What is your preferred method of treating Ich?

[sailedNJ]

sailedNJ, thanks for starting this post and poll... very helpful and informative indeed

No problem stonedaquarium. I'm sure this will be helpful & I expect to learn a lot from this poll.

What prompted me to start this poll was the reaction that using table salt to treat Ich received on another forum I'm a member on. Any suggestion of treating Ich by using table salt was received with skepticism as if someone was suggesting that you should treat Ich by using small animal bones, chicken blood, dolls, & voodoo chants :worthy::nilly::worthy:

And like I stated in my original post, IME AC seems to have the most diverse & experienced group of forum members I've come across so naturally I was inclined to start my poll here on AC

 

[sailedNJ]

No body wants to fess up to voting for Magical Fairy Dust :fairy: lol?

Keep the votes & posts coming. Your input is appreciated. Thanks again

 

[melissadotson]

i have used ich cure..it's ok i have had 50 50 results..and i have used kick ich..it's ok still lost a few fish though..but safe for reef and inverts. and it dosn't stain anything..but had to do water changes after trement..i aslo did the heat method with the meds..and kept the lights off much as possible..but i have never used the salt method..i must try that 1...it must reallky work from all of the info from people who have tried it..

 

[vanillaXtiffy]

I use salt!! About a month before our big move, I had an ich outbreak because I didn't qt some new fish I bought (stupidstupidstupid). Soo I used the salt method as well as keeping my water very clean. I siphoned out every surface in my tank every day in hopes of vacuuming them up when they emerge from the fish to breed, as well as my normal weekly 80% change. I did this for about 3 weeks, then slowly changed their water back to normal to get them in optimum condition for the move. I did not lose a single fish from that tank, and I even had plecos in it (who are sensitive to salt.) I figure if the ich wasn't eradicated, then it certainly would have shown up again from the stress of getting shipped to my new home and living for a few days without their filter/heater since it took a while for the box containing all of my equipment to arrive. No such outbreak.

 

[dbosman]

When I was in retail sales, I sold AquariSol. It's copper based and works.
If I were still selling aquarium products, I'd still sell and recommend it, but... I'd never knowingly sell an infested fish.
The key is a bare bottom tank that gets vacuumed regularly. I use "rock paint" to paint the bottoms of my tanks, so they look like they have sand in them. Salt is over recommended for tropical fish.


For my self, I just don't purchase fish from tanks with Ich.
It really is that simple.
Look at every fish in the tank you are planning to purchase from. If any of them have Ich, pass them up.
Cheap and even free, can cost a lot in the long run.

And, yes, I do purchase fish from stores that others seem to have issues with.
My most recent chain store purchase was 22 $1 Otos from Petsmart. After two months of quarantine, 21 went in my community tank.

 

[sailedNJ]

dbosman, thanks for elaborating on your original post, much appreciated. :thm:

When I was in retail sales, I sold AquariSol. It's copper based and works.
If I were still selling aquarium products, I'd still sell and recommend it, but... I'd never knowingly sell an infested fish.
The key is a bare bottom tank that gets vacuumed regularly. I use "rock paint" to paint the bottoms of my tanks, so they look like they have sand in them. Salt is over recommended for tropical fish.

I've got one more question for you & then I'll let you be. In your opinion why is salt over recommended for tropical fish? I'm not questioning your opinion, I just want to fully understand why you are of this opinion to begin with. Thanks.

 

[sailedNJ]

Come on now you sorcerers out there that voted for "Magical Fairy Dust" lol, don't be shy, inquiring minds want to know. How exactly does fairy dust work? Do you just add it to the tank or do you have to prefix it like you would with salt? Is there a little dance involved or any chanting? Please do tell

On a serious note, thank you to all of you that have voted & shared your methods & opinions so far. If you haven't done so already, please take a moment to vote & share with all of us your prefer method for treating Ich.

What I hope to accomplish from the poll is to learn more about the methods that I personally DO NOT prefer, the gather info on various available meds, & to gain a better overall perspective on how Ich is viewed & dealt with by fellow hobbyists.

 

[RisiganL.]

I prefer salt and heat BUT I do add meds if it is a particularly bad case of Ich.

 

[sailedNJ]

I prefer salt and heat BUT I do add meds if it is a particularly bad case of Ich.

Thanks for voting/posting. In lieu of salt & heat which meds have you used & what is your opinion about their results?

 

[dbosman]

dbosman, thanks for elaborating on your original post, much appreciated. :thm:
I've got one more question for you & then I'll let you be. In your opinion why is salt over recommended for tropical fish? I'm not questioning your opinion, I just want to fully understand why you are of this opinion to begin with. Thanks.

The problem is freshwater fish evolved to live in freshwater. Body chemistry such as ion exchange require fresh water. Putting freshwater fish to salt solutions upsets the body chemistry. Will they survive? Perhaps, but generally at the cost of health and longevity.
The cure for syphilis used to be injected mercury or arsenic. The dose for a cure is just slightly less than a lethal dose, and mistakes were made, but the alternative was a lingering deteriorating life until the patient died from brain damage. Did it "cure" syphilis? Well, yes.

In the early days of fish keeping, and very specifically prior to 1944, there were no antibiotics commercially available. The first production antibiotics went to war. In 1944 they became available to the public. The antibiotics were one. Penicillin.
What fish keepers, and any medical practitioners, had were serums, salts, acids, heavy metals, sulphur compounds, dyes and other chemicals that were made into cures, tonics, and "medicines". Some of them worked. Sort of. Bleeding still works for some very specific medical conditions. That doesn't mean it's recommended for influenza.

Salts, and there are many salts, were used to treat fish because there weren't better options. A hyper-saline solution will kill or seem to kill many parasites and bacterial infections. Why? Some parasites essentially explode or implode. The working process is ion changes shut down the life of the parasite. Hopefully before the ion changes shut down the life of the fish. It was worth the risk as the alternative was to lose fish, but... It was the change in salinity that killed the infestation. The fish were always restored to their freshwater tanks after the treatment.

Unfortunately there are pet shops, Petco for one, that still recommend keeping salt in a freshwater tank. It's a great way to sell medications.
Keeping salt in a freshwater tank actually increases susceptibility to disease as the fish are always under stress.

More unfortunately, far too many pet books, web sites, and even forums, pass on lore not research.
There are still people who believe Xxxxxx can cure any number of things, despite reams of documented research proving otherwise because so and so said it worked.