case of ich!! help!!

[Tommy Gun]

ok so what yall are saying is treat it for a couple of weeks after the last white spot is off of my pleco?

Exactly...like I said, better to be safe than sorry and if you want, you could continue on for even longer.

but no he is backj swimming around eating on stuff.

Awesome! It is great to hear that.
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Oooops, looks like cichlidgirl and I were replying at the same time....

Originally Posted by cichlidgirl

some meds when used over a extended time can be damaging to both the fish and the cycle of the tank.

I am not 100% sure, but I believe any ich med should be ok to use over the course of a few months or more without too many adverse affects. Once we understand the nature of the beast, we can realize that the treatment almost has to be prolonged past the point of no more white spots unless we want to risk a reoccurance.

As far the copper based med that I have used for treating Marine Ich, the box also suggests to continue treating for at least a week after the fish are spot-free and doesn't seem to suggest that it can only be used for a month or two. I do believe that "extended period of time" is a relative term that can range an entire day or an entire decade depending on what is being compared (e.g. one year is not an extended period of time when speaking about someone who has lived to be 100, but eight hours of working may be considered an extended period of time when compared to one day)

The "trick" to using copper is simply to maintain a specific amount as closely as possible...so it isn't really like copper levels are building up over time....or hopefully not anyways.

[Loman]

I believe any ich med should be ok to use over the course of a few months or more without too many adverse affects. Once we understand the nature of the beast, we can realize that the treatment almost has to be prolonged past the point of no more white spots unless we want to risk a reoccurance.

I think there are several valid take away points here.

1. Once you start a course of treatment you are usually committed to that plan until it completes.
2. You need to stick with preventative items on ich and other diseases past the time when symptoms are present to be sure and kill the parasite or deal with other issues such as fungus etc. to be sure it addresses recurrence issues.
3. You should be sure of the ramifications of things before dumping them in the display tank especially because it starts down a path. Personally I am not a big fan of copper because it is lethal to many things and not good for most. At this point IMO it is the lesser of two evils though and should be used to the logical conclusion of this episode.

[tropical1]

yeah i didtn know about the salt treatment till after i got started with the copper. if i ever get it again i am going to go the salt route instaed, liek yall said, its more healthy for the fish. and also whne i got home today, i netted tyhe fish so i could examine him thoroughly and he has 1 white spot and both eyes are clear now. so i am going to treat 2 more times and be done hopefully. i will most likely wait 2 more weeks before adding any fish back to the tank.