Disease experts part 2

that's excellent news bort, congratulations!! Best of luck with it maintaining an ich-free level

Just do remember that ich can have a life cycle of 21 days or more. Even though there are no visible cysts on the fish does not mean that there aren't any free floating ich or ich that are hatching in the substrate. The biggest mistake people make when treating ich is stopping too soon, which just allows the ich to reappear directly after treatment stops.

Also, many medications do not have an appropriate dosing time. For example, one of the ich meds I first bought said to treat once and that the ich would be gone in 24 hours. Well, as we know, that didn't work

Whats the main ingredient in that med you're using? Copper?

Maracide and many proprietary remedy that turn the water blue contain Malachite Green, though the ingredients are often listed uner different names such as Victorian Green, Anniline Green or Benzuldehyde Green. Malachite Green has a bad reputation that certain scaless fish are sensitive to it but I have never had trouble using it on pleco and loaches at full dosage. In fact, it's important to follow the instruction to use full dosage or else the therapeutic effect is compromised. I guess the recommended dosage is very conservative, plus a portion of the dosage is neutralize by organics in the water. Even though the theory says that the parasites have a 21 day life cycle, I often found that one full dosage was adequate to wipe out the itch.

I am still treating an ich outbreak in my 20 gallon tank. The medecation I used had victoria green as it's primary ingrediant. After treating the tank I lost three pictus catfish (one of which had NO ich whatsoever) and two goldfish (which we all know are nearly indestructable). I had a rock of unknown type and origin in that tank which, combined with the medecine, seemed to poison my fish (one of the goldfish was found on the floor a good three feet from the tank). All the surviving fish (including one neon not listed in my sig) are now fine and show no signs of ich.

I would like to know a good ich treatment that is safe to use with ghost shrimp (IE contains NO copper), as my 18 gallon was exposed, albeit shortly, via the neon tetras. They were added to the 20 gallon before the outbreak occured and were transferred to the 18 gallon after the pictus catfish ate one. One of the neons had a single ich spot, but the tank shows no current signs of distress. However I would like to be 100% sure that I DO NOT get ich in that tank! Thank you.