Possible New Cure for Ick?

The reason that removing the substrate does not cure ich is because tomonts (unattached reproductive stage) adhere to any hard surface including equipment, sand and glass.
Terry B
 
Does anyone else here suspect the reason that we haven't heard an update for 11 days? He was emailed asking for a report. I guess it could be a bit embarrassing to come back now and say the experiment failed. That is too bad really, but after all this time I would have to wonder about the credibility of any success story.
Terry B
 
TerryB said:
Does anyone else here suspect the reason that we haven't heard an update for 11 days? He was emailed asking for a report. I guess it could be a bit embarrassing to come back now and say the experiment failed. That is too bad really, but after all this time I would have to wonder about the credibility of any success story.
Terry B
Terry,

I am willing to give cratylus the benefit of the doubt here. There could be all sorts of reasons he has not been able to report back. I am not about to jump to any conclusions that the treatment didn't work because he hasn't come back any more than I will jump to the conclusion that ginger is 100% reliable if he reports the fish was cured.
 
Remeber at the start of his post, he was away for like, 15 days.

I think he will be back, you should be patient if your reefers :D
 
True, they did have a gap in reports before between May 9th and May 22nd. Time will tell but I am still wondering what the hypothesis that ginger could kill parasites is based on.
Terry B
 
FWIW

Whilst there may be some question over the scientific value of any study carried out in an ad hoc manner, failure should not be embaressing to the experimenter.

In order to move foreward studies will be carried out on many substances in an effort to cure ilness, many will turn out to be blind alleys, ie failures. We need to know what doesnt work as well as what does work.

Glenn
 
I have a powder brown who came up with ich two
days ago and has not had it before. I had just done
a water change so maybe that brought it on,
anyway, I happened to have some ginger so I decided
to give it a shot, chopped it up fine, and mixed it with
Spirulina Flakes. He ate some and 24 hours later the
three spots are nearly gone. Probably a coincidence,
but hey!

As far as the ginger causing liver damage
and so forth I doubt a little will hurt as these fish lean
to the vegetarian side and I credit them with some ability to
sense when a plant is toxic to their systems.
Anyone have any info on this? How do they avoid
toxic plants in the wild?
 
I'm sorry, guys. When you have major damage done to your house because of a tree downed by the wind in a massive thunderstorm, you don't get much of an opportunity to live a normal life. I'm trying to put my life in order so forgive me if posting results hasn't been high on my priority list.

To all you skeptics out there, I salute you. Honestly. I am a skeptic by nature (and training) as well. A degree in philosophy and the ultimate respect for the scientific method will do that to you. Keep in mind, never once have I said I was posting SCIENTIFIC RESULTS. Never. In fact, twice now I have told people that my "experiment", if you want to call it that, does NOT meet with the rigors of the scientific method. However, I wholeheartedly AGREE with you that people should NOT jump to the conclusion that ginger is a cure for ick. Anyone claiming that is a moron and is a danger to this hobby. All I was trying to do was post my findings and my rationale for doing what I did; I leave it to others to determine if there is any validity to them.

To all you people touting ginger as a cure for ick: STOP IT! And shame on you for blowing this thread that much of out proportion. Did the title of my thread spur this? "Possible New Cure for Ick?" God, I hope not. If I had it to do all over again, maybe I would've said, "Possible New TREATMENT for Ick?" or "My Personal Results of Using Ginger on Ick-infested Fish"? or something to that effect. But I didn't. I was going for brevity in the title and hoped what I was doing and reporting on would be understood with my postings.

To all of you wondernig what has happened with the ginger treatment since my last post: still no ick in the main tank. Ther purple tang, I'm thrilled to report has ZERO white dots on him. I see no labored breathing at all. My apologies to all your scientists and ultra-skeptics out there. I didn't have the time, money, or resources to do skin samples, water slides, and intestinal tract cultures. That was never my intent. If I had the money, I'd love to do a SCIENTIFIC study on this. Since I have none of those, I'm simply reporting what I'm seeing. Don't know how else to phrase that, sorry guys.

My apologies again to anyone that may feel slighted, miffed, skeptical, etc. by the length of time between my posts. I wasn't trying to hide from criticism (so far as I can tell, nobody has really criticized ME, per se), I wasn't trying to delay posting negative results. When you have had as crazy of a two month period as I've had, you don't have a lot of time to spend doing "free-time" things like post here on the boards.
 
I forgot in my last post:

I'm not here to convince people or garner acclaim. I come here because I love this hobby and want to share in the wealth of information here.

I feel no obligation to report when it's convenient for TerryB or anyone else for that matter. I don't spend a lot of time on this website... because I actually have A LIFE to live. If people choose not to believe me because I can't make it back to post findings for a few weeks, I'm not gonna lose any sleep over it.
 
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FWIW cratylus,
I thought you made your point, and came across much better in the first of your last two posts.
 
I'm glad to hear your tang is doing well, cratylus. And I agree with your comments, as I did early on in this thread. It is <b>interesting</b>, and I'd like to see someone pursue a study of this some day.
 
dreeves said:
It isn't convenient for some if treating ich doesn't include hyposalinity....

It's not a matter of convienence, but rather one of reality. Sadly many of us have seen many "reef safe" and "miracle" cures come and fade away with the latest fads. All of us that are skeptical of such things would truly love to see a "reef safe" treatment method that truly worked on a reliable basis ;)

cratylus,

Hope the house recovery is going well.

Good reply and update in that post ;) Unfortuneatly so many want to be able to treat ich without having to work at it that any hint at a reef safe method is jumped on en masse. Wouldn't have mattered what your thread tittle was ;) BTW please keep us updated on how your fish are doing in regards to ich, ie if it comes back at all in the next month or so.
 
cratylus said:
I feel no obligation to report when it's convenient for TerryB or anyone else for that matter. I don't spend a lot of time on this website... because I actually have A LIFE to live. If people choose not to believe me because I can't make it back to post findings for a few weeks, I'm not gonna lose any sleep over it.

Well said

:thumbsup:
 
My fish have ich now too, must have come in with a goby that was added on Saturday. I will try the ginger and/or garlic today as qt and hypo are out of the question due to space. I will report any success or (hopefully not) failures.
 
WOW, What a controversal thread. I agree with the nature, method first. I use the garlic, but you know ginger with garlic sounds better, I'm going to give this a try. "You know if everyone waited till this method was time triald and researched, and studied, we could have allot more losses." We should really thank those individuals that go the extra mile to care enough to try something new----( AND TO REPORT THE RESULTS___GOOD OR BAD BACK TO US)---- Thanks for your post, and I hope your Purple Tang stays Ich Free. Keep us posted!!!!! Belinda
 
Last night I chopped up fresh garlic and ginger root and dipped it in a cup of the tanks saltwater. After 30 minutes of soaking I poured the water from the cup back in the tank. After that I added more water to the same cup with the chopped up herbs and let it sit over night. This morning I poured the water in. Tonight I will cut up some more and soak it with the frozen brine shrimp I feed at night.

Ich still present, not better, not worse.

Should I avoid getting any puried garlic and ginger in the tank?
 
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