Ich Chronicles

Good morning.
I had a rather hard temperature drop in my 58 gallon 2 weeks ago. So naturally a few of my fish popped up with Ich. First it was the ugly damsel, he was yellow and blue horizontal stripes, now he is a huge grey meanie. He really had it bad. Then the Tomini Tang, last the b and w clowns. Theirs was only lightly.
I checked a hundred sites. The best solution was catch them and quarantine for a couple of months. That wasn't going to happen.
I went with a reportedly safe reef "cure" It was Kodon's Ich Attack and Extreme Garlic in the food. After a few days, all the ich was gone, but I kept treating as recommended. This week the Ich came back with a vengenance. I bumped up the dosage of Ich Attack this week. The Ich spots are getting smaller and not on their fins. I also raised the temp in the tank to 82 degrees.
Kordon says to take out any carbon filters and turn off the skimmer. An interesting side effect is that algae is starting to take over again. Particularly on the glass. Hmmm? Shades of my 45.
So I will keep you all posted on my new battle.

sue

Sue
Cammie Need to set up a "New battle for Sue" forum...LOL
when you say you had a hard temp drop what was your temp? myself I would shoot for 78,79 Degrees at 82 degrees you just set your Algea bloom in High gear if you have traces of Nitrates and Phosphates in your water column, Plus parasites love that tropical temps too.

Hey I'm all for the new Forum idea. I bet it would get some readers!
A couple of the website recommendations for this cure say to raise the temp during treatment. I will admit the algae is taking off, but I waa Atrri using that more to the lack of protein skimmer. It never occurred to me temp does the algae boom too. I'll add it to my "column"

Have a good week

Sue

Sue,
How are your fish doing now? I haven't had to do anything more with the HSC 210, the blue tang had a very slight ring of mucous around the eye which had been totally glazed over a couple of months before but she was able to fight it off herself. We have been feeding fairly heavily with a varied diet plus doing the water changes religiously every week. She seems to have finally gotten back into the groove of the tank after her 10 gal treatment sabbatical ok. It took a long time. The Watchman goby took a month or so long vacation in the sump when it decided to check out an overflow. He looked pretty skinny when he was found but in a few days had found his pal the shrimp and they are shacked up together in the front corner. A nice attraction.

Ich Chronicles II The Return

To keep you all apprised (sp?) of the Ich situation at my house, I'm updating this column. I have been treating with Kordon's Ich Attack and Extreme Garlic. A few days after I started treating, Miracle, the Ich was gone! Not a speck. I did a little more research and it's typical that it clears up quickly. Apparently the little parasites fall off, sink to the gravel, then in a short time, BAM they are back. They were kind of gestating in the sand bed.
But I was prepared for it. I continue to medicate, maybe half of a cap more than recommended, and feeding the garlic. If you haven't tried the garlic, give it a whirl every so often. It really makes the fish crazy hungry. It's good for their immune system. Ice Reefer recommends, you don't do it forever as this can make the garlic not as effective.
As of today, the big ugly damsel is nearly clear. He has a few still in his fins. The Tomini Tang is much better. He is staying out in the front a great deal more. He is aggressivley eating algae and flake food. He has more spots than the damsel, but his health has improved.
I will continue to dose until this second bottle is gone, about 1 more week.
More later.