Going For A Little Dip
What would be your preferred FW dip additive.  Setting up a QT and Dip station and wanted to know your thought on which one was more effective and or harmful to fish. Thanks, Matt
<Well, Matt- I'm a big fan of freshwater with Methylene blue. It's gentle to just about every fish, and is really easy to use. Administer enough MB to color the water a nice deep blue color, and that should do the trick! See this FAQ for more information: www.wetwebmedia.com/dips_baths.htm  Hope this helps! Regards, Scott F>

Dip question
Hi Bob,
In reading over the Saltwater acclimation (the dips/baths portion) here on WWM, I see that you recommend using Methylene blue, Maracide and Saltwater Maracyn in the dip/bath water. Is this still accurate? I just wanted to be sure that the procedure discussed was still your preferred method of doing a dip/bath.
Thanks once again for you ever helpful insights.
- Ken
<Thanks for asking... because as you know... time marches on... but archives always lag... Yes to these being the most appropriate, best available technologies currently... You bring up other good points. I look forward (not static!) to the times when sites like WWM's offerings can be "updated" by the general readership. Bob Fenner>

Medicated Dips
Thanks for all the information you have given me. I still have more questions though:
I read the link you gave me about iodine dips and was wondering which solution you recommended for preventative coral dips. Do you recommend the iodine solution (2% iodine, 2.4% KI), the strong iodine (5% iodine, 10% KI), or another solution?
<Either will do... as you will/would be diluting either... about a "drop per gallon" of the 2% or 2 drops per five gallons of the 5%, for five, ten minutes... some species of real (scleractinian) corals I double the dosage on (Euphylliids, Veron 2000, or Caryophyllids in previous taxonomies), Trachyphyllia, others if they're obviously damaged) with lowered spg... a few thousandths.>
I¹m not completely sure how to calculate the amount of Copper (II) sulfate pentahydrate to add to my solution.
<What? No memory of stoichiometry? Look up the atomic weights of copper, Sulphur, oxygen... and hydrogen (for the five waters)... Come on.>
I think the problem is that I don¹t know the safe copper level for fish. What is this level (in a freshwater dip/bath not extended treatment)?
<Resting concentrations of 0.20 ppm, dip levels of twice that>
On a side note, I have a mixture of snails in my aquarium but the snails seem to prefer to spend more time on the rocks than on the glass. Is this normal? (Is it because my rocks must have ³better² algae on them than the glass?)
That¹s all for now (more will certainly come later),
Kevin
<Study my friend. When you get to St. Peter's Gate, there's no easy internet access to query what to do... Bob Fenner>

Wow, dips over copper huh ? 
<categorically more effective over a wider range... copper is really best for Crypt... not a whole lot else. The problem with the other/deeper parasites/protozoans is that they bury so deep into the flesh that you will poison the fish with copper before the copper penetrates deep enough to kill the pathogen. Osmosis from FW however can penetrate far deeper and more safely in the big picture>
Not sure I'm willing to remove the copper at times over dipping. 
<experience is a great teacher... try and you'll believe too>
I know FW is effective against gill flukes and crypto, but does it have any effect against Amyloodinium/velvet or Brooklynella. I was under the impression that one required copper and the other formalin.
<I'll agree that Brooklynella will "require" formalin as part of the treatment (with FW dips, meds, etc)>
0.4 would normally be quite bad for copper sulfate, but with Cupramine, you really need at least 0.25-0.3.0 minimum for any effectiveness against crypto as its a bit weaker that a copper citrate/sulfate, but it appears to be better taken by more species than other copper solutions. 
<there is just so much debate on this topic>
They actually recommend 0.5, but I usually have good luck with it at 0.4. Ed
<For what its worth, bud... I'm basing my advice not only on a decade of handling sick and stressed (shipped) animals commercially... but early on I took an intensive Fish Pathology course under Gratzek and Blasiola (two of the worlds leading authorities on piscine pathology). My/their recommendations are certainly not written in stone... but they are very well founded on handling many thousands of fishes over many accumulated decades between us. Best regards, Anthony>