There are already a lot of common fish diseases that have been discussed in different forums, articles, etc. Ichthyophthirius is probably a never heard word for you, but this is one of the most common, but deadly, pond fish ailments. You can tell that there is a presence of Ichthyophthirius or ich in your pond if you can see small white nodules on the surface of the skin gills and on the fins. Itch is so common that it can affect almost all kind of fish. The white spot forming is a characteristic of Ich that is forming under the skin or the gill epithelium and this has been reported to look like as if the fish’s skin has been sprinkled with salt.

The parasites way of eating is quite interesting. They eat away or suck away the body fluids from under the skin of the fish. If the Ich matures, it will break loose from the fish’s skin. These matured Ich will now look for a place to rest such as a plant stem. While mature Ich break loose from the fish’s skin, immature Ich are being reproduced, and when it hatch, if that is the correct word to use, these Ich will swim around looking for a new host. Once these Ich found their new host, the cycle will again start.

Since Ich targets the tissue under the skin, they’ve conducted studies that showed that the resistance of the skin of the fish to all kinds of common cure. In some stages of Ich, they say that it succumbs to salt solution treatment. If not treated early, tissue damage, especially on the gill regions can be very dangerous to the fish’s health. They make the fish weak and be more susceptible to other potentially deadly bacterial disease.

Non-quarintined new fish, plants and poor water condition can be the source of Ich infection. If you suspect that there is an Ich invasion in your pond, try to check the ammonia level, nitrite level, pH level, the total alkalinity and the hardness of the water. If the results show that the pond water is already infected with Ich, you need to treat your pond as soon as possible.

When treating Ich, it is recommended to use formalin, because it’s the only ich treatment approved by the Food and Drug Administration. It is recommended to use 4.5 to 7.5 gallons of formalin per acre-foot, or 15 to 25 parts per million. Application of copper sulfate is also suggested. Copper sulfate should be applied evenly over the pond to help kill the ich. Also, salt application is needed. Apply 2 to 3 parts per thousand salts, more or less about three ponds of salt if you have 100 gallons of water, so the ich in your pond can be easily killed. You can try using any of these treatments, but it should be done every day until the fish shows no signs of ich anymore. If needed, re move the infected fish from the treated pond and just restock with quarantined fish.

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