fresh water dip to fight ich
- Thread starter Erak82
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You want to start out with 5 mins, after checking on the fish if he appears to be going ok, go another 5, you keep doing this up to 30 mins, then put back in DT. Most marine fish can handle an hour in the dip, so don't stress out.
pickupman66
5000 Club Member
I have successfully done dips in the past with good results initially, however, you wil still have the parasite in the tank, so odds are, your fish will get sick again.
EZMAC114
Well-Known Member
I dipped a clown once and there is no way mine would have lasted 30 min. I went 4 min...I thought he was going to die in there. His color went from black to gray. I'm not saying not to dip I'm just saying I couldn't do it for a long period of time
Ms. Mermaid
Active Member
My copper banded butterfly fish came down with Ich two weeks ago and it was in my DT and that was the first thing I did got him out and put him in fresh water dip but before I did that I made sure the PH was as close to the same in the DT as it was in the fresh water dip. He was a champ. I have watched one of the LFS I go to and the fish would be freaking out and finally lay on its side but mine he just swam around in the bucket like it was his regular tank water. Kept him in there for 15 minutes. Then put him in a very low salinity QT 10 gallons with Kordon Ich Attack. Treated him and the main tank as instructed on the bottle. I also raised the temp in his tank to 84 and after 5 days all the Ich spots are gone. So far I have seen none on any of the other fish in my DT. I did a 50% water change on the 6th day at a much lower salinity and as of today I still see no Ich. But I will be keeping a close eye on the DT and will not put the cooper banded butterfly back in there because my yellow tang was chasing him around.
From what I've read fresh water dips do nothing for Ich. Helpful with flukes but not Ich. Ich is only susceptble to hyposalinity when it's in it's free swimming stages not while encysted on the fish. Good luck but the only way I've successfully treated Ich (in a QT) is with Copper or tank transfer.
FW is dip is Hypo. Most people won't put the fish in for the dip long enough, just a minute or 2 does not help. It should be done up to 30mins, or up until the fish doens't look like he'll make it.
Understood, however according to the articles I read hypo does nothing while the parasite is encysted on the fish. Only when it drops off and eventually becomes a free swimming stage is it susceptable to hypo. That takes a lot more time to happen. That's why hypo requires long term application to be succesful. Even with that there are lots of reports of failures with hypo and hypo resistant strains of C. irritans.
Not true, the parasite can't exsist under the new pressure, theres a big difference between SW pressure and FW pressure. The parasite pops if given enough time in the FW.
But if you do the treatment then put them immediately back into the DT and haven't killed the parasite in the QT, then it will go right back to the fish.
It takes 8 weeks for Hypo because the fish couldn't handle being in FW that long, you could dip the fish in FW then drop them into Hypo, which would speed up the process, but I'd still not remove them before an 8 week period.
But if you do the treatment then put them immediately back into the DT and haven't killed the parasite in the QT, then it will go right back to the fish.
It takes 8 weeks for Hypo because the fish couldn't handle being in FW that long, you could dip the fish in FW then drop them into Hypo, which would speed up the process, but I'd still not remove them before an 8 week period.
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CoralHut
Active Member
I don't know where you got this information but it is erroneous. The Cryptocaryon (proper name for "ich") trophont which is the white spot what we visibly see when a fish is infected is embedded under the epethelium and is really tough to kill at this stage because it is largely protected from the fishes' skin cells. Freshwater dips will do nothing to kill the trophonts unless the host is killed as well. Hyposalinity works because the stage after they encyst on the substrate called theronts are unprotected and is susceptible to water fluctuation or medicines. This is the stage we target in almost all treatments.
CoralHut
Active Member
The theront stage is why it takes many weeks to kill crypto as well because one has to wait for all encysted protomonts to release theronts again which is what we target as aforementioned.
CoralHut
Active Member
Here's a good scientific resource for more info on crypto: http://edis.ifas.url.edu/fa164
CoralHut
Active Member
Some reason won't let me edit, that URL is actually: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fa164
My information comes from a Marine Biologist, LEEBCA
LEEBCA
Curing Fish of Marine Ich
Freshwater Dip for Marine Fishes
Marine Ich - Myths and Facts
LEEBCA
Curing Fish of Marine Ich
Freshwater Dip for Marine Fishes
Marine Ich - Myths and Facts
In the last link he clearly states that you can't kill all the parasites with FW dip for the reasons cited above (the parasite is burrowed in to the skin and is protected by it). Your link agrees exactly with what CoralHut has posted.
4FordFamily
Tang, Angel, and Wrasse Nerd!
Freshwater dips will not eradicate ich. It may provide a bit of relief but you’ll need to treat with something else such as copper or CP and run the display tank fallow for 76 days.
Some strains of ich are now surviving hyposalinity teeatments, unfortunately.
Since the fish with “ich” is a clownfish, a photo might confirm brook instead (much more common in clowns). Treatment for this is Metroplex or Chloroquine Phosphate.
The fallow period should be done either way and I’d treat for ich and velvet in addition prior to reintroduction (as it’s a good assumption at least ich is present, but not symptomatic).
Some strains of ich are now surviving hyposalinity teeatments, unfortunately.
Since the fish with “ich” is a clownfish, a photo might confirm brook instead (much more common in clowns). Treatment for this is Metroplex or Chloroquine Phosphate.
The fallow period should be done either way and I’d treat for ich and velvet in addition prior to reintroduction (as it’s a good assumption at least ich is present, but not symptomatic).
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