Saltwater dip frequency and length

[bdacamel]

Hi, I have a mixed reef tank that has two clown fish, a blenny, and a sixeline wrasse. My male clownfish has some ich on one fin and a spot under the fin... I dipped the little guy in fresh rodi water for ten minutes and most of the spots came off..
Question is... he still has some on his fin so when can I dip him again? I don't want to stress him out ant more than I need to but I want him better.. thanks

 

[Mrscribbled]

Fresh water baths will only work with flukes, and help give some relief from velvet.
FW baths have no effect on ich. The parasites are imbedded too deep in the skin. Ich is in the entire system, not just on the one fish. There is great reading in the stickies above that will give you just about all you need to know about ich.
In order to get rid of the parasite all fish need to be removed, treated in a hospital tank, and the DT fishless 12 weeks.

 

[Newsmyrna80]

Read the stickies on cryptocaryon. Freshwater dips will not cure ich. There is some debate as to whether it even helps due to how deep the ich embeds itself.
The tried and true treatments are tank transfer, copper and chloroquine phosphate. There is a wealth of information in the cryptocaryon stickies.

 

[bdacamel]

Cool. Thanks for the response. I always thought I bad read that frshwater dips would.make their parasites drip off.. I see the dispute. Tomorrow I will get some medication and hospitalized him. Ivevaleays had ich it the tank (lost an angel-) but my clowns have been there the whole time. Do you think it could be stressed bc the other clown has grown into a female recently and has been bossing the new one around?
Also do have experience with treating ich? I'm seeming multiple types of meds lol. The fish is easily removed so quarantining is no problem (I don't believe in the reefsafe holistic treatment)

 

[bdacamel]

Yeah I think I'll pick up some copper treatment tomorrow.. just strange that he came down with this all of a sudden. I''ve had the two clowns for around six months.. oh well.. always learning I guess thanx for the response!

 

[Mrscribbled]

Cupramine works well.

 

[Speeddemon7]

If your afraid of copper and dont mind dosing everyday. I have had very good experience with Paragaurd by seachem.

 

[bdacamel]

So I'm leaning towards formalin dips for the fish and then some type of reef safe treatment for the tank.. any thoughts?

 

[Mrscribbled]

So I'm leaning towards formalin dips for the fish and then some type of reef safe treatment for the tank.. any thoughts?

Yeah... not 100 percent effective... I'd put it at about 5 percent effective. Why go through all that work for nothing...
Copper is not harmful if done correctly; raise dosage slowly over a weeks time, up to .35 ppm.
Tank transfer works
Hypo (less effective)
Chloroquine Phosphate (the new craze)

 

[bdacamel]

I'm gonna take ur wisdom and transfer tonight and use copper... this morning he was acting strange (swimming upside down) but he's always swam funny so we'll. See

 

[Mrscribbled]

Good luck, check in with any questions.

 

[snorvich]

But remember that if the fish did have ich, the tank now has ich and will infect, over time, all fish within.

 

[bdacamel]

Yup I just picked up some copper sulfate.. gonna transfer all fish tonight into another tank and treat them all...
Should I use some water from my DT or can I just mix up fresh saltwater?
Also is a month long enough for the main tank to clear of ich?

 

[snorvich]

Yup I just picked up some copper sulfate.. gonna transfer all fish tonight into another tank and treat them all...
Should I use some water from my DT or can I just mix up fresh saltwater?
Also is a month long enough for the main tank to clear of ich?

12 weeks.

 

[bdacamel]

12 weeks.. will do..
I tranfrd the fish and will dose copper tonight ( I wanted to let them acclimate for a day). Last night they weren't happy but today they seem to be getting used to their temporary home. Thanks for the help... I think my reef will benefit from this also (hoping the lack of excess waste will drop my nutes nice and low..
Only concern is I'm moving in a month so I now have a lot of water to make and containers to find lol.

 

[bdacamel]

ok so my fish are all well.. Thank you all for your help. I now have a tank ready for quarantining new specimens. i am now keeping some fliter floss in my sump so i can quickly seed my qt in the future..

here was my process..
copper treatment for four weeks and now i have been doing 50% wc's every week to keep the ammonia level down. the tank is becoming more stable now as it becomes cycled. i will keep up with large wc's in order to keep flushing out the water of any lingering parasites at least for another little while. My reef is looking good and enjoying the break from the fish.
so,, all in all, everything is well. The only problems ive encountered were stress related fungus in my clownfish, which is why i stopped the copper after the minimum 4 weeks and am doing regular large volume wc's. And then there is my six line, who is so picky with food!! He is withering away as i cant feed him often enough and he only want shrimp. Ive been catching pods and feeding him those as well.
Im sure all myy fish will be fine and my reef is hopefully going to be ich free