freshwater bath to treat disease?

[connors]

I am always leary of the "advice" I receive from a LFS but this one seemed to work.
My fish were dying and quick, due to Ich and Popeye. We did the 30% water change which help and was treating the tank with Maracyn 2.
We called our trusted LFS who recommend that we give our fish a 5 min bath in declorinated fresh water. Within 1 day and to my suprise my Coral Beauty's eyes were looking much better and my Yellow Tang was not scratching the bottom of the tank.
Has anyone else ever heard of this?

 

[beth]

FW dips can and do provide immediate relief, but they should only be used by those who follow the procedure accurately and as a last resort, when, as you say, the fish are in absolute dire need of immediate relief. However, it is only a temporary fix. You eliminated some of the parasites on the fish, but did not cure the problem. Continue the hyposalinity treatment, and, if necessary the antibiotics. Cloudy eye is freaquently a problem with ich, but if the fish had popeye, then an antibiotic course would be in order.
Also, the water probably had a lot to do with recovery.