I myself do not believe that this product ITSELF is an effective cure. Neither does the manufacturer, which is why they state 99%. I can however see how if it does increase the slime coat, and an increased slime coat will get the ick off the fish, then it could be a useful treatment in fighting ick. But in ITSELF wont rid the parasite from your tank, preventing future outbreaks. I also see how that for some people they may never have another outbreak after using this product. If their husbandry practices are good and the fish are healthy and "happy"(unstressed etc.), they have a good diet and plenty of vitamins, then they can fight the parasite off, however, waning from these conditions can intice an outbreak. If though, you are able to keep ick from reattaching to the host then the lifecycle will be broken and ick would be iradicated from the tank. Yet, let one parasite to be able to attach and the lifecycle continues. In addition, using a pepper based product must stress the fish some, which is probably why the slime coat is increased.
It seems to me that just maybe... this might be a product to use in conjuntion with QT. To use when recieving new fish and introducing to the QT. After all, even a 3 week regimin in the QT cant 100% garauntee that there are no parasites on your new buddy.
The article posted earlier even states that it takes 6 weeks in Qt to be sure there are none. Who here Qt's for 6 weeks? Also I think I saw where it stated that after one year then the strand of ick would die, they couldnt keep any alive longer than that, so if your fish can fight it off long enough, then you would be ick-less. Is thatwhat that said???
I do have a problem with some of the way that things get handled here, its like if you dont have a QT, and you get ick it's your problem and all your fish can die as far as I care. That'll teach you not to have one. I personally have gotten the "take this time to set up a proper QT", and wouild have been left hanging if not for some mild begging. That in my opinion is an aweful approach. It's like FW dips dont even exist in the world in a time of need for an inexperiend aquariest who is desperate to save the lives of the fish s/he loves. The fact is, if the fish doenst survive the dip, he probably wont survive the ick. But if he survives the dip, he may survive the ick, when he otherwise may not have.
Hyposalinity is an effective means of fighting ick, I did it in my DT and havent had an outbreak since.
However, it is a complicated process which has little room for error. It does stress fish. It is a milder level of stress, but is a longer duration. There are from what I've read some fish that cannot take this stress very well. I believe that a hippo tang is one of those. So when you say hypo doesnt stress a fish, you are not correct there. In fact, I believe that I've read were liver or kindey or some other damage may occur from hypo. The time involved in hypo is moslty the problem there. But it certainly feels more "politically correct" to use this method. After all, fish dont flop around while your doing it, as they might in a FW dip.
I think that there might be alot of animocity (sp) amuong some posters here as hypo and sometimes copper are seen as the ONLY viable option to treat ick. And thats why this thread has so much fuel. I definelty do see where there is a degree of close mindedness here. And that should not be. The originall poster being narrowminded in his inability to recognize that he doesnt understand the life cycle of the parasite, while the opposition tried to point this out. Then some of the others who definetly wont recognize other methods as being
possible options. though they may or may not be as effective. as a matter of fact, I dont hink I've ever seen anything on how to do a proper FW dip in the archives, maybe it's there. Or even a mention of the transfer or vacuuming method. it seems as these methods should be posted so as to allow the aquariest the ability to make educated decisions on what might work best for them. instead of craming down their throats hypo and QT.
Personally, I will allways QT new additions.
But, I will use other methods also to garauntee a safer environment for my buddies. Maybe Stop Parasite at the introduction to Qt and before moving to DT?
My .02 worth.
