Freshwater Dip for my clown

[makatak123]

My clown is sick with ick. I have been treating him with Quick Cure and seems like no luck. I am trying everything. Some one told me to cure ick you put the saltwater fish in freshwater for 1-2 min and it will cure it. Is this true?? If so please tell me how.
Thanks for the help!

[eklikewhoa]

I've done it for coral but never fish. You could try it and it should be ok, I think you have to get the pH up to match the tank as well to reduce some stress that will occur.

[makatak123]

Thanks. Hopefully Nemo wont die....

[rage]

http://saltwater.aqua-fish.net/?marine-fish-disease

This thread said nothing about freshwater dip.

I think the idea behind freshwater dip is that freshwater is not a livable environment for your fish nor for the ich parasites.
If your fish is stronger than the ich , the ich die first.
If the ich is stronger than your fish, your fish die first.
Your call.

[myjohnson]

I wouldnt even do a FW dip for my corals.

[makatak123]

so i should not try it?

[JasonC]

The freshwater dip is for removal of external ick cysts only. The theory behind the treatment is that the FW crosses over the parasites cellular membrane uncontrolled and kills the parasite. Since the cyst is designed to be in a SW environment there are no FW cell regulatory structures in place and the FW basically causes the cyst to explode due to hyper hydration. This is a control method typically used upon introduction to an aquarium to prevent any cysts from riding in on a new fish and introducing the parasite to the tank. Unfortunately for most and in your case: once you've got it - you've got it.

The FW dip does not do anything for the free floating phase parasites which are still in your aquarium and can/will reinfect the clown and possibly any other fish in the aquarium. The only "proven" methods to eradicate ick from an aquarium are a tank left barren (free of fish) for 4 weeks and copper based medications. Copper based medications will kill just about everything in the tank including the parasite, beneficial bacteria, inverts, corals and even your fish if dosed incorrectly. It is not something that can be used on a display tank and can only be administered in a QT tank as the medication will effectively nuke your aquarium.

Most people just feed the fish and hope for the best. If they make it out and survive the infestation there is evidence that the fish becomes much more resilient to the parasite at future outbreaks.

[DustinB]

Actually, a freshwater dip will do nothing for ich on a fish. Once they have encysted you basically have to wait for them to fall off. All treatments wait for the free swimming part of the life cycle to kill the parasites. Also, 4 weeks is nowhere near long enough. A tank must be run fallow for 8 weeks to ensure the parasites have completed the life cycle and died without a host.

Your best bet is to setup a quarantine/hospital tank and treat the fish with hyposalinity or copper such as cupramine for at least 6 weeks. This will require your main tank to be without fish for 8 weeks. Copper, as stated above will destroy your tank in the sense that you will never be able to use the rock or substrate again for any tank containing inverts of coral. Hyposalinity is possible in some new tanks if there's not a lot of life on the rocks or any coral/inverts in the tank. There are plenty of credible articles on this if you search google.