Does ich become resistant to Cupramine over time????

[aldiver311]

Is it possible that that a strain of Crypt. may become resistant to Cupramine? I've always used it and its always done a great job. This last out break though seems to be giving the Cupramine a run for its money. I've been using Cupramine for the last 10 years to treat ich and the symptoms dissapear anywere from 2- 5 days as far as seeing the the white dots on the fish. Which means the parasite has fallen off the fish to lay eggs and then hatch and start all over. Then when they hatch and are free swiming. This is when the are destroyed. I've shown 3 diff life cycles on my fish in the last month . My copper levels have been 0.50. Has anyone had this issue like this before? I collect alot of fish and QT everything for at least a month before adding them to the display and always treat with Cupramine and Prazzi. This has always worked for me in the past. Do you guys think the ich are getting immune? I don't want to increase the copper level because I have eels that always stop eatting during treatment. One of them being a Brazillian Banana eel. Thanks for any input on this.

 

[MrTuskfish]

I'm not sure how you can count "life cycles''. Three total cycles in a month would seem impossible; the minimum for one full cycle is about 3 weeks, the maximum....who knows? Not seeing the whitespot doesn't mean much; it isn't the actual parasite, she's buried well under the fish's skin. A fish can have lots of ich (in the gills, under the skin) without showing a single white spot. There is no doubt that some fish can have some immunity to ich; but I think its temporary. IMO, there may be individuals in any batch of ich that don't follow 'the rules'; which is why suggestions for fallow time keep expanding. I'm sure no scientist, but still have an opinion. I just don't see how resistant "strains'' of ich could develop; given the constant introduction of new parasites from the wild. Individual "morphs" of the parasite, as well as some temporary immunity, are occurring though. (IME & IME). I make sure all fish are exposed to Cu for 4 weeks after seeing the last white spot......so far, that's worked for me.

 

[aldiver311]

Ya, I'm not giving up yet. Just have never seen the spots on the fish last so long. I didn't really mean full life cycles. Just ment the spots dissapeared then reapeared after a few days. I mean at this rate I will have to keep them in copper for over 2 months. I've never had to treat that long. They have been in copper well over 1 month now and still see spots. So that means until I see the last of the spots its still gonna be another 4 weeks in copper after I've seen the last spot.. I just hate to poisen my fish for that long. The eels really hate it. I wish I could catch them but really hard to do without removing 300 lbs of rock to do it, also very stressful on all the inhabitants of the tank. This is why I have a 150 gallon QT tank. My Goldtail eel stopped eatting for 4 month when I transfered itto the QT tank. I thought it was a gonner but started eatting again and has been fine ever scince.

 

[h2so4hurts]

The life cycle of crypto can be anywhere from 6 days to 11 weeks depending on the host fish and conditions in the aquarium. Three cycles in a month is certainly possible.

See Burgess et al. http://www.springerlink.com/content/g4m1k0j26404q512/

 

[MrTuskfish]

The life cycle of crypto can be anywhere from 6 days to 11 weeks depending on the host fish and conditions in the aquarium. Three cycles in a month is certainly possible.

See Burgess et al. http://www.springerlink.com/content/g4m1k0j26404q512/

You're right, of course. my brain was on the other side of the ich-discussion. Ich can certainly go through a few life cycles in 3 weeks; but that doesn't mean all ich parasites present have emerged. I was hung up on the latter and should have been more clear.

 

[cngreg]

I've had a strain of crypto resistant to cupramine. It actually came from fish in Biscayne bay, around Miami. I ended up using doing the tank switching method every 2 days and had nitrofurazone in the water as a prophylactic.

 

[aldiver311]

Well I havent seen any white spots in 3 days now so maybe I can start counting down.