Pennies

[AstonN24vantage]

so recently i have been treating ich. it is almost gone but there was one question i had. i put a few pennies in and now i see a white, scum that looks like white plaque, and i was wondering if this was ich or not.

also, if this is ick, and i finish the treatment, could i get a fungal infection by the ich?

 

[Mikaila31]

The penny is a really old ich remedy. IDK if it is effective or not. Ich meds use copper sulfate or some copper ingredient to kill the ich. The penny method I honestly would not suggest, you can't really determine how much copper they are releasing into the water. Also I collect coins, the penny treatment has very little chance of working if you are using pennies minted in 1982 and onward. This is when they stopped making real copper pennies, pennies prior to 1982 are 95% copper. Any printed after 1982 are only 2.5% copper and 97.5% zinc.

A actually ich med like quickcure cost only a few dollars and will work. It is possible to get secondary infections, usually fungal infections are best fought with clean water and Primafix if necessary.

 

[AstonN24vantage]

i no. i was just wondering if the scum on the pennies was ich.

 

[Bignose]

Ich is an obligate fish parasite. That means ich can survive on fish and only fish. It cannot live on a penny. A penny is not a fish. Furthermore, the size of the ich swimmers are much smaller than the size of a human hair, so even if there were many of them sitting in one place, you wouldn't be able to see them.

I highly encourage you to take a read through: http/www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/ich.shtml it is the best and most factual webpage on ich I've ever seen.

 

[AstonN24vantage]

ok. so the patch on my angel's eye is starting to perish, but unfortunatly so is his appetite. any suggestions? i can see he wants to eat but if he can't get it he'll give up and all he's eaten is a big flake all day.