Freshwater dips? Or does that just stress the fish?

[Iona Skye]

Curious about your opinion on dips.

In my experience, dips (medicated or not) have only stressed my fish further, and in the case of ich (freshwater) and velvet (one time with a saltwater clown), the dips only seemed to aggravate the problem.

I have conquered freshwater ich many times without dips, and I have learned that the best approach is to fix the fish's environment first, and understand that healthy, strong fish will almost never break out in ich, even if a little is introduced to the system. Stressed fish are incredibly vunerable by comparison, even if the stress is not related to water quality. I have much less experience with saltwater diseases, though. My saltwater tank has been really quite healthy.

So, have you had success with freshwater or medicated dips for your fish & corals? If so, what advice do you have on dips? (Any theories on why mine have never worked?)

 

[Mebbid]

When I entered the hobby my tank went through a severe case of ich, bad enough I was surprised my clowns were still living.

Doing a freshwater dip on them, I am convinced that it saved both of them. That being said, it's not something I would do unless it was an emergency for the reasons you pointed out.

 

[cromag27 Verified Sponsor]

fresh dips aren’t so much effective to solve crypto but it is effective for flukes.

 

[alton]

I freshwater dip all my angels and tangs and then a Prazi Pro Bath before going into QT. Lost 0 fish in doing this, I have lost angelfish not doing this.

 

[User1]

Success? Yes.
Stress on the fish? No idea, it didn't talk to me about it. However, I believe it was more stressful to me (true story).

I'm a believer. I couldn't stomach some of the longer duration baths recommended but what I do know, and have personally done most recently with my Lt. Tang, is follow Mr. Fenners Methylene blue fresh water dip. Not bath mind you, but a dip. This stuff worked amazingly well and believe I was more stressed than the Tang.

 

[Iona Skye]

Success? Yes.
Stress on the fish? No idea, it didn't talk to me about it. However, I believe it was more stressful to me (true story).

I'm a believer. I couldn't stomach some of the longer duration baths recommended but what I do know, and have personally done most recently with my Lt. Tang, is follow Mr. Fenners Methylene blue fresh water dip. Not bath mind you, but a dip. This stuff worked amazingly well and believe I was more stressed than the Tang.

Does the fish typically flash during the dip? When I did a freshwater dip on my sick clown, he flashed a bit but mostly just laid on the bottom (still breathing normally but not swimming). Maybe he was just too sick to be saved?

 

[User1]

Not sure I understand what you mean by flash during the dip. Sorry

The last fish I ran a dip on as I noted above was the Lt. Tang. I purchased it from Live Aquaria sometime in May. It shipped from their California facility which I'm assuming is down South and I'm up North outside Sacramento. Anyway it arrived over night, well boxed, in a pretty well double bagged black bottom half bag. I knew it was coming so had a gallon bucket already at room temperature following Mr. Fenner's Methylene Blue instructions. So once I get the Tang situated I transferred in into the bucket and it started to react right away with some pretty violent movement (at least appeared to me thus my stress level going to warp factor 10). After a few violent reactions and jerking around (maybe what you mean by flash(?)? it settled down on the side of the bucket sort of matching its body to the concave of the side of bucket. This is when I started to sort of over react and think I had to abort the dip but reading various threads and going back to Fenner's this is to be expected. My goal was to try and do a 30 minute bath but I couldn't do it and stopped it at the 15 minute mark.

Note: I do not QT which is a bad practice. Sort of like playing Russian Roulette with a semi-automatic hand gun instead of a revolver, right? I mean both are bad but, well, you get the idea. I'm not exactly sure Methylene blue dips will do everything but it was better than nothing and I was willing to run the risk this time. The Lt. Tang had a short shipment time, looked very healthy, no visible signs upon initial inspection, about 3" in size, so in it went. Today it is pushing 7 to 8" and a 1" in girth. I wasn't expecting it to grow has fast but that is what I get by feeding it 1 sheet of nori a day...

The bath, to me, is better than nothing. Not ideal and doesn't mean I shouldn't QT. I just do not have room.

I guess the TL;DR version is that yes, it reacted pretty violently at first. About a minute after it stopped. Continued to check gill movement until 15 minute mark. Into display it went.

 

[Iona Skye]

Not sure I understand what you mean by flash during the dip. Sorry

The last fish I ran a dip on as I noted above was the Lt. Tang. I purchased it from Live Aquaria sometime in May. It shipped from their California facility which I'm assuming is down South and I'm up North outside Sacramento. Anyway it arrived over night, well boxed, in a pretty well double bagged black bottom half bag. I knew it was coming so had a gallon bucket already at room temperature following Mr. Fenner's Methylene Blue instructions. So once I get the Tang situated I transferred in into the bucket and it started to react right away with some pretty violent movement (at least appeared to me thus my stress level going to warp factor 10). After a few violent reactions and jerking around (maybe what you mean by flash(?)? it settled down on the side of the bucket sort of matching its body to the concave of the side of bucket. This is when I started to sort of over react and think I had to abort the dip but reading various threads and going back to Fenner's this is to be expected. My goal was to try and do a 30 minute bath but I couldn't do it and stopped it at the 15 minute mark.

Note: I do not QT which is a bad practice. Sort of like playing Russian Roulette with a semi-automatic hand gun instead of a revolver, right? I mean both are bad but, well, you get the idea. I'm not exactly sure Methylene blue dips will do everything but it was better than nothing and I was willing to run the risk this time. The Lt. Tang had a short shipment time, looked very healthy, no visible signs upon initial inspection, about 3" in size, so in it went. Today it is pushing 7 to 8" and a 1" in girth. I wasn't expecting it to grow has fast but that is what I get by feeding it 1 sheet of nori a day...

The bath, to me, is better than nothing. Not ideal and doesn't mean I shouldn't QT. I just do not have room.

I guess the TL;DR version is that yes, it reacted pretty violently at first. About a minute after it stopped. Continued to check gill movement until 15 minute mark. Into display it went.

Yes, that sounds like flashing. It's different than fast swimming back and forth or struggling.... They suddenly shoot off in crazy random directions, like they are neurotic gymnastics.

Thanks for sharing your process! I've never been able to quarantine either. It's always made me so nervous to just drop new fish in the system. If I'm able to continue aquatics I think I'll do something similar.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Freshwater dipped may fish and a few clams with good results and no harm to the fish or clam. Its not super effective but it will get some external parasites to let go and has fixed pinched mantel for me.