Can fish behavior alone be a good judge of whether it has ich?

[Mightyfish]

Assuming we are only talking about ich parasites here, so no fluke, velvet or brook scenario. I have recently finished leaving my DT fallow for 75 days and have added back two sunburst anthias into DT. These sunburst anthias have been in QT for 8 weeks and had no ich during quarantine period. I am a bit paranoid about whether all ich were killed in DT even after 75 days fallow period. Unfortunately the sumburst always hide under and inbetween rocks work they only come out briefly when feeding so it is impossible to see whether they have ich. Can i use their behavior to judge whether they have ich or not? Hence whether they scratch their body against rocks, rapid breathing and twitch their head. I am keen to add back ly other fish into DT but want to be sure that there is no more ich in DT.

 

[snorvich]

What was your quarantine protocol? Observation is not sufficient to make sure ich is not present.

 

[snorvich]

With experience, it is possible to see behaviors associated with various parasites.

 

[Mightyfish]

What was your quarantine protocol? Observation is not sufficient to make sure ich is not present.

During quarantine period i treated these sunburst anthias with 2 rounds of prazi even they showed no show of ich. Just as a precaution since most fish can handle prazi. Did not do any ich treatment because they showed no visible ich nor any kind of behavior associated with it. Because they are such shy fish and can easily spooked and stop eating so i didnt do any treatment to stress them especially they show no sign of parasites. Further when i bought these anthias from LFS they were in their corals tank so didnt think LFS would have added mild copper in their corals tank.

 

[snorvich]

During quarantine period i treated these sunburst anthias with 2 rounds of prazi even they showed no show of ich. Just as a precaution since most fish can handle prazi. Did not do any ich treatment because they showed no visible ich nor any kind of behavior associated with it. Because they are such shy fish and can easily spooked and stop eating so i didnt do any treatment to stress them especially they show no sign of parasites. Further when i bought these anthias from LFS they were in their corals tank so didnt think LFS would have added mild copper in their corals tank.

No, the corals tank would not have copper. However ich does not have to have visible symptoms in order to be present. It often starts in the gills where it is not visible. The only guaranteed elimination process would be treatment with TTM, CP, or copper.

 

[Mightyfish]

No, the corals tank would not have copper. However ich does not have to have visible symptoms in order to be present. It often starts in the gills where it is not visible. The only guaranteed elimination process would be treatment with TTM, CP, or copper.

Totally understand that and agree with you. If ich exists in gills would fish show fast respiration and may scratch gill plate against objects?

 

[snorvich]

Totally understand that and agree with you. If ich exists in gills would fish show fast respiration and may scratch gill plate against objects?

In my experience, they would gill a bit faster and would tend to pause near water returns.

 

[Mightyfish]

Thanks for your time Steve.

 

[Spar]

Totally understand that and agree with you. If ich exists in gills would fish show fast respiration and may scratch gill plate against objects?

also important to note is that signs begin to be more obvious when a larger infestation hits the fish. if the fish only has a handful of parasites it is likely to show no sign at all. likely not making them flash much or at all, and likely not causing them respiration issues enough to breath heavy. even white spots (exit wounds) will not be obvious when only a couple/few are present.

it only takes one to jump off and split into new parasites to create havoc later.

 

[snorvich]

it only takes one to jump off and split into new parasites to create havoc later.

Yes. They increase exponentially which is why this parasite overwhelms rather than kills quickly.