How to performance a Fresh Water bath ?

[Harlequinmania]

Freshwater baths have been used by many seawater aquarists for a ling time because they can be very effective against parasitic infestations. They seem to work so well because they give the pathogens a powerful osmotic shock: the parasites take up water so fast that they explode.

However performing a fresh water bath can be very stressful to the fish, so it should only be done with great care and only for a short period of time when you cab watch the fish without any distraction.

The basis steps involves the followings;

1) Fill a container with treated fresh water , such as RO/DI filtered water or boiled water which is left to cool to dechlorinated it. If you have no choice but to use tap water , do make sure to dechlorinate it prior to using.

2) Matching the PH and water temperature as the main aquarium before use will prevent unnecessary shock and stress to the fish. To match the PH , you can use one teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate to bring it up to the desire PH level.

3) To treat the fish, catch it as carefully as possible and place it gently into the container filled with fresh water.

4) The fish will probably lie on its side for a while, but should not be showing any other sign of distress. If it does show signs of distress, it should be put back into the seawater immediately.

5) The overall freshwater bath process should last about 3 - 4 min not more than 10 min .

Hope the above information shared helps

[yikai]

3-4 minutes is not useful.

a bath of at least 6-8 mins work. sometimes i even go up to 10mins if the fish is handling it pretty well.

this method is extremely useful against external parasites such as flukes, but provides only temporary relief to ich and velvet. for ich and velvet, treatment must still be carried out and FW dips are NOT a cure.

but for external body flukes, FW dip is good and the flukes drop off after a few minutes in the water.

be sure to observe the fish the entire duration in the FW dip. if it lie on it's side, prop it up gently and make sure it's swimming. if it's showing signs of severe distress and discomfort, remove it immediately.

i've done FW dips countless of times using plain tap water without dechlorinating and matching of PH. although it's advised, i think it's rather unecessary.

FW dips are extremely stressful to the fish and a little change in ph is not going to affect it much. however i still strongly reccomend using RO/DI water and dechlorinate it with matching ph if you can do it. if in emergency, using tap water should be fine.

this topic on tap water and not matching ph etc is a very grey area and has been discussed many times in Reef central. so i will not discuss here. just take advice with a pinch of salt.

[yikai]

anyway just sharing my experience with FW dip

everyone got their own way but i feel 6-8 mins is best.

and for me i dont dechlorinate and match ph, but it's always best to do so.

[bkburger]

I have done fresh water dip many many time, i just use tap water directly, nothing added, no dechlorinate and match ph just throw the fish in and hold it at least 10min, no problem at all. By the way, my experience is some fishes, you thrown into the tap water, they will lie FLAT immediately, DO NOT be panic, they just acting, you think they die but within a min they will swim back to normal, no worry. So my experience is, just dump into tap water will do.

Oh that was just my way hor, if you scare pls dont follow

[christan1959]

help! i am having an outbreak of zoanthid-eating nudibranchs!!!! will freshwater dips be effective? if so, how long? or are there any fish/shrimp out there that will devour these pests?????

[CFOh]

help! i am having an outbreak of zoanthid-eating nudibranchs!!!! will freshwater dips be effective? if so, how long? or are there any fish/shrimp out there that will devour these pests?????

Try coral RX...

http://www.coralrx.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11&Itemid=23

[CFOh]

help! i am having an outbreak of zoanthid-eating nudibranchs!!!! will freshwater dips be effective? if so, how long? or are there any fish/shrimp out there that will devour these pests?????

For nudi/flat worms control predator, you may add yellow wrasse.. or Leopard, Radiant & mystery wrasse.. They works well.. Cheers..

[christan1959]

thanks manta ray. but those wrasses sleep in sand ya? i try to avoid that, as my sand is very very fine - there will be terrible sandstorm each time they sleep and awake...

[John Deroe Kenedy]

Freshwater = Temporary.. Display tank will still ich building.. UV Sterilizerz anyone?

[mug888]

Good to learn from you all. Thanks!

[domvonn]

Can UV sterilizer effectively wipe out ich parasites ?

[brojj]

I will not use 'wipe out'. 'Right sized/rated, based on total water volume' UV will prevent outbreak of ich by reducing their population to a point where they will not pose serious threat to the fish. However take note that this UV is preventive, not cure. My PBT sometimes shows signs of ich, only a few white dots on his body when i am running UV but still active swimming around, eats a lot & the rest of the fishes are not affected. During outbreak of ich, running UV will reduced damages to minimum. Those fishes affected shall be removed to a QT tank immediately & appropriate treatments shall be applied. Running UV on the QT shall help too. However, i don't know whether is there any medication that will be render useless or not by UV. The labels on the medication will state if there is a possibility. Juz my 5 cents worth.<br /><br />Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2<br /><br />

[brojj]

So far, for FW dips, i have only 1 success. The rest fails. I have used DI water, bring pH close to 8.3. But now, by keeping the water clean & more strict selections, there is no more outbreak of ich. <br /><br />Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2<br /><br /><br />

[NemoFinder]

So far, for FW dips, i have only 1 success. The rest fails. I have used DI water, bring pH close to 8.3. But now, by keeping the water clean & more strict selections, there is no more outbreak of ich. <br /><br />Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2<br /><br /><br />

I feel it is important that the fish is still strong before the freshwater bath is being conducted, so that the fish is able to withstand the stress during the process.

[domvonn]

I will not use 'wipe out'. 'Right sized/rated, based on total water volume' UV will prevent outbreak of ich by reducing their population to a point where they will not pose serious threat to the fish. However take note that this UV is preventive, not cure. My PBT sometimes shows signs of ich, only a few white dots on his body when i am running UV but still active swimming around, eats a lot & the rest of the fishes are not affected. During outbreak of ich, running UV will reduced damages to minimum. Those fishes affected shall be removed to a QT tank immediately & appropriate treatments shall be applied. Running UV on the QT shall help too. However, i don't know whether is there any medication that will be render useless or not by UV. The labels on the medication will state if there is a possibility. Juz my 5 cents worth.<br /><br />Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2<br /><br />

Thanks bro . I used to use UV on my arowana tank and I get very clear water .

Am stepping into full time marine and hope to gather as much info as I can . Gotta start by looking at equipments

[blusafe]

3-4 minutes is not useful.

a bath of at least 6-8 mins work. sometimes i even go up to 10mins if the fish is handling it pretty well.

this method is extremely useful against external parasites such as flukes, but provides only temporary relief to ich and velvet. for ich and velvet, treatment must still be carried out and FW dips are NOT a cure.

but for external body flukes, FW dip is good and the flukes drop off after a few minutes in the water.

be sure to observe the fish the entire duration in the FW dip. if it lie on it's side, prop it up gently and make sure it's swimming. if it's showing signs of severe distress and discomfort, remove it immediately.

1 min dips are useful. I'm sure you have seen the amount of stuff falling off a wild fish during fw dip even after 1 min.

I do not agree with touching the fish during the dip/bath. If the fish is tolerating the procedure, leave it alone. They don't like being poked and prodded. It only needs to breath normally, not swim. They do not need a human finger adding extra stress just to reassure you they are alive.

help! i am having an outbreak of zoanthid-eating nudibranchs!!!! will freshwater dips be effective? if so, how long? or are there any fish/shrimp out there that will devour these pests?????

Zoanthids will tolerate a fw dip better than the nudis. I dipped two zoanthid rocks in 10min fw with Bayer's (an American pesticide) insect killer and have not seen the orange nudis since. Also watch out for small red snails that will irritate the zoas. I had to cut them off the rock.

My nudi:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2311327

Aeolids:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/rs/

I feel it is important that the fish is still strong before the freshwater bath is being conducted, so that the fish is able to withstand the stress during the process.

Yes...most people that fear dips don't understand it's a preventative and not a cure for weak fish. If they are weak, they need quarantine and treatment.

Thanks bro . I used to use UV on my arowana tank and I get very clear water .

Am stepping into full time marine and hope to gather as much info as I can . Gotta start by looking at equipments

UV also kills algae spores so that's why you have clear water. Depending on UV intensity, flow rate, etc etc...you are killing either parasites, bacteria, or algae but not always all at the same time. UV will render antibiotics useless but not much else.