If you plan on beginning a salt water aquarium you should plan on having to deal with an outbreak of Saltwater Ich sometime in your fish owning career. Now, the way I understand it, Saltwater Ich is kind of like lice for fish. It is a parasite (there are actually two different parasites that can cause Saltwater Ich) that embeds itself in the skin and gills of a fish, causing irritation.
Saltwater Ich is sometimes hard to diagnose because the series of symptoms can seem quite regular. Things like loss of appetite, rapid breathing, and scratching could all mean that your fish has Saltwater Ich. Singularly one fish getting sick isn’t that big of a deal, but what comes next kind of is. The way the parasites operate is kind of disturbing. They’ll attach themselves to a fish for a few days and then fall of in preparation for reproduction. They’ll then drift to the bottom of the tank and BAM! a few days later you have hundreds of parasites ready to prey on your expensive fish. In the wild this isn’t a problem, but in an enclosed environment things can get very bad very fast.
The best way to prevent Saltwater Ich is to place each new fish you receive in a quarantine aquarium. This will allow you to determine if the fish is infected and if so you’ll be able to treat it without exposing tank-mates to parasites. If for some unfortunate reason you do have an outbreak of Saltwater Ich there are a series of medicines that you can use to kill the parasites and treat your fish. The most effective is a copper treatment called Cupramine. Simply place this treatment in your tank every day for three weeks and you should be parasite free.
Have you had experience with Saltwater Ich? Do you have your own way of treating your aquarium should an outbreak occur? Let us know by posting a comment.