The Puffer Forum

I have a 55 gallon tank with ick really badly. All of my fish have it and its pretty bad. Could someone PLEASE give me instructions on what to do to get rid of it. Its a 55 gallon with fish and live rock. about 55 lbs of live rock. It has a lionfish, a yellow tang, a trigger, and two damsels. PLEASE HELP! THANKS!!!

You're going to have to remove all of your fish to a Qt tank, drop the SG to ~1.017, and let your show tank run fishless for 6 weeks. You are also horrendously overstocked, which is not going to help your situation. What kind of lion and trigger? The yellow tang has to go, unless you are getting 100+gallon tank, as does the lion (depending on species) and trigger.

Lisa Are freshwater dips in order for the fish ?

Maybe, depending on the level of infestation. A dip on the way into QT perhaps.

Thanks lisa.

From my own experience, the main times ick rears its head is when a fish is stressed. the parasites are always in the water but when stressed it lowers their ability to fight. when it does go away its almost a assured that it will come back unless you lower the stocking level.

I do not believe the parasites are always in the water.

I agree, PP.
Vast, VAST majority of times, yes, but certainly not all.

Thanks for calling me on that one PP. you caught me surrender smackbum , i did overstate it a bit. Sorry i just always try to take the safest approach when it comes to fish.

Think about it fish are in a great medium (water) for bacterial and parasitic attacks. If its in the water they basically have no way of avoiding it. Though their defenses might not be super advanced they are specialized to prevent illness (they don't do a super job of fighting illness.) Therefore optimum conditions,feeding , stocking ( that includes amount of fish, type of tank, types of fish) water quality, (water changes, filtration, all types) and tank environment ( plants hiding spots, gravel) are a must.

i think everything i said all of you already know.

its just in my opinion you can never overstress these points and i think this post is a reminder of that.

The main tank needs to be fallow (fishless) for at least 6 weeks. Leave the salinity in the main tank at current level. The parasites will die off in the main tank without a food source (fish). As far as treating the fish: A freshwater dip with methylene blue for 15 minutes before placing in hospital tank will dislodge some parasites but not all. In the hospital tank (bare bottom - no live rock but non porous decorations for hiding) you can treat with hyposalinity (SG 1.009 - 1.010) for 4 weeks. Really need a refractometer for this treatment to work. Top off for evaporation is a must!. If you don't use hyposalinity, then copper treatment for at least 2 weeks. I prefer cupramine. Must follow directions and use proper test kit. Must monitor water parameters daily no matter what treatment you use as pH can drop with either as well as other parameters can rise (ammonia, nitrite, etc).
Best of luck.

Kelly, Can I add this info to the Treating Puffers with Ich sticky?

Sure!
Glad to be of help.

That was the condensed version - If you want a longer explanation:
http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic31173-10-1.aspx

Can I sticky that whole thing then?

sure!

Thanks, that will be of great benefit to the SW keepers here!