A bit confused need explanation

[JoeA]

I recently made a hospital tank for my sick clown fish who has Ick. If I am treating the hospital tank and fish with a cooper medication why would I also want to put the fish through hyposalinity. Wont the medication kill the Ick all by itself?

[dralarms]

Yes it will. You don't need to do both.

[JoeA]

cool, I still plann on keeping the fish in the tank for 6-8 weeks. That should be long enough to rid the display tank of the Ick right?

[XXFirefighter]

yes, turn the heat up a little too will make it go through it's life cycle faster.. about 85 should do it...

[JoeA]

My current plan is to treat the fish with cooper...according to the directions on the bottle. I believe it said 1 week, then do a 50% water change. Then finish the fish off for the remainder of the 6-8 weeks in hyposalinity. Is this a good plan?

[XXFirefighter]

sounds like 6-8 weeks with hypo would finish your fish off...
I'd do the copper and raise the temp and call him good !

What copper treatment is that?

Copper is typically maintained for a 14 day period (some prefer 21) and then it can be removed and the fish allowed to remin in the QT for an additional 2-3 weeks to monitor for re-occurances or secondary infection.

Hyposalinity should be maintained at treatment level (14-16 ppt) for a minimum of 4 weeks and then the same after treatment time/precaution. The fish can actually survive hyposalinity levels for a few months without issue.

Choose copper (preferabley Cupramine) or hyposalinity for treating C. irritans, never both. IMO, treating prophylactically is not a good idea. If the fish comes down with something completely different, the current treatment must be removed and the new one started. The lost time can usually mean the difference between success and failure.

Cheers
Steve