help with hyposalinity treatment

[cone9]

I have a true perc and royal gramma with Ich. Both have been in the tank for over a year with no new fish since then, so obviously they've been hosting this for a long time in very small infections. I treated a more mild infection, but visible, last fall with garlic and got it under control, but would like to try to rid my tank of this completely.

My plan is to remove them to a treatment tank and use either copper (via Sea Cure) or hyposalinity. After treatment I will house them in another holding tank for 6 weeks to rid the main tank of the Ick.

My questions:

With hypo treatment, how quickly should I transition them from the current SG of 1.026 down to 1.009? How long should they be kept at the 1.009? How do I determine the end point where they would be disease free and could be transfered to the holding tank without innoculating it with Ick? (The holding tank has LR, snails, urchin, etc and could not be treated if infected.)

With Copper sulfate treatment, how long do I need to treat to have disease free fish, obviously for the same concerns stated above.

Thanks,
Dave

[CAT]

From what I've read... drop the salinity to 1.009 in the q-tank over 48 hrs. Keep all fish in the q-tank for 3 wks , then raise the salinity back up to the tank levels over 4 or 5 days. Hopefully all the cysts (which are the toughest to kill) will be dead in the q tank. They should die out in the display as well since there won't be any fish in there to host them.

You could even keep the fish at regular levels in the q-tank a little longer to make sure the main tank is clear.

Good luck

[danmar26]

CAT is correct, I fill the q-tank about half way and start a slow drip with fresh water until you reach your target salinity over a couple days.I also bump up the temp to speed up the lifecycle of the parasites.It works for me.You should keep your display tank fish free for at least 3 weeks.

[mgk65]

Good info.

cone9, the only thing I could add is to read through the following from wetwebmedia.com http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ichartmar.htm

and
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=46871

mgk

[Zepplin]

It doesn't sound like an emergency yet, but the last bad case of ich I treated, the fish was having a hard time breathing. If it gets that bad, I might do a freshwater dip, these instantly pop the cysts, and provide comfort to the animal. The water should be the same temperature of course, and the same pH.

Has anyone else ever done freshwater dips by the way, should I avoid them in the future. I haven't had a case of ich in a long time, but I'd like to know the pros and cons of this practice. I did follow up the freshwater dip with a quarantine. However, after the dip the fish looked to be breathing much easier- Did I do wrong?

-Meg

[CAT]

Meg, fw dip has worked for many people and you got the main ingredient right - same temp and same pH as where the fish was before. Your fish must have had a pile of the parasites in the gills -that's when the fish is really in trouble.

[Zepplin]

It was when we purchased our porcupine puffer "Hoss"-as many note, puffers of all kinds develop ich easily in new environments. He is a healthy, but BIGGER, puffer today. Thanks for the response. I thought it would be wise to ask while on a related topic.

-Meg

[chicki]

Have you added any corals or rock? I infested my tank by adding liverock from the LFS once. You also will need a salinity monitor for accuracy, the plastic things just don't cut it. The first time I left my tank barren for 4 weeks and the second time 6 weeks. Both times it seemed to have worked.

[mgk65]

cone9, all:

I also regularly feed my fish garlic extract. Every time that I feed, I drop a drop or two on the frozen food along with a drop or two of Selcon. I haven't ever had ich in the past 2 years.

mgk

[john f]

You don't have to wait 48 hours to drop the sg.
I acclimate new fish to hypo in the QT over 1/2 hour.
They always do just fine.

When raising sg back to FSW I take about 3 days however, as fish are less able to ramp up than down.

I also HATE freshwater dips for Ich. They usually stress the fish more than it's worth, IME.

John