Quote:
Originally Posted by rudy
MY FOWLR has ich. Cowfish and the porcupine (both very small are affected the most)
Is there any way to treat this? I have heard it is very difficult.
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*NO DONT USE COPPER ON EITHER FISH. Seriously its a hit and miss! You will likely miss. There is other methods. The scaless fish do not respond to copper treament. I have seen it time and time again. Porcupines & cowfish BOTH die in copper treatment. What happens is they produce a slim that fogs their eyes and the mucus smothers them, not being able to breath and they will stop eating within the second day.
ALSO - its a double edge sword as well cause if the cowfish is stressed before it dies, well bye bye rest of fish as it can release its toxin. This also depends what KIND of boxfish you have??
First of, how many other fish do you have that are effected? Depending on the state of the fish being infected, you can treat naturally. Also depends how many fish your working with.
Here is some tips to help before treatment - ich:
1. Is your tank a FOWL only? Keep the tank PITCH DARK! Seriously. Ich falls off the fish, falling in the substrate (sand) and hatches and moves up towards the light. Keep the lights OUT! It not only calms the fish but helps the ich from finding your fish (host).
2. Get a fresh clump of ginger from Safeway (0.20 cents) soak and crush in their food. Remember to feed them in the dark. Also you can trade it up with crushed garlic on the other feeding days.
3. do lots of water changes.
4. If you have too many fish to treat, buy UV sterilizer.
There is only 3 methods to rid ich,
1. Copper - DO NOT use on these fish
2. Hyposalinity - very time consuming, requires a refractometer (accurate salinity monitor very slowly) and hypo can't be performed in the main tank. As it will create a big spike once it gets to 1.016 and kills everything including substrate and rock.
3. Jumping the parasite- as I like to call it. - a series of tub transfers (rubbermaid containers) in clean water each time. Reduces the salinity as you go, aerate the water tons, cupping the fish between transfers with NO netting (especially boxfish that get spooked and try to jump & porcupines panic and then puff, usually in your net. By no netting it reduces stress. BIG TIME! Try it! Anyway.. this is a method I have used for years on all my scareless fish friends. If your interested I will give you all the details on how to do.
For preventative treatment - I do suggest a UV sterilizer, like mentioned above. Especially with a FOWL tank. It's no reason not to. At times, depending on the fish and how bad the ich is, you can run a UV sterilizer and always have ich but it will keep it under control. Some people can have ich forever in their tanks but it keeps it at bay with UV. But again it really depends on many factors.
Hope this helps.
