[Lupin]

Picture has been added.

Picture taken from The Complete Aquarium Guide by Konemann.

Pls treat the whole aquarium for two weeks.
Frequently asked questions:
Frequently asked questions:
1. Why is it recommended to treat the whole tank instead of isolating the afflicted fish?

This is a question which is easy to answer yet some people fail to realize that ich does not stick only to the fish (carrier). Bear in mind that if the fish is introduced in the main tank with ich, the parasites will target any fish with weakened immune system. Weakened fish are more likely to succumb if stressed severely.

2. How does ich appear?

Ich will appear if the fish is stressed. Note that it acts more like a 'contaminant' and is not part of the tank's ecosystem. Any new fish should be quarantined for 2-4 weeks. Failing that will increase the risk of introducing diseases which wil affect other occupants. New fish are always possible carriers of diseases.

3. How do we kill ich?

Increase the temperature to at least 84 degrees and treat the tank accordingly with proper medications or salt. Follow the instructions carefully. Any overdosage may prove fatal to the fish especially scaleless ones.

4. Why is it recommended to treat the fish for at least two weeks?

The combination of the temperature and medication/salt can kill most ich parasites but do note that ich is not vulnerable in cyst form and under the fish's epidermis. They are at their highest vulnerability when in free-swimming stage where they are exposed to the conditions they cannot tolerate. Two weeks is long enough to guarantee the elimination of most ich parasites while they go on with lifecycle stage triggered by the high temperature. Ich will most likely reappear when the fish becomes stressed again unless the treatment process is completed.

 

[Lupin]

"Dormant Stage"
http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/ich.shtml

Only the trophont can persist "dormant" in the aquarium, though it's never free-living but always attached inconspicuously to a host, perhaps on a gill surface.

There is no "dormant" independent, long-term encysted life stage separate from a host fish for Ichthyophthirius multifiliis.

Ich myth. ...now you have no excuse for imagining that Ich has a dry spore stage that gets blown through the air and settles on the water, or that it can be transported in an aerosol mist or on a net that has air-dried overnight: "its spores are everywhere. in your tank. on your hands" writes a respected and usually knowledgable aquarist ...but you have no excuse for fearing that Ich is always lurking in your tank water, or even in your drinking water, or that it lies low in the gravel, dormant but just waiting for a cold spell to burst into action, etc etc... all Beemer: Bogus Misinformation Endlessly Repeated. Most Beemer isn't pure invention, but is based on some misinterpretation or mis-hearing of fact. If you keep a steady grip on the facts of Ichthyophthirius life stages, you may even be able to disentangle the particular misunderstanding that's at the root of each particular Ich myth.

It's possible that the myth of Ich "lying low" in the aquarium in an imagined "dormant" stage, may have come from confusing Ichthyophthirius multifiliis with a similar marine ciliate parasite called Cryptocaryon irritans. People like to call Cryptocaryon "Ich's marine counterpart." In marine aquaria, I'm told, Cryptocaryon (which means "hidden spore") can remain infective for up to thirty days, especially at low temperatures! If this is true, it's an insidious parasite, and much more difficult to eliminate than our familiar freshwater ciliate. But perhaps a habit of confusing the two--— by calling them each other's "counterparts"--— has helped create the myth of a counterpart "dormant" life stage for Ichthyophthirius multifiliis.