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Re: Newbie's Progress
>Subject: Re: Newbie's Progress (I knew this would happen!)
>
>> I'm going with Option #1--treatment with a 3 day, 3
>> ppt salt concentration in a hospital tank, followed by
>> a 4 day isolation period to break the parasites' life
>> cycle. It seems the safest for all involved.
The newbie has the right idea. But increase the length of time to at least
2wks. Salt in fact does two beneficial things in treatment (It does not
reduce fish stress unless you have mollies! :-)
1. Salt produces an osmotic concentration unfavorable to the parasite that
causes water to flow from its body. If this differential is high enough it
will kill the parasite. That's why a hospital tank is the more effective
way to go... you can use a higher concentration of salt w/o damaging your
plants.
[ Salt water ich is treated in the same way... in reverse! You reduce salt
concentration causing water to flow into the parasite causing it to pop!]
2. The fish will respond to the increasing concentration of salt by
increasing the thickness of its slime layer to reduce its water loss. The
added advantage of this thicker slime layer is to make it even more
difficult for more salt-weakend parasite to attach to the fish.
3. Increasing water temperature speeds up the life cycle of the parasite
which inturn lessens the time new ich parasites have to find a host in a
much harsher salt-treated, heated environment.
Do this in a hospital tank [w/o a substrate] and you keep your plants safe
from meds, salt and temp treatment. Though you may want to increase the
temp of the parent plant tank to speed up the parasites life-cycle. This
lessens the survival chances of the pest should a few toughies survive 13days.
Know you enemy!
This strategy can be employed w/ or w/o LFS medications, which IMHO are
often overused and abused, allowing the selection for med-resistant ich!
Baaad Neewwss! Use meds for REAL problems if you have 'em like fungus or
"hole-in-the-'ed" disease".
Barly Straw Extract is 'ere! :-)
http://www.floridadriftwood.com/alfloraapm.html