To Dip or Not to Dip,

[Cleartank]

Hi, Just want to discuss on FW dip....

A few recent posts discourages FW dips and encourages the use of food soak in garlic instead....

I can't denied that the garlic solution should be the way to go if its use for.....

1. Prevention

2. Insurance after attack...

But I think that the best immediate 1st Aid procedure are to give the infected ones a FW dip rite?

So kindly share your medical knowledge.. and may we be the first club to patent a miracle cure....

Long Live SRC

[Dispar_Anthias]

Hi, Just want to discuss on FW dip....

A few recent posts discourages FW dips and encourages the use of food soak in garlic instead....

I can't denied that the garlic solution should be the way to go if its use for.....

1. Prevention

2. Insurance after attack...

But I think that the best immediate 1st Aid procedure are to give the infected ones a FW dip rite?

So kindly share your medical knowledge.. and may we be the first club to patent a miracle cure....

Long Live SRC

........ fresh water dip are no cure, yes they do kill some of the ich on the fish body, but ich parasite are known to be very tough, hardy and pesistant thus at that time when you remove the fish, not all ich parasite are killed and moreover the time period for dip is very short of ard 3-5mins........ And also ich parasite have a life cycle, the free swimming stage, the infecting stage and the juvenile stage(if i am not wrong cos i dunno the exact name of each stage) thus as long as the tank water remain fully untouch or unchange and contain fishes in it, ich will forever remain in the tank as there are host for the parasite. And ich usually do not attack fishes that are already established in your tank as they have the sufficient immune system to protect them from the ich parasite so only newly added fish which are stress will then be attack as their immune system is lowered. And as you know fresh water dip stress the fish alot, so when added back to the tank, it will be even more stress due to the adverse changes in water condition, from salt to fresh then change back to salt water, thus they are even more likely to be attack by the parasite.

So IMO pls dun DIP

[Clownfish]

Personally i tried FW dips with my blue tang long long time ago....

I had a 1.5ft small FOWLR tank with my veri small blue tang then....

then I found ICH on its body....

and then, i catch it out after much work then place it in a small quarantine tank with copper treatment....

everyday, i would routinely catch him out for a FW dip for if i din rem wrongly ard 2.5 mins.... i used tap water with dechlorinator onli.....

after 5 days of troublesome work.... he is fully cured n when i put him back... there wasnt any more outbreak liao....

In short, the FW dip does remove the parasites on the fish body when Osmosis occurs during the dip.... n the copper treatment in the quarantine serves to kill all free swimming Ich....

Now my blue tang still with me

But then, i do not personally recommend FW dips unless emergency cos when u do such things u must hav the psychological preparation to lose ur beloved fish

Rem... prevention is better than cure... a garlic a day keeps the Ich away

[darren]

i gave my purple tank which has been troubled by ich since the night i bought it a fw dip. it was after weeks of garlic soaked food which seems pretty useless. the dip was just for less than a min. the fish was stressed and not all the white spots was gone after the dip. however all the spots were gone by the 2nd night after the treatment. a bit drastic, but it seem to work.

just my 2c,

darren

[Cleartank]

I think can say that there are some of us that dip our fishes and some dun.... What i feel is that whatever you do, you got to monitor it... anyway, some methods does work for some and doesn't for some others.... IMHO, if the infected fish is not too weak, I think its fine to give it a cold shower..... to relieve it of some irritation..... no matter what we do.... Im sure we just want to save lives....

[ah^siao]

for a long term one.. mayb u will wanna install a UV to your tank?

it'll kill most of the bacteria.. algae free somemore?

[SpiderOne]

UV filter should only be used if u have massive ich outbreaks every other day

[jsoon]

I treated myxazin for my whole tank as my tang is so hard to catch with my corals and LR

[Fishfreak]

In my opinion, FW dips are beneficial.

I employ this technique :

A) all my newly acquired fish go through 5 mins FW dips before they go into a QT

daily 5 mins FW dips for fish down with ick (together with copper) or marine velvet (together with hyposalinity - tried only once, didn't manage to save the fish though)

BUT, please remember the FW must be of the SAME PH and TEMP as the QT or display tank! Or the PH shock will probably kill it or weaken it further.

FF

[terryansimon]

for a long term one.. mayb u will wanna install a UV to your tank?

it'll kill most of the bacteria.. algae free somemore?

yes. every bacteria including the free floating beneficial ones.

[joachimsim]

How do you prepare GARLIC soaked FOOD?

[pospeh]

FW dips are a big shock to the fish. They could easily die from it. It shouldn't be used as a preventive measure.

Dips should be used as a weapon of last resort when the infection is at an advanced stage and cures that takes a long time to take effect (i.e, garlic) wont cure the disease before the fish dies.

[Nic a Jon]

jsoon Posted on Nov 3 2003, 01:45 AM

Myxazin reef safe?.....did it work for your tang? I am trying to do something

for my yellow Tang who just got white spot yesterday. Try catching him to treat him

but tough

[pospeh]

I havent heard of this product before.

Check the label to see if it contains copper. If so, it is not reef safe.

[hoppinghippos]

if I"m not wrong, its an antibiotic, and again if I"m not wrong, the antibiotic will also wipe out beneficial bacteria?

[FuEl]

An alternative to Myxazin would be Octozin...personally I prefer using Octozin as it does not discolour the water.

Antibiotics are antibodies that are specific in their action. The specific antibodies will not work on other antigens presenting different surface molecules. However, cross-reactivity could occur. There is always this risk among closely related antigens.

[Nic a Jon]

My yellow Tang kicked the bucket last night after FW dip (with anti whitespot). I dip the YT the night b4..seemed ok after the dip and I placed him back into the quarantine tank, but after last night's dip, it went in to stress, coma...and then . Regret doing that.

what should I do the next time with fish with white spot and after feeding garlic cannot help??

[Cleartank]

How long was the dip baby? Must not dip too long.... have to monitor the fish when dipping... dun dip it then go dip nachos... Sure Die!

Anyway... hope the tang goes to heaven....

[Nic a Jon]

3-4 mins and monitoring.....anyway, belum try belum tua

[hoppinghippos]

I tried dipping before, one fish ok, one fish die. so I think its maybe heng suay.

If I"m not wrong, antibiotics for ich work against all gram positive bacteria or something like that, can't rem, but supposedly good bacteria is also gram positive so antibiotics will wipe out everything. anyone who knows better on this?

[fishnerd]

Hi everyone, white spot is indeed a headache for everyone. Well, the use of medication as a prohpylactic is encouraged but I suppose not in unmonitored quantities. Copper is effective against parasites like Ich (read somewhere that this term is only used for the freshwater species) but only when it develops into the swimming larvae stage. The visual white spots that you see is when the fish slime covers and protects the parasite against the effects of the chemical. And, coppersafe, sold as chelated copper is more safe to overdose but less effective. Other reef safe chemicals effective would probably be Malachite Green or 70% formaldehyde but still, prevention is better then cure.

Freshwater dips, conducted in experiments by Martin Moe, showed 80-90% shedding of the parasite in water with pH raised to sea water's 8.3. effective time recommended is between 5-10 mins. I do it for all my new fish.

Use a UV for 24 hrs, it helps to stop outbreaks, lower the salinity to 1.016 if keeping only fish. have a hospital tank with heater, helps to fasten the parasite cycle too or some change the lighting cycle, off for few days, apparently, parasite has photosynthetic ability. Forget the garlic, it clears internal parasites not really external. Use Oxycure to raise oxygen levels, fish die when parasite attacks gills. .. Future cure? a vaccine being developed now by NUS researchers or a parasite attracting block (read in Practical Fishkeeping)

[junyong84]

An alternative to Myxazin would be Octozin...personally I prefer using Octozin as it does not discolour the water.

Antibiotics are antibodies that are specific in their action. The specific antibodies will not work on other antigens presenting different surface molecules. However, cross-reactivity could occur. There is always this risk among closely related antigens.

octozin is reef safe???

where can u get it?

[Clownfish]

My yellow Tang kicked the bucket last night after FW dip (with anti whitespot). I dip the YT the night b4..seemed ok after the dip and I placed him back into the quarantine tank, but after last night's dip, it went in to stress, coma...and then . Regret doing that.

what should I do the next time with fish with white spot and after feeding garlic cannot help??

hi, wat do u mean by "FW dip (with anti whitespot)"

u r not supposed to add anything into the FW other than suitable amt of dechlorinator....

anyways, usually for YT, if they r still feeding then it's okay not to disturb them,... just feed them well ( with garlic ) n buy some cleaner shrimps will do....

FW dip is a last resort.....

[jsoon]

Myxazin reef safe?.....did it work for your tang? I am trying to do something

for my yellow Tang who just got white spot yesterday. Try catching him to treat him

but tough

Myxazin Reef Safe...Henry MarineLife says so... but it comes in small bottle and you need to get 2 for 3 ft and above tank. The treatment cycle is 5 days.

[scooter blenny]

In my opinion, FW dips are beneficial.

I employ this technique :

A) all my newly acquired fish go through 5 mins FW dips before they go into a QT

daily 5 mins FW dips for fish down with ick (together with copper) or marine velvet (together with hyposalinity - tried only once, didn't manage to save the fish though)

BUT, please remember the FW must be of the SAME PH and TEMP as the QT or display tank! Or the PH shock will probably kill it or weaken it further.

FF

using the same concept:

can we soak fish in a garlic mix salt water? and since parasites more or less "hates" FW. what about lower salt content and place fish in total darkness?

i have done it on my newly brought fishes... so far so good.......