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Re: Newbie's Progress (I knew this would happen!)
Chuck Glad wrote:
> The life cycle takes 12-16 days to complete. having the fish out
> of the infected tank for just 7 days won't be effective.
>
The life cycle is 3-4 days at and above 70F, but a single life cycle is
risky, just 7 days marginal, 7-10 not bad at all, beyond 14 is a wide
margin of safety.
> Salt treatment alone is of questionable value in treating Ich.
>
> Salt eases the stress on the fish, but doesn't directly kill the
> Ich.
>
Salt is quite effective in killing the tomites, the only infectious
stage of the life cycle, at and above 1 teaspoon per gallon actual
volume. It is not going to do the plants any good, so agree that a QT
tank would be good here.
I'm not convinced that NaCl is a stress reducer, it could be a stressor
itself.
> Some people also recommend increased water temps to kill
> ich. All that does in increase the speed of the Ich life cycle.
>
Actually, if you increase the temp to 90F for a few hours every three
days, that alone will kill the parasites. But IMHO this is much more
hazardous and more hassle than salt treatment.
RTR/Robert