Fresh water dip question

[reefkeeper78]

I've never done a fresh water dip before but thinking that it might be necesary. I've recently added a kole tang after qt. I've noticed that it has one white spot on one of its fins. Never dealt with ich before and hoping that is not that.

Will fresh water dip remove the spot and reduce the chance of ich?

Does the fresch water dip have to be RO/DI water or can it be tap water with a tds of around 200ppm.?

How long do I leave the fish in the fresh water?

Do I float the fish in a bag to aclimate the fish to the temp of the fresh water or do my best to match the water temps?

I'd love to put the fish back into qt but I'm currently housing another fish that is most deff. sick for someone else who didn't have a hospital tank. Go figure, never needed to put a fish in a hospital tank and the first time that I need to, its being occupied by a fish that isn't even mine.

 

[cougaran]

How long was he in QT? One spot could be anything at this point.. FW bath wont harm him, but I've seen one spot come and go quick w/o it being anything but stress to owner. FW bath need to match PH(most important) many use baking soda. 3 to 4 mins max. I use to float a clean soda bottle filled with water in tank to match temp. If using tap use some type of water conditioner or amquel. The bad news if you have introduced a fish from QT to main, you most likely have already spread disease..if there is something... Continue to monitor fish and other fish in main. Take a deep breath...

 

[MrTuskfish]

Like cougaran said; a FW won't hurt him. If this is ich, a FW bath won't do anything; if the spot is a fluke, it should get rid of it. the white spot you see is not the ich parasite (if this is ich) the parasite is well under the skin. With ich, and similar parasites, seeing the white spots disappear is just the beginning. I'd suggest you research the subject, a knowledge of ich, and similar parasites,is vital for any hobbyist. Its impossible to even guess what the fish has, much less how to treat it, from one spot. I'd just leave it alone and see what develops.
BTW: how long was this fish in QT?

 

[reefkeeper78]

the spot is gone at this point. I noticed that when I saw the fish the first time in the am, only about 8hrs ish after I noticed the small spot, it is gone. All fish are still acting normal at this point. I guess that only time will tell if I have a problem.

the fish was in qt for only 10 days. My hand was forced on adding the fish as the tank had started leaking late at night after all stores were long since closed. The way I saw it was put it in the tank and have a 50/50 shot at problems or lose the fish due to mechanical defect. I know that the fish was not in the qt anywhere near long enough but felt it was the best solution at that point.

 

[cougaran]

It happens, not alot you can do in that case. The only thing that I would do before placing into main becasue of QT failure would be to do a formalin bath. It wouldnt hurt and may kill anything left on fish.

 

[aleonn]

Just freshwater dipped a couple of my fish from my QT last night, for the first time. As mentioned, pH (baking soda) and temperature matching are the keys. My angelfish and trigger didn't appear stressed at all surprisingly. Lots of flukes were released into the bath container. If you later notice anything unusual physically or behaviorally, especially lack of appetite, the freshwater dip is a good idea to rule out flukes.