There is no real secret. Careful choice of importers/retailers is the Number 1 factor in my opinion.
And precautions like quarantine and holding having separate equipment and strict hygiene measures.
Plus as those were hardwater fish we had back then, using salt regularly was a given. Especially for the Malawis some salt after waterchanges was standard back then. I found it useful on my tanganyikas as well.
Nowerdays I don't have a fishroom anymore and thus have to rely on good sources. My water is quite soft and acidic most things simply drop dead off the fish and I have noticed a significant drop in health problems since I went 100% RO.
Otherwise I used different standard meds. Sera was all the rage back then and even today I'm mostly using their stuff. Also some EsHa products, which I wouldn't use anymore today because it probably killed more fish than it saved for me. Especially catfish I managed to reliably kill with one of those.
Since I ended my hiatus I only had ich once, treated with Sera Protazol and since then: Never showed it's ugly face again.
If a tank was empty due to sales or other reasons we sometimes just left the tank empty for a week. No host, no parasite. The stage of the parasite outside the fish on surfaces or the substrate can only survive for a certain timespan. If there are no new hosts in that time - game over. Simple as that.
And precautions like quarantine and holding having separate equipment and strict hygiene measures.
Plus as those were hardwater fish we had back then, using salt regularly was a given. Especially for the Malawis some salt after waterchanges was standard back then. I found it useful on my tanganyikas as well.
Nowerdays I don't have a fishroom anymore and thus have to rely on good sources. My water is quite soft and acidic most things simply drop dead off the fish and I have noticed a significant drop in health problems since I went 100% RO.
Otherwise I used different standard meds. Sera was all the rage back then and even today I'm mostly using their stuff. Also some EsHa products, which I wouldn't use anymore today because it probably killed more fish than it saved for me. Especially catfish I managed to reliably kill with one of those.
Since I ended my hiatus I only had ich once, treated with Sera Protazol and since then: Never showed it's ugly face again.
If a tank was empty due to sales or other reasons we sometimes just left the tank empty for a week. No host, no parasite. The stage of the parasite outside the fish on surfaces or the substrate can only survive for a certain timespan. If there are no new hosts in that time - game over. Simple as that.
