Goin for it!!!! Goin FALLOW!!!

[jbvdhp]

I've been a member for some time, but only needed to post now. It goes without saying I've busted my head, lost sleep, stressed over my fish and their problem: ICH!!!

Today, I was able to successfully pull my fish out of the tank, and now they're in sterilite bins for hypo treatment. I'm looking for a used large tank for all 7 or my fish. I knew this had to be done, and decided hypo vs copper or ttm ( seems easiest). As of tonight i am at 1.020 sg, and I have been trying to read about keeping the pH stable.. Seems tricky, does anyone have tricks for keeping it stable?

Also, since I am unable to see the sides of the fish cuz they're in opaque bins, can anyone suggest a timeframe to assume the fish are ICH free? I am planning on getting them into a glass tank instead of the opaque bins, but if I dont, can I assume in 10 weeks they're gone?

It feels good knowing I'm gonna get rid of this damn thing. I couldn't go by what people said anymore... I.e make sure they eat, are fat, watch em,,, blah blah.

Thanks!

 

[TitanCi]

Jbvdhp is me... That's odd.. Why on tapatalk am I logged into a different name?

 

[pyithar]

ime, hyposalinity doesn't always work. but if you wanna try anyway, you'll need a glass tank because you'll need to watch the fish throughout the treatment. you'll also need a reliable refractometer. keep the salinity stable at 1.008 for 4 weeks after the last spot is seen. then raise the salinity slowly over a week. after that, observe the fish for 4 weeks in normal salinity. if you ever see a spot throughout the treatment, you'll need to redo everything from the start again. good luck.

 

[snorvich]

To treat ich, the treatments in order of preference and effectiveness are tank transfer, copper/CP. Hyposalinity is difficult to execute properly and may not work if you get a hyposaline resistant strain of ich. Please read the stickies in this forum.

 

[TitanCi]

Goin for it!!!! Goin FALLOW!!!

^i have been reading the stickies.

In fact, they're you're stickies, snorvich .

So before I lower the salinity more, should I abandon it for something easier like cupramine?

Looks like HS isn't preferred anymore?

 

[snorvich]

For preferred order of treatment selection, see my previous post. Why two names?

 

[TitanCi]

Goin for it!!!! Goin FALLOW!!!

I did, that's why I asked about the cupramine. I thought HS should be easier for the fish.

Not sure why it shows up as this name on my tablet. Must be because of the tapatalk stuff. But it's me.

Btw, is CP cupramine/copper or chloroquine phosphate?

 

[Spar]

I did, that's why I asked about the cupramine. I thought HS should be easier for the fish.

Not sure why it shows up as this name on my tablet. Must be because of the tapatalk stuff. But it's me.

Btw, is CP cupramine/copper or chloroquine phosphate?

CP is chloroquine phosphate; works very similar to copper.

Hypo is easier on the fish once at the lower salinity, but can be very stressful on the way up, hence why to go very slowly. But, some Ich strains are resistant to the lower salinity, so ends up being a moot attempt.

Copper is toxic, so is going to be stressful on the fish, and even kill some; but, is very successful on ich and velvet.

Tank Transfer Method (TTM) + 4 or more weeks observation seems to be the going trend lately, and is the trend I take personally. this gets rid of Ich (highest success of all the QT options) and then the observation period allows you to monitor for brook and velvet, among others.

 

[jbvdhp]

^thanks, I get the point of TTM, Hypo, Cu...

Here's my livestock: yellow, purple, sohal tang, golden midas, two clowns and a 6 line. They're in 20 gal holding bins at the moment, and unfortunately I am afraid I can't house two larger tanks (i.e. 2 x 40 gal+) anywhere in the house anymore to do the tank transfer. Unless you experts think it's ok to do the transfers of the 7 fish in those two Sterilite bins??? I'm stressing out so much, I think I'll get ich!

 

[Spar]

people do TTM in buckets (even home depot buckets) all the time. no harm in it at all. just need a heater and airstone for each. then you can pull them all back into a single 40g post-TTM for the remaining of the observation period.

what size tank will they be going into as final destination?

 

[jbvdhp]

people do TTM in buckets (even home depot buckets) all the time. no harm in it at all. just need a heater and airstone for each. then you can pull them all back into a single 40g post-TTM for the remaining of the observation period.

what size tank will they be going into as final destination?

well that's a relief!!! I may just do this. They're going back into my 6' 125 gallon.

So here's my next step... one bin is currently at 1.018 sg and the other is 1.019.

At this point, can someone please advise me of what is the best thing to do? I am thinking, get all the fish into one bin (either bin probably has ich in it, so I guess it doesn't matter... SG is close enough where they should be able to go directly into one bin, right? Dry out one bin, on day two, then fill with newly mixed salt and let that run for a day?

I read that airstones and tubing has to be thrown out? Why can't they just be dried and reused?

 

[Spar]

make sure that you allow all equipment, the bin, etc, dry completely AND stays dry for over 24 hours, 48 preferably. this is what kills the Ich cysts. the only thing wet that transfers over is the fish itself.

a 20g bin meaning you will only have 10-15g of water might be a little tight. i'd personally recommend getting at least 2 sets of bins and double up the work.

airstones have so many tiny holes, it is just too likely that it didn't dry enough in between uses and still has a cyst living in it. just isn't worth the risk. i figure if you let it sit out for a month or so, you can be quite reasonably sure it is OK to re-use though. i used to do this, but since they are so cheap when bought in bulk, i just started throwing them out.

many people throw out air tubing as well, but I do not. i think some of the theory with air tubing is that it is difficult to dry out inside the air tube... but, i simply just remove the air tubing from the water while still plugged in, so no water actually enters inside it. i dry the outside off with a paper towel.