquarium removes the host that the parasite was thriving off of, this can "cure / rid" the aquarium of the active parasite population.

Read thru this link about parasite treatment;   http://www.ohioreef.com/index.php?topic=1761.0

Another option could be large scale water changes & simultaneously vacuuming your substrate, this can work wonders on parasite out brakes. This method can decrease their population significantly and have an improvement on the overall environment. This is something that I would do repeatedly, daily if you have the time and water mixed up, a 25% at a time over several days is not out of the question. If you currently do not have corals, snails, shrimp, etc. lowering your specific gravity down to 1.010 or slightly lower over a period of a few days can work also  to help at decreasing the parasites ability to thrive. This lowering of the specific gravity can be done co-currently with performing the water changes. (remove water while vacuuming the substrate and replace with water with a lower S.G.) Not knowing what all is in your aquarium and what your future plans are for this tank, I don't know if lowering your S.G. is an option though. If you have inverts or your planning for this aquarium to be a "reef" type this is not something that I would do. If it's just a FOWLR aquarium, it may be ok.

Hope this info helps and good luck.

Joel