you mixed up what 'caused' means.

the infestation is 'caused' by a parasite. if a fish was stressed and there
was an absence of the parasite in the tank, it wouldn't get ich. therefore
the stress didn't 'cause' the disease. it was a contributing factor.


"PhilCav" wrote in message
...
Error? Stress lowers resistance. Lowered resistance makes ANY animal
susceptible to disease. Why do the elderly get flu shots? Parasites are
opportunists. A compromised fish is more susceptible to ich. Try reading
a
few biology texts before you come off as Mister Know it All Amateur
Biologist. Sheesh.

"Charles Spitzer" wrote in message
...


"Robert Cadieux" wrote in message
...

"Philip & Kylene Blanchard" wrote in message
news:HLAhd.353204$D%.143249@attbi_s51...
I have a dogface puffer who has ick, I have been doing fw dips for
about
3min. What else can I do for it, or treat it with?

Thanks in advance!!
Phil


Ick is often caused by stress. Make sure your parameters are good and
your
temperature stable. If you find anything wrong, correct it first.
Then
slowly increase the temperature for a few days. Maybe 3-4 degrees
more.
Don't just crank up the heater in one shot. Increase it by 1 degree
one
day
, if you can, then another 1 degree, etc, until the temp is higher than
normal by 3-4 degrees. Keep it there for a few days then slowly
decrease.
The ick parasite does not do as well at higher temps and you can often
break
the cycle that way.

Another option is a cleaner shrimp. They apparently can be very good
at
removing ick. But if you don't fix what caused the ick to start with
(stress) it will return.

Robert

2 errors:

since ich is a parasite, it can't be caused by stress. stress can lower
the
fishes natural resistance, but can't be a direct cause.

ich does extremely well in higher temps. that's why it's recommended. it
makes it breed more and faster than normal, which shortens and breaks the
life cycle of the parasite. normal life cycle is somewhere around 8
weeks.