Getting rid of Ich

[Stranded In Hawaii]

I recently had an ich breakout in my FOWLR 55 gallon tank. I took out all fish and quarantined them and let the display tank sit "fishless" for 30 days.
After the 30 days, I put one of the fish back in and it still got ich. I have since removed it and placed it back in the quarantine(copper) tank.

QUESTION: I do not want to wait 30-50 days for the ich life cycle to run its course. Can I add any medicine to kill existing ich that are still in the tank? I do have about 20 lbs of live rock and some inverts still in it. Not really looking to raise temperature or adjust salinity due to this.
Anyone know of any magic potion that I can purchase?

 

[nuff40]

The magic potion that you request is non other than Garlic. Many hobbyists have used it, including myself, and had great results...my tank was free of ich after using it during an outbreak. Continue to feed it daily and you should see no return of the ich. Do a search on Garlic and determine the best method for you.

david

 

[MarkO1]

Raise your tank temp to 85. Shouldn't adversely affect the life of your occupants, but speeds up the life cycle of the parasite. Also, garlic extract may help. (Beware, I foung my Elongata Xenia reacted negatively to it)
_________________
Stroke Forum

 

[Gatortailale1]

Garlic seems to be the new rage, but you can also try kick ich, wich is reef safe. Simply taking fish out does not end cycle. Generally ich has a 3 day cycle. You need to treat the tank to end the cycle. kick ich has worked for me in the past.

 

[Stranded In Hawaii]

I thought the entire life cycle of the ich parasite was a period of 30 days.(living and hatching) Which is why I left my tank fishless for this time. Didn't realize the existing ich had to be treated to be wiped out.

Thanks for all of your help and suggestions. I will try the 'Kick Ich' and will give the garlic diet a try as well.

 

[Terry B]

30 days is usually long enough to starve out ich, but six weeks is safer. It is more likely that you brought the ich back into the tank on the fish. If you did not use a completely effective treatment which was administered in an exacting way then the fish were probably still infected. What exactly did you treat with? What was the dose? Did you test the level every day? BTW, raising the temp a bit is the only way to speed up the process of starving the parasite out in a fishless tank.
Terry B

 

[Lockart]

If you are wanting to stay away from medications you can also try lowering the salinity. This is done gradually over a few days to allow tank inhabitants to adjust. If no fish are in the tank then you could raise the temp along with the lower salinity. This is very affective in getting rid of Ich. If you have removed the fish from the infected tank then it is important to medicate them so as to not reintroduce the ich to the main tank. I tried garlic in the past and had limited success with it.