4 months fishless but ick came back!

[Chihuahua6]

Original fish that had the ick were kept in the same tank and treated for copper in that same tank. The rock was removed from that tank and kept fallow for over four months.

The two fish in quarantine are a Powder Blue Tang and a Regal Angel. Neither had any signs if ick ever, not one spot, never scratched on a rock. The Regal was in transit for two days (Fedex messed up) and arrived in a bag of cold water quite listless. He developed lympho but never ick. The lympho disappeeared after a month.

If there was any ick present the Regal should have definitely gotten it. He was in severe stress. The PB Tang was already present in the quarantine tank when I received the Regal.

I just don't see how gently moving them into a larger tank would cause them to get ick when neither developed it after being shipped to me. It seems like the stress of shipping (especially with the Regal) would have brought out any ick.

It makes more sense to me that the rock still had some ick in it rather than the fish had it and I never saw one white spot on either of them. Neither scratched themselves either.

 

[john rochon]

HUMANS don't ''carry'' cold viruses around lol. they catch them from other sick people. doesn't have much to do wuth stress at all. cold viruses also mutate thats why we can get colds every year,all our lives.

ICH doesn't have to be in the tank and yes QT everything corals included will help. just cleaning the glass or aquascaping can stress out fish so you'd constantly have break outs.

 

[michealprater]

Can you post or PM me wherever you read that garlic info? The hocus pocus surrounding garlic has been one of my big pet peeves.

I am constantly reading up on aquaria on several different sites. If I could remember exactly where I read everything, and kept links to everything I would be a genius. Unfortunately I don't remember. I will say this, it made a ton of sense considering garlic isnt even available or part of fishes normal diet in the ocean.

 

[jason2459]

Original fish that had the ick were kept in the same tank and treated for copper in that same tank. The rock was removed from that tank and kept fallow for over four months.

What did you use to test for coper? Did you test for coper at least once a day if not twice a day as suggested? Did you use a referencing solution to make sure your test kit was correct?

After four months that rock would have absolutely no ich left on it.

The two fish in quarantine are a Powder Blue Tang and a Regal Angel. Neither had any signs if ick ever, not one spot, never scratched on a rock. The Regal was in transit for two days (Fedex messed up) and arrived in a bag of cold water quite listless. He developed lympho but never ick. The lympho disappeeared after a month.

If there was any ick present the Regal should have definitely gotten it. He was in severe stress. The PB Tang was already present in the quarantine tank when I received the Regal.

I just don't see how gently moving them into a larger tank would cause them to get ick when neither developed it after being shipped to me. It seems like the stress of shipping (especially with the Regal) would have brought out any ick.

Ich doesn't develop. It is just like fleas or ticks are to dogs. If a dog is stressed it doesn't just all of a sudden have ticks. Those new fish could easily of had ich and show absolutely no signs of it. Just because a fish gets stressed also doesn't mean the ich will show up. There are several stages that ich goes though and it could have easily been in a stage where you would never know it. Add them to QT and they reduce stress. You don't medicate and the ich still lives. Also, a fish doesn't have to be stressed for the ich to multiply and become visible either. It's a parasite that doesn't care if the fish is healthy, stressed, infected with something, or not.

It makes more sense to me that the rock still had some ick in it rather than the fish had it and I never saw one white spot on either of them. Neither scratched themselves either.

Impossible for the rock to have any remaining live ich. If it truly was kept with out fish for 4 months there is absolutely no way for any ich to have survived.

Heck are you sure you don't have something else like Velvet?

 

[Creetin]

HUMANS don't ''carry'' cold viruses around lol. they catch them from other sick people. doesn't have much to do wuth stress at all. cold viruses also mutate thats why we can get colds every year,all our lives.

ICH doesn't have to be in the tank and yes QT everything corals included will help. just cleaning the glass or aquascaping can stress out fish so you'd constantly have break outs.

AHH, But we do often carry staph bacteria just waiting for a chance.
I hear ich falls off in the ocean and not likely to infect many fish at all discussion alot. It that was the case and fish were not subjected to ich in normal life they would not have been able to adapt and build a resistance to it. IMO That makes me think that theory is wrong.
I think they are subjected to it alot. Reef fish do have alot of contact with each other, and if you watched videos on reefs they are jam packed with fish all over and bound to transmitt ich and other disease.

 

[jason2459]

AHH, But we do often carry staph bacteria just waiting for a chance.
I hear ich falls off in the ocean and not likely to infect many fish at all discussion alot. It that was the case and fish were not subjected to ich in normal life they would not have been able to adapt and build a resistance to it. IMO That makes me think that theory is wrong.
I think they are subjected to it alot. Reef fish do have alot of contact with each other, and if you watched videos on reefs they are jam packed with fish all over and bound to transmitt ich and other disease.

From my experience in diving I see it more on bottom dwelling fish like grouper and trout then open swimming fish like angels and butterfly fish. Doesn't mean they don't have it either though. There's also a lot more cleaner fish and shrimp out there then in your tank as well.

 

[Creetin]

Jason i agree with you, also natural foods they eat can have a med purpose to them as well. JMO I heard there was a natural chemical in sponges that has anti parisite compounds in them so it would do angels good to eat them since they clean so many fish as well. Also heard there was a study on cleaner shrimp that they can have a fish 75% cleaned of paracites in 48 hrs. I have yet to find these studies on line and can't validate the claims. Its interesting though.

 

[cas]

Cleaners wrasses and shrimp do not remove ich. They only remove dead skin and scales from the surface. The trophants(SP?) of ich burrow under the skin and are not removed by the cleaners.

 

[jason2459]

Cleaners wrasses and shrimp do not remove ich. They only remove dead skin and scales from the surface. The trophants(SP?) of ich burrow under the skin and are not removed by the cleaners.

I don't know what the books say but I've seen ich and other parasites picked off first hand. They clean off dead skin as well.

 

[snorvich]

Cleaners wrasses and shrimp do not remove ich. They only remove dead skin and scales from the surface. The trophants(SP?) of ich burrow under the skin and are not removed by the cleaners.

This is correct despite anecdotal evidence to the contrary.

 

[jbanks]

+1 on the natural foods.. I think there is a lot of merit in the wholistic approach and the medicinal value of the food the fish eat in their natural environment.. I have also seen fish cleaning other fish in my tank.. Chromis cleaning my tangs as well as a juvenile Eibli mimic cleaning my Large yellow tang. The Yellow Tang turns at 45 degree angle and the chromis and eibli go to town.. On another note, please don't flame me becaue I am just stating what I have noticed...My tank went through hell and back over the last year with ich.. The ozonizer that I had from the beginning, which I thought was working turned out to be a dud.. I replaced it with a new unit and within 5 days, I watched my fish (some on the verge of eminent death) make an incredible comeback and stay healthy.. I may see a tiny spot here and there on my hippo, but nowhere near like it was prior to running ozone.. This is the second tank that I have noticed it's effect.. I'm not saying that it cures it.. But, it does something pretty amazing, which I can't explain..

 

[rssjsb]

I will say this, it made a ton of sense considering garlic isnt even available or part of fishes normal diet in the ocean.

Garlic plants don't grow in the ocean, but the chemical compounds in garlic may well be present in other plants that marine fish have access to.

 

[LargeAngels]

Ocean and our tanks are Apples and Oranges so it is really hard to compare the two. A fish in the ocean that gets ich will probably never be again exposed to the theronts that hatched. In an aqarium however were we continually recirculate the same water any one of the possible 200 theronts from each cyst that developed on the fish has a great chance of reinfecting the fish. Concetration of ich parasite in the ocean is minute compared to what we potentially expose them to in the aquarium.

Seemingly healthy fish that show NO signs of ich or velvet can indeed carry the parasite and infect other fish. These fish may never show signs and others would. Visual observation does not guarentee the fish don't have parasites. And as stated above ich does not just appear.

 

[tony varrell]

It really bugs me when I read you can have an ick free tank you only have to do this,this and that. BS. I have been i n this hobby for a while now and have a successfull SPS reef with a collection of angles. I am sure some of you have seen them. No time in the ten years have any of my tanks been ick free. It's just not possible. I don't care how much you quarantine or medicate it is not possible to say you have an ick free tank and if you do your lying or simply uninformed on the chararistics of ick. That being said, ick should not be a death sentence for your fish. If your loosing fish to ick often you have other problems going on in your system along with the ick. Needed to vent.

 

[jason2459]

I agree that a tank can successfully be kept while ich is present. It's been done many times. I also believe a tank can be ich free. Don't know why it couldn't be. It's just like any other parasite. You kill it and it's dead. It's not like a bacterial infection that could come back.

 

[Kieth71]

I agree that a tank can successfully be kept while ich is present. It's been done many times. I also believe a tank can be ich free. Don't know why it couldn't be. It's just like any other parasite. You kill it and it's dead. It's not like a bacterial infection that could come back.

+1 If you want to keep your tank with parasites in it and are happy with it so be it.However trying to make the case that it cant be done is just wrong and is the reason so many people in this forum have parasites in their tank.