Aquari-Sol for ich?

[RTR]

I'm am in attitude, much like PP. As a biologist, it would be a bit strange for me to despise "chemicals". This may well be because I do know full well that all natural products are made up of chemicals. We humans are composed of chemicals, as is our food. Despising and disdaining chemicals is despising and disdaining life. Non-material life forms are something on which I have no information at all, so can have no opinion.

I suspect that the folks so stating are really aimed at non-natural products and other synthetics. That is quite a different thing, and perhaps a more rational thing. But finding truly natural products these days is all but impossible, despite ad claims to the contrary. Just about everything packaged is manipulated, adulterated, or "protected" or "preserved" or "stabilized" in some way.

Hobby products, as PP pointed out so well, are all but totally unregulated. Labeling requirements are pathetic to absurd and counter-productive. That is my whole beef (or perhaps surlaW) against "aquarium salt" - it is a product with no accepted composition or standards whatsoever. It is whatever the packager wishes to put under their label, so long as it chemically a salt. It does not even have to be sodium chloride, any salt would do, but most are more expensive than common table salt, so it usually is some form of sodium chloride, but even that is unspecified. NIMFT, never.

Unlike PP, I have hundreds of allergies, many to human medications. More than few are or would be life-threatening. I carry a typed two-page document of current use meds and massive numbers of forbidden substances to all medical appointments up-to-the-minute. with me to all appointments. A couple of my doctors admit they are afraid of me - they have not yet lost a patient in the office from simple use of routine eye drops or such, but they could with me, as I have gone into shock twice from newly developed sensitivities. As I have three separate and distinct eye doctors, plus two different eye therapists, this is no small thing. They conference call one another routinely - to protect themselves as much as me. At least I can understand what is happening to me.

"Natural" can be every bit as dangerous as labeled poisons.

Even more strangely, some aquarium fish and invert poisons are absolutely required - in tiny quantities. Copper is a great case in point - highly toxic in moderate quantities, at least trace amounts are absolutely required for many lifeforms.

Nothing in biology is really simple. But a lot of things can be in operation of pet support systems.

[J-P]

I do agree .. there is nothing unnatural about chemicals. They are all derived from the same source: nature. How we manipulate them and concentrate them is what makes them "unnatural" but again they are the from the same biological source. Some are more effective than others, why? Concentration levels.. if applied properly there is nothing to worry about.

[DrKennethNoisewater]

thanks for all the imput on the subject. i did 50% water changes every day this week, used SMALL doses of nox-ich, like 3 or 4 drops after every water change in my 65g. i cleaned the sand every day as it was fairly dirty and needed daily cleans to get it to par, and added a large bubbler. also a bit less light as i think that makes my nocturnal fish more stress free i believe. ICH IS GONE!!!!! well, except for on my ghost knife, but hes looking better every day. my catfish are all cleared up and my loach never even got one spot....??? but im very happy about it makes me a lot less stressed. now i have to play guitar in front of 200 people and my whole family @my sisters wedding tomorrow ...... stress is back.

[Flutter]

Remember, it's primarily a gill parasite. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean that your fish don't still have a heavy infection.

[Pufferpunk]

Again, I cannot stress enough--USING LESS DOSAGES THAN RECOMMENDED WILL MAKE THE PATHOGEN IMMUNE TO THE MED, RENDERING IT USELESS, IF YOU EVER REALLY NEED IT!!!

[Reaperpilot2014]

+1
It's just like when people are prescribed antibiotics for TB or Staph, and once they feel better they stop taking the meds. Then you end up with these essentially incurable diseases like XDR TB, and MRSA. We could quickly experience the same problem in aquaria from underdosing meds or not dosing them for the specified amount of time.

[DrKennethNoisewater]

yeah a lot of people were telling me to not use as much as its hard on my sensitive fish, so i took it easy. than i do that and it seems to work and i get told by more experienced people that that wasn't smart.... it seems like short of blasting heat and salt everything was a bad thing to do, but i was told by lots that that isn't a very good method either... well the opinions and suggestions on what to do from the people i decided to listen to prevailed this time. maybe next time it will be a very poor choice, but for my ich situation what i did seemed to be the right thing in this case. thanks for everyones help, and although that worked, i will be doing heat and salt next time as it has the most positive feedback. stoked everyone made it out alive.

[sevenyearnight]

RTR posted an updated procedure of the heat and salt method, and carefully explained the heat portion of that since that was the area of concern for a lot of people, as too high of heat can be fatal to the fish. I asked him about salt intolerant species too. It is stickied in the library for future use.

I'm so glad everyone is ok!

I don't have much in experience with anything other than ich attack as far as medications for ich goes, but I've read on the packages to use half dose for sensitive fish. Although it is true that ich may then establish an immunity, that's a moot point if the medication kills the fish at full strength.

Again, I'm really glad your fish recovered!

[Reaperpilot2014]

Congrats on getting them all through it!

[RTR]

The greatest danger from Ich is about evenly split between death from overpowering first exposure to the parasite (true tropicals and BW fish have never met the disease, so have zero immunity) and the establishment of chronic infections in the gills only. Than last weakens the fish long-term and is a hazard for newly introduced fish.

Many fish are far more sensitive to various meds than to heat and salt.