invert-safe Ich treatment?

[Phlegethon]

Chem-Marin has a product called "Stop Parasites" that supposedly has no copper and does not hurt inverts or filter bacteria. Has anyone here tried it?

info: http://www.cowfishes.com/ich.html

 

[Allivymar]

Coupla things Phlegethon.

Thats actually an ad for SW ich, not FW ich. Both called ich, diff parasite tho (although both can be affected by the same types of meds). They have a slightly different life cycle too. You'll notice they don't even recommend the products for treatment with brackish puffers (they state use the ich med of your choice).

"Stop Parasites"...hrmmm. I think hot pepper and mint belong in food, and not in the fishtank LOL The only food related item I've heard of used for ich treatment is garlic; tends to be used in SW only, and isn't that effective. I imagine hot pepper and mint oil would be actually pretty irritating to scaleless fish; maybe the thought is they will overproduce slime coat and that would slough the parasites off? I can't see them being any good for inverts either.

The other product doesn't seem to contain an antiparasitical although it claims to. The 2 active ingredients are both antibacterials, which wouldn't do a thing for parasites, although it would help prevent secondary infections. Tremethoprim is also known as Bactrim, and Sulfadimidine is usually used in vet medicine for infections. If you look it up online, the only site claiming it works on parasites is the one you linked.

IMHO that site is full of it LOL They even claim "Fish naturally harbor the parasite". Nope. They can only get it from another fish which has it, and once it is treated properly and removed from the tank, it will NOT return unless they are exposed again.

 

[Phlegethon]

It supposedly works for FW Ich as well at half-dose, but they also make a FW product ("Stop parasites FWP"). It appears someone wrote a review of this product in the reviews section, says it did what it's supposed to with no ill side-effects but gave it a six due to the fact that Chem-Marin wouldn't "guarantee" the safety of his animals.

I think it might be worth trying if the heat and salt treatments are not an option.

 

[Allivymar]

I took my info from the FAQs over at Wetwebmedia.com; Some folks said the stuff doesn't work, and some of the advisors don't recommend it anyway. One positive thing I found written about it is from a lfs owner who is no longer in business from what I can tell (John Canada of Great Plains Seahorses). Another is from a cowfish owner who swears by it, and explains the product causes the slime coat to slough off taking the parasites with it. If you understand the ich life cycle, you'll know thats not an effective way of eradicating ich, as it has no effect on the encysted parasites or those free swimming in the water column. I'd also be very hesitant to introduce a product so irritating it cause a fish's slime coat to slough off.

You might want to look into something called Ecolibrium. I have heard very good things about this and its safe for all scaleless fish; I'm not 100% sure its ok for inverts.

 

[Phlegethon]

Ok, I'm here to report back on my experience with Chem-Marin's Stop Parasites FWP. It's suppoosed to kill off ich in freshwater tanks without harming plants or inverts. I got the stuff and started using it once I had the tank temp raised to >86 degrees. I used it for 5 days as instructed, then ramped down the temp back to normal. Of course this makes it impossible to say whether or not the stuff killed the ich or the heat did. However I had no ill side-effects. With the first dose my shrimp came out like it was feeding time. The fish behaved as if it was feeding time as well, and the stuff is supposed to stimulate their appetite. After 2 days, the water smelled awful. After 5 I could not see any ich. A few days running carbon in the filter took care of the smell and all seems well.

Now it's been a few weeks since treatment and all the ich is gone, no one was lost and the plants are all fine. If the stuff does no good, it at least does no harm either. I'd try it again before resorting to heat if I had another outbreak.

 

[Allivymar]

Cool, good to know it at least isn't harmful to inverts; thanx!