Achilles Tang Question - What Makes It So Vulnerable To Ich

[RyanChase]

I was thinking it's in there skin too, I'm not sure I've never seen clowns get it

i just lost 4 fish to ich including a tomato clown.
didn't start treatment in time.

 

[ca1ore]

I have 30 fish in tank not one has a sign of ich. I have seen that ich is always present. Even if you pull all your fish out and attempt to sterilize the tank by going fish less for months

My fish have no spots. They are super healthy fat and eat like pigs. Every time I Put a Achilles or powder blue in they have developed While the other fish have no signs. It is bizarre I agree. I pulled the fish out as soon as they developed signs. The ich never spread to another fish . I can't explain it.
For this reason I stay clear off Achilles or powders.

I don't think your experience is actually unusual. I suspect that quite a few tank owners, convinced that their tank is ich free, would be due an unpleasant surprise upon adding a clean Achilles. I have had a similar experience in my tank. Certain new fish will show a brief outbreak, but then recover and not show spots again. Achilles shows spots every now and then, but never gets a bad case and has been in the tank now for 18 months.

 

[RxMike]

Agreed it is not unusual

I gave up trying to sterilize tank of ich. Rather understand the fish that are prone to it. Stay clear of those that are highly susceptible.

 

[Giovanni]

Agreed it is not unusual

I gave up trying to sterilize tank of ich. Rather understand the fish that are prone to it. Stay clear of those that are highly susceptible.

I do believe it it possible to have an ich free tank, however I have had the same experience as you with powders and achilles tangs. They seem to breed the ich until the parasite load in the tank overwhelms the other fish and they show symptoms. When the powder/achilles are removed, the parasite load reduces over a couple of ich cycles and the other fish recover.

 

[nuxx]

Some great insight guys

 

[ca1ore]

I do believe it it possible to have an ich free tank.

Certainly it is!

Think of it this way - two types of tanks, those that have ich and those that the owner believes are ich free. Of the latter, some actually will be ich free, others not, just asymptomatic. Add an AT and you will quickly know for sure :lol:

 

[Giovanni]

Yep I have always called the PBT/AT the litmus test for ich! At one time I kept one in my QT so when I QTed a fish that tended not to show symptoms (is a carrier) I would know it was infected. I found that most fish come infected with ich so I just treat them all as if they do. If the new fish cannot tolerate copper, it gets tank transfer.

 

[nuxx]

Yep I have always called the PBT/AT the litmus test for ich! At one time I kept one in my QT so when I QTed a fish that tended not to show symptoms (is a carrier) I would know it was infected. I found that most fish come infected with ich so I just treat them all as if they do. If the new fish cannot tolerate copper, it gets tank transfer.

Was thinking of adding an AT to our frag tank to detect any disease... but decided again it since there might not be enough stress in the tank to force the AT to show any signs of disease.

 

[Giovanni]

Was thinking of adding an AT to our frag tank to detect any disease... but decided again it since there might not be enough stress in the tank to force the AT to show any signs of disease.

It has been my experience that if ich is present in the system, these PBT/AT do not need stress to break out. YMMV