My experience using
Paraguard was the opposite of GlennO. I respectfully differ in my take using Paraguard. It is my ‘go to‘ med for
Ich and has been for years. I have not used it with Rasboras or snails, but have with plants,
Corys, Angels, Discus, Gouramis, and livebearers. There were no adverse effects on the listed and my Ich was successfully eradicated each time.
I did raise the temps some to speed up the life cycle, but not too high so as to stress the fish (78 degrees to 80-81 with non Discus fish). My Discus were already at 85 degrees. I think I read that 80 degrees was the temperature at which Ich cycled the fastest. I also did my regular WCs with gravel vacuuming. The key to being successful (imho) was to treat daily full doses for the recommended duration which will likely be abt seven days after one sees the last white spots. This was usually 21-28 days for me. By doing this, any immature Ich present leaving the gravel swimming in water searching for a host was killed even though there were none visible on the fish. I’ve read that the most common reason for failure was that people stop dosing Paraguard right when they stop seeing the specks (trophonts) on the fish thus allowing the parasite to get started up again. Specks/Ich we no longer see could still be in the gills, in the reproductive cyst (tomont) stage in the gravel or free swimming seeking a new host fish. There is only one stage that is visible to the eye and that stage is not affected by the treatment. The treatment only works on the invisible to our eyes stage when the parasite is free swimming.
This is another reason why the whole tank has to be treated. Otherwise, you’d be putting QT treated fish back into your Ich infested fish tank. Once you see it on a fish in the tank, it’s safe to assume your tank is infested…..sorry to say. Having a QT tank is the most important thing one can have to best prevent Ich from getting into the display tank.
If treatment is carried out with cooler water, it will take much longer to get rid of. The life cycle timing is important bc we want the free swimming vulnerable stage (tomites/theronts) to get nailed quickly and as often as possible. Note….a given tank will likely have the parasite in different stages of its life cycle at any given moment.
These are just my thoughts bc I care and various members will suggest different methods or differ in opinions of Paraguard’s effectiveness. No matter your method, treat very early as soon as you notice, be very thorough in your approach and be patient. Read up on the life cycle. It will help your understanding of how to best approach this. Good luck.
