Ruby Reef Kick Ich questions

[8251Reefer]

Well, I have really done it this time...I broke the cardinal rule of quarantining fish prior to putting them into my tank. Now I have a 6 lined wrasse with a bout of ich that I am afraid will ultimately pass those lovely things onto my other fish.
I originally bought the wrasse to eat up the remaining flatworms in my system. think I would have been better off leaving them be.
The wrasse looked great at the pet store but developed some white dots on his tail after 2 days in my tank. All of my other fish look fine so far.
After listening to and reading Steven Pro's article about the different "reef safe" cures for bouts of ich and other ailments I have decided to order and try RUBY REEFS KICK ICH to see if it really works.
Steven never determined the effectiveness of the medicines only the fact that they are harmul/not harmul to Xenia (reef aquaria). I am just curious if anyone has had any good/bad experience with this product. I would also like to know what the outcome was if they have had a bout of ich in a reef tank and were like me un able to remove the sick fish. I have clams/SPS/LPS/XENIA/Bubble Tip anemone/ ZOANTHIDS a longnose hawkfish, Tomato Clown, Royal Gramma, Yellow watchman goby and lots of aphipds/snails/worms/etc... in the tank now and I don't want to kill anything....So please any and all people reading this please give me some advice...thanks..

One more question:
If I do end up dosing my tank I am going to need an exact gallonage for my tank. I only guess nowadays and with this medication I want to ensure I use a precise measured amount.

My tank is a 37 gallon Oceanic with 50 lbs of live rock and 40 lbs of live sand with a sump that has about 9 gallons of water and 2 lbs of rock. How can I tell the exact gallonage? Thanks all!!

[Rob]

i have never used it, sorry, i cant offer much info on it.
hopefully someone else here has used it and can be more helpful..

[kj_yoda]

If anyone else wants to read Steven's article:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/20...ture/index.php


I am lucky in that I haven't had to use any of these ich removers in my tank. I usually have some shrimp that will clean the fish of parasites, but that doesn't always work.

[JR Aquatics]

Have you looked at the ingredients on the bottle. I personally don't trust these poisons even at low levels supposevley safe for our inverts and corals. I also wouldn't worry too much right now, you most likely had ick in your tank before the fish was introduced to your tank. I believe that it was your stressed fish that attracted the dorment parasite. I have used Rally which is made by the same company "Ruby Reef" to rid my tank of flukes. It didn't work and seemed to kill off my biological filtration and coraline algae. I would look for other ways to help control the outbreak.

[8251Reefer]

Thanks all for telling me everything that I already knew..hehehe. I was really hoping for some new information. JR that Rally stuff according to Steven Pro's test will actually KILL and was deemed unsafe in reefs but the KICK ICH stuff is suppose to be okay according to that brief study...

I haven't gotten this stuff in yet from Marinedepot.com but I want to be sure about it before I use it. Know what I mean all?


Well how about the other question> How can you determine your actual tank water capacity. I am not going to dose my tank based on the LxWxH of the tank without taking into consideration the liverock and stuff...Anyone know how to figure the actual tank capacity?
If I do end up dosing it I need to be able to have my actual water capacity. AND If I do dose it I plan on doing a full documention of it cause if it does kill stuff in my tank I want to send it to those guys at RUBY REEF and my lawyer...hehehe. But seriously and most importantly it may help some hobbyist later on down the road...

JR,
You may be somewhat correct about the "stressed" fish. I heard that garlic can "unstress" fish to a certain degee and I actually crushed up a clove of garlic mixed it with some mysis and dumped it in my tank. My wife looked at me like I was some crazy mad scientist or something...lol

Anywho, how do you guys actual dose garlic? Crushed ? Minced. Garlic pills from GNC? OR Marine Grade Garlic extract stuff... Thanks again for any and all help guys....It's funny even folks that have been in the hobby for years need a hand once in a while..Take care all!!

[JR Aquatics]

I use the juice in the Large cut garlic in the jar, and replace the juice that I use with RO/DI water. I soak my pellets with the garlic then feed. This I found to be the best way in delivering garlic to your fish. It has work wonders for me. I also have been using the same jar for over a year. IMO, 8251 Reefer I would wait to see if you get further breakout before using any chemical in your tank. I own a bottle of Kick Ich too, but will never use it in my reef. How do you dose calcium and alk? That should determine the amount of actual water in your tank.

[gwen_o_lyn]

That's a lot of fish for a 37g tank. Do you think that could be causing stress to your fish? Just something to think about.

I have Seachem garlic. I've only used it a few times and just mixed it with their food. I *think* the only thing known for sure about garlic is that it helps build their immune system. Do a search for that Reefkeeping article from Dec/Jan about Garlic.

[8251Reefer]

I will try the garlic first and just wait it out. I personally don't think that is a lot of fish for my tank. I think it is the max I am putting in it but definitely not too much. And I am not really sure if that would cause the fish to stress out IMO. I have watched my other fish around him and they more or less pay him no mind. I think I may have just bought a weak fish and adding him to my tank made him weaker. My water params are perfect. I usually just dose my tank while after testing it. I have been pretty good at guestimating the water quantity but with the Kick Ich I just didn't want to chance it. Anyways . I will play the guessing game and if all else fails I will just get a sharp skewer and catch my Wrasse that way...OH my...did he just say that ? I am only kidding.... Don't call the fish police on me please. Thanks for responding though guys!!

[Amphibious]

8251Reefer

I personally don't think that is a lot of fish for my tank. I think it is the max I am putting in it but definitely not too much. And I am not really sure if that would cause the fish to stress out IMO.

One of the cool things about posting on forums is, you get the benefit of many reefer's experience. That way we all learn something new, as long as we keep an open mind. An open mind is like a sponge, it absorbs information willingly. So with that in mind.....

You have a 37 gallon tank with 9 gals in the sump for a total system of about 46 gals. You state that you have clams (plural), how many? Then, SPS, how many? Next, LPS, how many? Exenia, how much? A bubble tip anemone, how big? Zooanthids, How many? A long knose Hawkfish, a Tomato clown, a Royal Gramma, a Yellow Watchman Goby, and lots of aphipds (I think you mean amphipods), snails and worms, etc. In my humble opinion you had the tank over crowded and then you add a six line wrasse. Let's take a closser look at what's going on. Remember the open mind learns something new everyday.

Let's assume your tank, prior to adding the wrasse, was running properly with out a problem. Let's also assume that it wasn't over crowed but the capicity of the tank was, "to the max" as you stated. I don't know your level of experience so bare with me on this. An experienced aquarist knows that any new addition to an aquarium is going to be stressed because of the move from the store to the tank, the stress of acclimation, being the new kid on the block, and has to compete to find his nitch in amoungst everyone else who have already laid claim to "their" territory in "their" home. Are you getting the picture?

I've been in this hobby for 59 years and strictly salt for about 38 of those years. Please don't take offense to my final analysis of this common problem. All of us go through the, "MY tank is running so good, I can add one more, fish, clam, coral, or whatever it is that I saw at the LFS", syndrome. If you can learn from this experience, you will become a more responsible aquarist. Trust me on this.

One other observation.....

I broke the cardinal rule of quarantining fish prior to putting them into my tank.

Of course this is a cardinal rule not followed by many. So, don't beat yourself up about it. Learn from it. I don't quarantine my fish all the time, but, I use a UV sterilizer 24/7 on all my systems including my quarantine tank.

I hope this helped you in some way.

Dick

[8251Reefer]

Well, thanks Amphibious for taking the time out to help. Although I had originally asked if anyone had ever used Kick Ich. I do appreciate the commentary.
The six lined Wrasse has since bounced back and he is doing just fine in my tank. And I am happily not going to dose the tank wioth kick ich. My tank maybe a little crowded but with 50lbs of live rock 50 lbs of live sand constant skimming and meticulous maintenance my tank stays free of elevated levels of phosphates.nitrates...etc. I guess success with saltwater really depends on how much time you spend on overall tank husbandry. By the way that is the last fish I am putting in the tank...I swear...maybe not the last coral, but definitely the last fish.

[ej1698]

Hi All,

Well, I'm in the same boat as you, My hippo tang is covered with ick and looks like a few of my other fish have it now as well. I am on my next to last dose of Kick Ick for my 90 gallon Reef tank.... and They do not look any better!!!! I'm really getting ticked off I spend $40.00 on this stuff. I don't want to rip apart all my rock and destroy my tank...I call it the ick tank now. I need a little advice as well from you guys/girls...any help

ALL watter parameter's are fine

1.022
AMM : .25
Nit : 0
Nitrate: 10
PH 8.3
78.5 STEADY TEMP

EJ

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze8bpou/

[CarmieJo]

Sometimes raising the temp helps. I haven't ran into ick in my reef yet. Back in the old days we dosed with CU

[8251Reefer]

Well EJ it looks like your salinity might be a little low. How are you testing it? Do you have a refractometer? If not I would invest in one.. If you want a stable tank you have to start with the water. I got the Ruby Reef in the mail but never used it. Thank God! My poor wrasse mysteriously disappeared. He didn't carpet dive or anything. I think he might have just been a sickly fish to begin with and finally succumbed to whatever was ailing him...Maybe cyanide? Who knows. I suspect my Brittle Star ate him though cause he is now hanging out where the wrasse used to sleep...EJ I wish I had some good advice for you. I do know that the Hippo tang you have are notoriuos for getting ich. I think raising your temp and adding some garlic to the food may help but who knows they may not work...At this point I guess it's worth giving it a shot. Good luck.

[Amphibious]

8251Reefer & ej1698

Eradicating a disease is always more complicated than preventing it with forethought and planning. A UV sterilizer would help but I'm afraid that's not quick enough once the disease set in as you indicate. The UV is more a preventive measure. I've used a diatom filter very succesfully in the past. I keep the bigger diatom filter on hand ready to put in use for several reasons. It's great for clearing cloudy water on initial set up with aragonite sand and in cases such as you guys are experiencing. It works great, worth the money. Other than that I can't offer anything but sympathy.

Hope this helps.

Dick

[ej1698]

Thanks,

I've been feeding [soaking with garlic] and I do have a uv light hooked up [Gamma 8 watt] I am raising my temp to 83 degrees...sound good? and should I raise the salinity?

Thanks EJ