Saltwater Ich remedy - hoax???

[toddwess]

Interesting development today . . .

The lady at the LFS said that when she has a saltwater fish that she wants to put in her saltwater tank at home and is not sure if it has ich or not - she dips it into her freshwater aquarium for 20 minutes.

The freshwater is not harmful to the saltwater fish, but saltwater ich will not live in freshwater, and therefore, if the saltwater fish has ich, the ich will die off.

Now the fish is ich-free and ready to go into her saltwater display tank.

She says she has been doing this for 4 years, and has never had ich in her saltwater tank or in her freshwater tank.

Is this true??? Can we dip our new saltwater fish into freshwater for 20 mintues and completely rid them of saltwater ich?

Thoughts?

Todd

 

[BBReef]

i have heard of fresh water dips, but 20 minutes? that would cause extreme stress for any saltwater fish. although, i have heard of a case where two damsels survived for 24 hours in a freshwater tank cuzz the kid didnt know how much salt to add and only put in two tablespoons. but still, even though they might work, i would definitly go with a qt tank over a freshwater dip, especially with more fragile fish.

 

[ReefLady]

The freshwater is not harmful to the saltwater fish

Define harmfull - a quick (1-2 minute) dip will not kill the fish, but is extremely stressful. 20 min, IMO, is extreme, and I am surprised that the fish survives this.

IMO, if you properly quarantine fish prior to adding to the main tank, you will never have Ich problems.

 

[Biggen]

I was always under the impression that FW dips did little to Ich anyway. Especially since you are only treating the parasite on the body of the fish and not in the aquarium.

 

[reefrunner69]

Osmotic shock will kill ick, this is why hyposalinity works, velvet, OTOH, is a tougher cookie and IMO is best treated with copper when possible.

IMO, FW dips are too stressful on the fish, the fish is already traumatized and we throw it in a bucket of FW for 20 min (this is supposed to be the appropriate length for a FW dip) and expect it to thrive in our SW tank....just doesn't seem right. With proper quarantine, you will have the same effect on ick in the display, but the mortality rate will be lower from stressed induced death, IMO.