sepulatian
Moderator
Originally Posted by rudedog40
There are alternatives to treating ich besides hypo and copper. I know the seasoned members here believe that the only way to cure ich is to hypo all existing fish, then leave the DT fishless for six weeks. However, instead of stressing your remaining fish by putting them in an uncycled QT tank, you could have used ich medicine treatments to at least kill the ich that was on your remaining fish. Yes, I'ver read all the threads stating you can't kill the ich in a tank with these medicines. However, they do work to kill the ich thats attached to fish. By feeding them using garlic, Stress Coat, and Metronidazole, you could increase the fish's immune system, slime coat, and keep the ich off of them until you got your QT up and running properly.
I've already had this argument with sepulatian and many others regarding hypo treatment. Yes, I believe hypo is proven to be the 'defacto' way to kill ich in a DT. But at what cost? You now have your hippo tang, yellow tang, clownfish, bicolor anthias, and a cleaner wrasse in a barren tank, with little or no natural cover, living in an environment 1/3 the size they're used to. You don't think they won't get stressed out living in those conditions for six weeks? Stress is one of the major causes of ich in tangs. So you hypo these fish for 3 weeks, but the stress may just bring the ich right back. The big question is, how did the ich get into the DT in the first place? I've also been told that ich doesn't naturally exist in tanks. Did you recently add one of these other fish into your tank without QTing it first?
When have we had this argument rudedog? Anyway, you can keep your fish in the DT for awhile using non-meds. Feed your fish high quality foods and crush up some FRESH garlic to add to the foods. This will boost your fish's immune system, but will NOT keep ich from attatching. It will help the fish fight off the ich parasite. Enough will attatch to keep the cycle going. It will, however help the fish live until your tank is cycled.
There are alternatives to treating ich besides hypo and copper. I know the seasoned members here believe that the only way to cure ich is to hypo all existing fish, then leave the DT fishless for six weeks. However, instead of stressing your remaining fish by putting them in an uncycled QT tank, you could have used ich medicine treatments to at least kill the ich that was on your remaining fish. Yes, I'ver read all the threads stating you can't kill the ich in a tank with these medicines. However, they do work to kill the ich thats attached to fish. By feeding them using garlic, Stress Coat, and Metronidazole, you could increase the fish's immune system, slime coat, and keep the ich off of them until you got your QT up and running properly.
I've already had this argument with sepulatian and many others regarding hypo treatment. Yes, I believe hypo is proven to be the 'defacto' way to kill ich in a DT. But at what cost? You now have your hippo tang, yellow tang, clownfish, bicolor anthias, and a cleaner wrasse in a barren tank, with little or no natural cover, living in an environment 1/3 the size they're used to. You don't think they won't get stressed out living in those conditions for six weeks? Stress is one of the major causes of ich in tangs. So you hypo these fish for 3 weeks, but the stress may just bring the ich right back. The big question is, how did the ich get into the DT in the first place? I've also been told that ich doesn't naturally exist in tanks. Did you recently add one of these other fish into your tank without QTing it first?
When have we had this argument rudedog? Anyway, you can keep your fish in the DT for awhile using non-meds. Feed your fish high quality foods and crush up some FRESH garlic to add to the foods. This will boost your fish's immune system, but will NOT keep ich from attatching. It will help the fish fight off the ich parasite. Enough will attatch to keep the cycle going. It will, however help the fish live until your tank is cycled.
