Ich

[rygh]

Remember that 4 transfers is based on 1 transfer every 2 days.
So if you do a transfer every day, you need 8 transfers, not 4.
If you have several new fish, ammonia may build up fast, so transfer every 2 days may be too long.

The maximum time between transfers is based on the minimum life cycle.
every 48 hours < minimum 3 day life cycle.
Going to every 3 days is high risk for both ich and ammoinia.

The total number of transfers is based on the maximum life cycle.
every 2 days * 4 transfers = 8 days > maximum 7 life cycle.
every 1 days * 8 transfers = 8 days > maximum 7 life cycle.

Side note:
Quite a few people use Transfer #2 to treat with PraziPro. Not for ich of course, but for fluke and other parasites.
Some also do dips/baths when you are moving the fish between buckets. Particularly for clownfish and brook.
But you have to be careful not to over-stress the fish.

 

[Vhuang168]

The accepted time is 72 days. The current advise is as to go as long as you can stand having a qt tank after the initial 72 days. Some have advised to go minimum 90 days to be sure.

 

[rygh]

Could you imagine if it was found that aptasia could get rid of ich. I mean, if you suddenly found your prize fish infected with ich but you knew if you introduced aptasia to the tank that he'd be cured along with all your other fish. Would you do it?

That would be great! With my Majano infested mess, I would never worry about disease again.

 

[Gablami]

There's a chance of ich even if you do 4 transfers. It's all percentages. And each subsequent transfer has diminishing returns. I bet the difference between completing the final transfer is only a few percentage points.

I didn't stop at 3, I was just very tempted to .

 

[Vhuang168]

Actually the more transfers you do, the higher the percentage you have an ich free fish.

The principle is this, every transfer removes a certain number of ich trophonts from the fish. And since you remove EVERYTHING except the fish, it is in an ich free enviornment until more drop off. So each transfer removes trophonts until there are none left since there isn't any in the water to reattach to the fish.

 

[rygh]

To be clear:

It is not like you reduce the ich population by a fixed X% every transfer like pollutants and water changes.
The key thing is, you are going beyond the life cycle.

So to make up some fake numbers to illustrate the idea:
Your percentage of success after each 2 day transfer would be more like:
0%, 5%, 50%, 95%

But yes, there are no guarantees.

 

[Gablami]

Those numbers are what I was looking for. Data. Too bad it's fake data.

 

[roostertech]

Those numbers are what I was looking for. Data. Too bad it's fake data.

You know what this mean, time to get a proper randomized trial going. We'll need like ... 1000 tanks?. Who is good at writing for grant? For science!

 

[Flagg37]

This is assuming the fish is infected to begin with.

 

[Gablami]

You know what this mean, time to get a proper randomized trial going. We'll need like ... 1000 tanks?. Who is good at writing for grant? For science!

We need an undergrad to do all the hard work. 1000 tank transfers is a lot. I have a hard time getting through 4!