guitarfish
Member
Back in March I started the thread 23 days in hypo, have 3 ich spots. To summarize what I've been through, I put all my fish in a 20g tank, took it down to 1.009 with a refractometer, which I calibrated with RO water and double-checked with distilled water. After 23 days in hypo, ich spots appeared. This was actually my second hypo effort on this fish, the first one was 22 days, and I concluded it wasn't long enough.
From everything I've read about hypo and ich, it shouldn't have been possible for the ich to survive the free swimming stage and reattach, but it did. Many questioned if it was in fact ich at all. It certainly behaved like ich, reappearing around the 3 week mark.
I decided to take a crack at copper, as a last resort. Got Cupramine and a test kit by the same company and dosed it according to the instructions. Checked the level everyday and adjusted as necessary. Most of the fish did OK, but the yellow tang was near death by day 18. I started removing the copper and eventually she started eating and came around.
So, there I was - 2 attempts at hypo, one at copper, and still some spots reappeared.
After removing the copper, this fish went 25 days without spots. I was finally starting to feel optimistic. I moved all the fish back to the display, and don't you know, one week later the tang had a spot?
It's now been 11 days since then, and my clown has 3 spots too.
I've read everything about ich I can get my hands on, including articles by Steven Pro, Terry B, and Andrew Trevor Jones. I've combed these forums for months. I'm stumped.
About the only thing I haven't tried is the process of moving the fish every few days to a new tank. There's just no way I can do it, I don't have the equipment, time, or energy.
I don't know what to do with my fish right now. I add garlic to the food nightly, hoping they'll at least hang in there. I've contemplated trying an anti-parasitic med like nitroimidazole (e.g. Kick Ich). I've read "50/50 success" rates. What they heck, it's better then 0/3 where I'm at now.
I don't have a specific question at the moment, I guess I just wanted to post this incredibly frustrating experience in the hopes someone will be able to help me out, or maybe someone had a similar experience with a super bug.
I wish I could send my fish to a lab and have them examined, so someone could tell me what the heck this is.
From everything I've read about hypo and ich, it shouldn't have been possible for the ich to survive the free swimming stage and reattach, but it did. Many questioned if it was in fact ich at all. It certainly behaved like ich, reappearing around the 3 week mark.
I decided to take a crack at copper, as a last resort. Got Cupramine and a test kit by the same company and dosed it according to the instructions. Checked the level everyday and adjusted as necessary. Most of the fish did OK, but the yellow tang was near death by day 18. I started removing the copper and eventually she started eating and came around.
So, there I was - 2 attempts at hypo, one at copper, and still some spots reappeared.
After removing the copper, this fish went 25 days without spots. I was finally starting to feel optimistic. I moved all the fish back to the display, and don't you know, one week later the tang had a spot?
It's now been 11 days since then, and my clown has 3 spots too.
I've read everything about ich I can get my hands on, including articles by Steven Pro, Terry B, and Andrew Trevor Jones. I've combed these forums for months. I'm stumped.
About the only thing I haven't tried is the process of moving the fish every few days to a new tank. There's just no way I can do it, I don't have the equipment, time, or energy.
I don't know what to do with my fish right now. I add garlic to the food nightly, hoping they'll at least hang in there. I've contemplated trying an anti-parasitic med like nitroimidazole (e.g. Kick Ich). I've read "50/50 success" rates. What they heck, it's better then 0/3 where I'm at now.
I don't have a specific question at the moment, I guess I just wanted to post this incredibly frustrating experience in the hopes someone will be able to help me out, or maybe someone had a similar experience with a super bug.
I wish I could send my fish to a lab and have them examined, so someone could tell me what the heck this is.
