Freshwater dip to treat Ich

Okay here is the deal. I have had the fish (Flame Angel) for about two days. I got home from work today and found him to be covered with Ich. He is currently in my quarantine tank, however, my quarantine tank also has some mushrooms in it. My main display is not cycled yet. So I am limited on treatments. Should I do a freshwater dip? For how long etc? Any other ideas? Any info is greatly appreciated.

I did do this once (about 10 years ago) with a Sailfin Tang. It was successful however, that fish was then placed into a treated quarantine tank. The fish lived and did great!

 

Anybody?

 

I would leave the fish alone. Feed him food with garlic, etc. If he can lived past the ich he will gain a immunity of sort.

 

Ehh I'm not a fan of freshwater dips' I uually use hyposalinity, but given the circumstances, you won't be able to do so. Why would you buy mushrooms before having your tank cycled???

 

I didnt buy the mushrooms. I bought some live rock from a lfs. A week after I had the live rock in my tank 4 purple mushrooms popped up out of no where. They are all about the size of a quarter. A deep purple with BRIGHT blue spots all over them. Very pretty actually and I dont want to kill them as I have heard they are expensive? Anyways I dont want this Ich to get out of control. Any recomendations are more than welcome!

 

Oh I see. Well I'd go with Bloodkip; you should just feed it well with garlic to keep it with a healthy immune system, and wait for your cycle to finish. Once you do that, start hyposalinity after putting the mushrooms into the DT. If you do end up doing hypo, buy Dr. Tim's one and only for SW; it actually does already create a bacterial colony in your filter. Lower the salinity to about 1.011 for about a week; if signs of ich go away, the fish should be fine, but if the flame angel was in your DT, you'll have to wait about 6 weeks for the ich to die out completely from the DT

 

1.009*

 

So nobody likes the idea of a freshwater dip? I think they work....I dont have any evidence to back it up other than my one experience. I will be getting some sort of garlic additive tomorrow. The fish has yet to eat anything Ive offered.

 

FW dips are good for restraining the infection, but they can also stress the fish, compromising their immune system. They are not a cure. The best thing if you have a QT tank for ich is copper sulfate. That will knock the ich out cold in a week or so. Also, they will not gain immunity from surviving the ich. Fish can get infected with ich time and time again, and they don't gain any defense to the disease from having it once, twice, or any number of times.

 

Actually, you may be up for a little reading. A good google search term is "Antigens of C. irritans".

It's also dicussed in Fish Diseases and Disorders Vol 1. Page 139.

An article I like... http://www.scsagr.com/upimg/200853010029.pdf