Marine Ich

[TheHolding]

I have read freshwater dip is a myth when it comes to marine ich because it can not be killed when it is beneath the fishes skin.

It surely can only be treated when it is free swimming?

I do not want to put any uneccesarry stress on my fish.

My other mono looks a lot better this morning - not as much white spot but he is breathing funny so he must have some in his gills. Hopefully I can persuade him to eat something when I finish work later.

 

[Yuma]

I would agree that a freshwater dip is not a CURE, it is merely a treatment to provide some temporary relief and I can say, positively, that it got those little buggers to drop off, at least it did in my case. There's is no doubt that it was stressful to my fish, wrasses show stress by their color so it is easy to tell, but the ich was causing stress too and I wasn't in a position where I could immediately treat him so it was the best option I had.

I just wanted to clarify that for anyone who reads this that I'm definitely not saying a FW dip is a cure.

To CURE the stuff you are going to have to do either copper, formalin, or hypo and get the fish eating some vitamin enriched foods so their immune system can fight it off. I don't think there is any other way to get rid of the stuff from what I have read.

 

[-Nemo-]

Agree with yuma.... FW dip should only be used for temporary relief for the fish...

 

[lewiss]

Agree again, not a cure but it truly worked wonders for mine!

Oh yeh, about the 85% thing, read it on the Internet when I googled fresh water dip, allegedly to prevent shock and stress. Can't comment past that, just what I read. If you say complete fresh water then I trust entirely in tht! As I say I did it like tht and everything was fine!!

 

[TheHolding]

Well got home and he looks a lot better!

His right gill looks a little sore though

I will skip the dip as he looks a lot better.

 

[TheHolding]

There was me saying he looks a lot better.

Woke up this morning to find he was dead

I did a test and found the copper levels at 0.3 so I have upped it slightly to achieve 0.4.

The other fish look good no sign of white spot! Let's hope they stay strong now the weaker are dead

 

[seffieuk]

Sorry to hear that

Seffie x

 

[TheHolding]

Well it's now affecting my clowns

I can only come up with 3 things as to why this is not shifting -

1. The Cupramine is out of date or void (note it does not have a sell by date on the bottle).

2. I have a super form of marine ich in my tank!

3. The ceramic rings within the Tetratec EX1200 are absorbing some of the copper (I suggest this because the seachem kit says I should get an accurate reading after 20-30 seconds during this time i only get a reading of 0.2 however 5 minutes later I get a reading of 0.4)

Can anyone help or recommend another treatment other than hyposalinity - I know this maybe my only option but from what I have read it is very complex to get the salinity readings spot on.

 

[-Nemo-]

I would suggest hypo over anything else... As long as you have a REFRACTOMETER and it is calibrated, you shouldn't worry. The only other possibility is formalin or formalin baths, but some argue as to the effectiveness. Hypo is 100% effective is done correctly. Whatever you change to, make sure ALL of the copper is removed from the system first... copper does not generally mix well with other things.

 

[TheHolding]

Oh my god!

I went to remove my ceramic rings from the canister filter and found my missing green spotted puffer!!!

I now have 2 again! She disappeared 4 weeks ago and I looked everywhere - including the filter and could not find her!

What a lovely surprise, it has really cheered me up, she looks weak but hopefully she will pull through.

 

[TheHolding]

Thought I would post an update -

I lost the found green spotted puffer - I don't think this was due to the ich mind but the fact it was probably starving to death in my canister filter.

I also lost a clown last week which prompted me to give the fresh water baths a go.

My ich outbreak seems to hit my fish first thing in the morning i.e. It drops off during the day and attaches itself at night.

Along with fresh water baths I have continued the Cupramine treatment and improved the fishes diet - feeding them live brine shrimp soaked for an hour in JBL multi vitamin supplement and the occasional garlic flakes.

This morning when I woke up I was amazed to see no ich spots on any of my fish - hallelujah!!

Hopefully I am now on the road to recovery.

For those who get a very strong ich outbreak as me I encourage you to conduct a fresh water bath and also feed vitamin soaked food - i feel this has made a massive impact.

Just so you know my casualties so far have been -

1 x Royal Gramma
2 x Mono Sebae
1 x Clown
1 x GSP (not ich related)

I still have the following -

1 x GSP
1 x Fire Fish
1 x Clown

 

[TheHolding]

Day 2 of no ich!

Cupramine at 0.5
Vitamin soaked brine shrimp fed again last night along with garlic flakes!

 

[woody88]

Well done mate, sounds like your finally on top of it! Hopefully that's the last you see of it and fingers crossed no more casualties.

 

[TheHolding]

Thanks woody!

It's good I'm finally getting there! Day 3 of no ich

 

[seffieuk]

Indeed, I second the well done, so sorry about the puffer though

Seffie x