Achilles Tang new 2 days not eating first ich signs

[Andrew S.]

This guy isn't eating, tried all types of food. First signs of ich appeared. He's been in my main tank since day 1 since the store had him over a week with no symptoms and he was supposedly eating and qt can be tough for these types since they need space. My main tank is 175g and qt is 20g with cupramine copper meds. My plan is to freshwater dip today then either back to main tank or qt in copper 20g. Thoughts? Foods tried so far nls pellets, brine, mysis, zucchini, lettuce, algae pellets. Thanks! Need to act as I've seen this spiral before.

 

[Dmorty217]

Don't freshwater dip since it's useless and a waste of your time and will only cause unwanted stress to the AT. You need to QT and treat the Achilles. Now your DT is infected with ich and the only way to rid the DT of ich is to leave it fish less for 72 days

 

[snorvich]

Did you see him eat at the store? (FYI, the longer a fish is at an LFS, the greater the chance it contracts a parasite -- always quarantine)

 

[Perth_reefer]

Does anyone know where the report stating 72 days fallow is online? I'm definitely not convinced of its accuracy but would like to read it if possible.

 

[snorvich]

Sure, it is in the advanced information on ich sticky, which states:

"The time required for theront development varies. In one study (Colorni and Burgess 1997), theronts emerged from a group of tomonts sometime between 3 and 72 days, with most released from 4 to 8 days after tomont formation. In another study (Diggles and Lester 1996 ), tomite development and theront release occurred, on average, between 5 and 12.1 days after tomont formation, depending upon strain and temperature."

You can reference the cited marine biology literature at your convenience.

 

[Perth_reefer]

Thanks Steve. The problem with that statement being 'In one study'. We can't take the findings of one study to be the constant for every situation. Even if they repeated the same study 100 times with the same outcome you would have to say that while being the probability that ich will be gone in 72 days, it is never certain.

 

[snorvich]

Thanks Steve. The problem with that statement being 'In one study'. We can't take the findings of one study to be the constant for every situation. Even if they repeated the same study 100 times with the same outcome you would have to say that while being the probability that ich will be gone in 72 days, it is never certain.

Ok, use whatever fallow period you wish.