Nobody said that salt couldn't kill ICH, but being that we were talking about brackish conditions that contain salt *there is no set salinity for brackish most people it seems run too low of a salinity to kill the ich from either direction. it is pertinent to say that in that environment, salt will have little to no effect.
And comparing organisms living for millions of years to improperly caring for terrestrial plants or the composition and salinity of the water is a little extreme.
*not really extreem just simplistic and yes i am a very simple man "i still wanna have a bunny farm george" *
And yes, put anything in a PH of one and damage will most definitely occur, but that is an example of an extreme. *wich is what hyper and hypo salinity achieve*
With that said, I will revert to my precious post, a slight change in any parameter will not kill your fish, but it most likely will not cure the problem of ICH either. Any extreme that will kill the protozoan parasite, will most likely kill your fish as well.
*not really the ich organisim has a much more narrow threshold for salinity than most fish do. *
I'm all for finding things that are non chemical treatments, but for the most part, there is little that works quicker than a chemical treatment. For example, raising the temperature will speed up the life cycle of ICH, but unless supplemented by another treatment, it only speeds it up. Raising the salinity rapidly will kill the ICH but would also most likely kill the fish.
*the salinity treatment especially when coupled with a raise in temperature does a few things. One thing it does is speed up the life cycle of the ich. One thing the salt does is dry out and physically kill the ich. One thing the salt does is increase the slime coat production on the fish which makes it more difficult for the remaining ich to latch on ich with out a host dies quickly.
And if you did do it slow enuff where the fish could endure the change, who's to say the ICH cannot acclimate as well?
*again too many paramiters chage to fast in one or two generations for ich to evolve. remember parasites are by thier very nature less sophisticated than thier hosts. hence the reason they need hosts to start with. and while simple machines are harder to mess up than more complex ones this does not apply to simple vs. complex organisimns.*
I guess all I'm saying is not every home remedy works, and not ever commercial treatment works either. Use what is best for YOUR particular situation. I myself have been lucky enuff to not get ICH in my main tank, but if I did I would have a handful of problems being that I have a gymnothorax tile, who do not do well with formalin, methaline blue, malachite green, or any other anti parasitical treatments available. Same situation in which this thread was about, having loaches or cories, whichever it was.
*trust me when my fish get sick which is rare the first thing i do is turn to medicine just like me. when i am sick i want medicine not medicine men or tea or oils. but when some thing cheap easy and proven effective comes along i will use it too.*
Anyway it's late, I'm tired, and I will actually read what I wrote when I am fully lucid and conscious. Hopefully I made sense tonight lol. If I didn't I apologize.
