Freshwater dipping

Jsn · #1 01/04/2008, 05:38 PM

Have you guys heard of Freshwater dipping method before adding to the tank. It suppose to get rid of any parasites. I guess when you purchase a new fish you can freshwater dip it for 5min then add it to the Qt tank or main tank. Is that method effective or will it harm the fish?

old salty · #2 01/04/2008, 05:50 PM

I've heard of it, but do not practice it.

Jsn · #3 01/04/2008, 06:00 PM

why not?

ahullsb · #4 01/04/2008, 06:04 PM

I don't think it is proven that it will kill all the parasites on the fish. It might be better than nothing at all, but if you want to have a failsafe method, qt each new addition.

Jsn · #5 01/04/2008, 06:12 PM

yah, i agree. just wanted to ask and see if people new about that method and what they thought about it.

geraldwhite · #6 01/04/2008, 07:45 PM

What I heard was that certain types of parasites cannot live in the fresh water and will die, but marine ich can live and the fresh water has no effect on them.

Agu · #7 01/04/2008, 07:58 PM

I've done freshwater dips but only if there's an issue such dips are known to help fix. Whenever you freshwater dip there's a chance of killing something you don't want to kill.

old salty · #8 01/04/2008, 09:07 PM

In all honesty, I never saw a reason for it. Like Agu stated, there may be a chance of killing something other than what you want to kill; such as the fish!!

cravinmohead22 · #9 01/04/2008, 09:19 PM

what about live rock. my LFS told me to dip the rock to wash of all the debris on it. did that hurt my rock that it wont cycle my tank?

bertoni · #10 01/04/2008, 09:46 PM

I wouldn't rinse live rock in fresh water. That could kill various animals I'd rather keep alive. A quick rinse with some saltwater that's at a reasonable temperature isn't a bad idea.

cravinmohead22 · #11 01/04/2008, 09:49 PM

oops. damn fish stores. i know i should have asked her first. this doesnt mean my rock is dead right? my tank is still cycling.

bertoni · #12 01/04/2008, 10:10 PM

The live rock probably is not completely dead, but some of the hitchhikers likely are, and there might be more rotting than otherwise. It'll be okay in the end, although some interesting animals might be gone.

tmz · #13 01/04/2008, 10:20 PM

I do not expose live rock to fresh water.I know about the freshwater dip. I do not use prophylacticly. It will kill the parasites on the skin of the fish but many are embedded in the flesh and gills(especially ich) and will likely be unaffected. If the fish has flukes it will kill those on the fish but not any eggs on the fish.I have use a freshwater dip without ill effect when a fish is severely infected in order to remove at least some of the parasites before moving on to copper, hyposalinity or prazi pro as appropriate. I have also tried formalin dips as treatment and prophylacticly without ill effect. None of these methods is a sustitute for quarantine.

75pxatr · #14 01/05/2008, 03:29 PM

I successfully used this on two fish that had bad cases of ich. There is info on line about how to do it but I made sure I had good RO or distilled water and it was SAME TEMP as the tank. The fish were left in for a maximum of 5 minutes.

cravinmohead22 · #15 01/06/2008, 12:17 AM

i just did a few dips in freshwater to remove some of the debris. i did not soak the rock.

tmz · #16 01/06/2008, 12:32 AM

Fish have salinity levels in their bodies that are substantialy lower than the sea water they live in. They can also respond to changes in the water's salinity level by drinking less or more and processing more or less urine(for example) so they can for the most part tolerate short fresh water dips or even prolonged periods in hyposalinity such as 1.09sg. Invertebrates including the benthic fauna in and on your live rock can't do this.They will quickly succumb to osmotic shock( the fresh water will flow into them and essentially blow them up) . The rock should be dipped rinsed in salt water.