no hurry on this, just wondering

[sparker]

from my understanding ich is a parasite. correct me if i'm wrong. So if a fish were to get ich and you had a cleaner shrimp, would the shrimp take care of the ich?

 

[RockingCricket]

That is the theory. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.

 

[TRe]

yea thats what i heard but why does your fish have ich??

 

[JNevaril]

hm....

doesn't the ich parasite bury itself into the fish's skin though?

 

[TRe]

not sure... i know fresh water dips work and garlic seems to help a bit

 

[wayne]

No. The cleaner just picks off the parasite at the surface, and any 'scab' material. The majority of the parasites are buried in the flesh, or also inaccessible on smaller fish (in the gills and so on).

Frshwater dips don't work. The buried parasites will last 17 hours plus, which is more than the fish will.

 

[TRe]

fresh water dip method has actually worked for me

 

[wayne]

How many times did you dip?

 

[TRe]

i did it a few times a day for a week or so

 

[wayne]

That would likely do it as by then most of the parasites would be at the surface at some point, and thus be affected. Very stressful for the fish though. I think I'd use hypo or copper.
Most people do single or a couple of dips, and don't get why it isn't effective

 

[sparker]

thanks for the info guys. I was just wondering, thankfully I haven't had to deal with ich as of yet.