cocoa_pleco
10-31-2007, 06:00 AM
I knew sooner or later my tang was going to get the disease because of the move, and the treatment went awesome.
first of all, recognize the disease. it will look like a punch of black pinholes on the fish. if the holes are indented its a different disease and way worse.
how to treat it (do it RIGHT away before the ick gets to the adult stage)
1. Grab a bucket, and fill it with conditioned FW, and same temp. as your main tank
2. Net the sick saltwater fish
3. a) place him gently in the FW bath, and let him sit there for 3-5 minutes. if hes thrashing, just let him calm down. do not remove him, he will be fine.
b) if youre not a wussy, watch the fish in the bath. you will see the ick literally fall off of the fish and drop to the bottom.
4. after the bath, gently remove the fish and place him in the main saltwater tank
the fish may look mad, but it was for the better. when i treated my tang, he gently cruised in the bucket and took it well. the ick all fell, and he was fine with the bath. after 5 minutes, he went back to the 55g, and no more ick. he had a bit of gill pumping, but it went away in a minute. after he acted like his own self.
WORST CASE SCENARIO-
you never noticed it or knew what it was, and it got to a adult stage. and theres little ick worms in your substrate. what do you do?
you can-
a) Rehome all of the fish for a month, and let the ick die from no host.
or
b) if theres a few adults, add melafix to get rid of them, or a cleaner shrimp
or
c) if youve got a moderate to heavy infestation, buy a U.V sterilizer
How to prevent it in the first place?
the way i prevent it is i mix some garlic juice into my tangs feed once a week. the garlic acts as a immune system booster and fights off the ick. ive seen my goby snatch some garlic and find it tasty too. ive also fed finely diced garlic and it worked fine.
first of all, recognize the disease. it will look like a punch of black pinholes on the fish. if the holes are indented its a different disease and way worse.
how to treat it (do it RIGHT away before the ick gets to the adult stage)
1. Grab a bucket, and fill it with conditioned FW, and same temp. as your main tank
2. Net the sick saltwater fish
3. a) place him gently in the FW bath, and let him sit there for 3-5 minutes. if hes thrashing, just let him calm down. do not remove him, he will be fine.
b) if youre not a wussy, watch the fish in the bath. you will see the ick literally fall off of the fish and drop to the bottom.
4. after the bath, gently remove the fish and place him in the main saltwater tank
the fish may look mad, but it was for the better. when i treated my tang, he gently cruised in the bucket and took it well. the ick all fell, and he was fine with the bath. after 5 minutes, he went back to the 55g, and no more ick. he had a bit of gill pumping, but it went away in a minute. after he acted like his own self.
WORST CASE SCENARIO-
you never noticed it or knew what it was, and it got to a adult stage. and theres little ick worms in your substrate. what do you do?
you can-
a) Rehome all of the fish for a month, and let the ick die from no host.
or
b) if theres a few adults, add melafix to get rid of them, or a cleaner shrimp
or
c) if youve got a moderate to heavy infestation, buy a U.V sterilizer
How to prevent it in the first place?
the way i prevent it is i mix some garlic juice into my tangs feed once a week. the garlic acts as a immune system booster and fights off the ick. ive seen my goby snatch some garlic and find it tasty too. ive also fed finely diced garlic and it worked fine.