Questions about Ich

"Tynk" wrote in
ups.com:

You said that your first Ich treatment with Quick Cure didn't work and
all the fish died.
This really puzzles me, as QC is the best medicine (IMO) for Ich there

QuickCure is great for eliminating Ich in its free-swimming stage, but it
is not magic. I have seen a number of sick fish resist treatment and
succumb to the infestation anyway. A successful treatment is not only
based on proper dosing, but also on the quality of the environment, as well
as the level of stress and overall health of the affected fish.

For example, I recently witnessed a single platinum angelfish resist
treatment for Ich using QuickCure while all other angels in the tank showed
no signs of infestation after the second day of treatment. This particular
angel was being picked on by the remaining healthy angels and the resulting
stress caused by these assaults no doubt lowered the animals immune
response. It is also possible this particular angel may have had a genetic
abnormality in its immune function given the amount of inbreeding required
to produce a platinum angelfish (one out of every ten or so platinum angels
are so genetically warped that they never even develop ventral fins).

Some swarmer cells may survive treatment with QuickCure, under ideal
conditions the number of free-swimming swarmers is reduced significantly
enough to allow a strong fish to easily resist the remaining parasites, but
it is not always the case that a fish is in the proper condition to do so.
Since the original poster appeared to be experiencing an outbreak in a
brand-new tank, it is likely nitrogenous wastes were playing a role in the
stress and death of the infested fish. Ich on its own is rarely enough to
kill a healthy animal unless the disease is allowed to progress to a
ridiculous degree.

QuickCure has an extremely long shelf life. We buy it in bulk in large
gallon jugs that last several years.