ICH- Almost always there?

Dbroncoboy

Dbroncoboy

New member
So I started feeding my fish tonight and started looking at my yellow tang a little closer and noticed some white spots on him. 99% sure its ich.

Heres the weird part, I haven't added anything besides RODI for over 6 months (been really busy with work, not been able to hit up the LFS much) I fought Ich over a year ago and ended treating all of my fish with cupramine and let the tank stay fallow for 9 weeks. Since then any fish I added went through a lengthy QT where they were treated with cupramine regardless of showing signs of ich. (The last fish was added over 6 months ago though)

Over the last month or so I haven't been able to spend as much time maintaing my tank as I should(yes I know this is inexcusable). I feel as though slightly reduced water quality has slightly stressed the fish resulting in a weakened immune system allowing the ich to take hold. (This isn't some theory I am taking credit for, its been stated before many times) I have never really believed in the "Ich is often present but may not show up" theory... Needless to say this is really making me think this is a major possibility.

Just looking to spark some discussion/hear if anyone has had a similar experience.
 
I think you'll find a number of folks feel that ich is usually present in most systems and would agree with you that when the fish get stressed it increases chances of their imune systems failing to resist the ich. Also, I read last week (don't have the thread handy) that fish can build up an imunity to ich. But that imunity goes away after there has not been an exposure to ich for a while.


The life cycle of ich can vary depending on water temps. It is generally felt that 72 days (10 weeks) is the minimum to let a tank go fallow. Some go 12 weeks and longer just to be sure.


Here's one thread where 10 weeks is discussed.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2041951


Good luck.
 
Interesting read, I actually raised the temperature to 80 to speed up the cycle. Either way the little devils could have survived, who knows.

To me the most interesting part is if they survived the fallow period the ich took over a year before actually showing back up.
 
Did you add anything at all to your system during that time such as a snail, crab, coral on a plug, and etc.? A cyst could have been on one of these and have been introduced into the system.
 
The last thing I added was an acro in December (hard to believe but true sadly). It has literally been 6 months :-(

I was shocked when I saw the ich for that reason. I have been so careful since my first ich outbreak as I didn't really want to go through, or put my fish through the process again. Add that to the fact that I haven't introduced anything new and it seemed pretty bizarre.
 
Weyrman said:
I think you'll find a number of folks feel that ich is usually present in most systems and would agree with you that when the fish get stressed it increases chances of their imune systems failing to resist the ich. Also, I read last week (don't have the thread handy) that fish can build up an imunity to ich. But that imunity goes away after there has not been an exposure to ich for a while.
Click to expand...
Yes, yes, and yes! :)
 
There has also been cases reported lately of a strain resistant to Copper. I experienced this a while back, 10 weeks of Cupermine and no change in the fish. I finally beat it with quinine sulphate.
 
Did a water change last night. I got home from work today and the spots are gone... Definitely unexpected. Even after about 8 years in the hobby it still makes my head spin sometimes.
 
Without a fish host to complete its lifecycle ich dies out so a tank can be completely ich-free.
 
Dbroncoboy said:
Did a water change last night. I got home from work today and the spots are gone... Definitely unexpected. Even after about 8 years in the hobby it still makes my head spin sometimes.
Click to expand...

If it is ich that could mean the first cycle of parasites just dropped off they typically drop off at night). Watch for the next cycle to materialize over the next couple of days. If I recall correctly on average it's a 3 day life cycle. In bad cases each cycle gets worse with more parasites attaching to the fish each time.

If your fish have had ich for a while and you just didn't notice until yesterday it might mean that their immunity has returned. But that's just a thought.

You might try using garlic. That helps their immune systems and the parasites don't like it. Put some drops of it in some dry food and let it soak in before feeding.
 
This graphic does a pretty good job outlining it.
ichcyclegraph.jpg
 
Yeah, I am pretty familiar with the Ich process after dealing with it once about 6 years ago (before I lived here), and again 18 months or so ago.

Either way the tang has never "acted" sick, his activity level and appetite have been completely normal. Rather than stressing him out trying to catch him, I am going to carefully monitor him over the next week or so.
 
The title of the thread was "Ich, almost always there" and I don't believe it is. I have carefully quarantined all my fish and have never had any sign of it in my display tank. I had an outbreak in the QT once and nipped in in the bud with copper treatment. To those that believe Ich reappears when the fish are stressed, I contend that my fish are stressed every time I do a water change or move some rocks around.
 
That's how I deal with ich. The fish do build a natural immunity which prevents the ich from completing their lifecycle and as long as the fish is eating I've found they do quite well getting over it.

I agree, ich is not almost always there.
 
I understand how a fish can develop an immunity to a virus or bacteria, but I don't get how they would build immunity to a parasite. Am I missing something here? Ich is a living organism and I just can't see how the immune system would fight such a thing. If I'm way off base, I hope I'll get an answer here.
 
I guess the title may be a little misleading. I would say it exists far more than people realize. I place a pretty watchful eye on my tank, and haven't seen ANY signs for the last 10 months. I have cleaned and rearranged my tank in that time, I never saw any signs of Ich during these stressful processes.

Unless I misdiagnosed the white spots there is suddenly ich in the aquarium. In my mind there is really no other explanation than it has been dormant or hidden for at least 6 months, and more likely at least 8. It simply made me wonder how many people are actually in the same boat as me but may not know it.

Until 2 days ago I would have felt 100% confident in saying my tank was COMPLETELY Ich free.

Either way the reason I started the thread was to spark a discussion and hopefully educate myself and maybe others. Also I believe sharing these "out of the box" experiences can help everyone.

Thanks for the articles tcamos!
 
My understanding of ich is that it cannot survive for that length of time without a host. I can't find the link right now but I remember reading that 60 days is the max.

It is possible (and I could find out with a little research) that Ich is not the only parasite that presents as white spots so it may have been something else.

Another possibility is that fish are indeed infected and it goes un-noticed because it's only a few parasites but enough to complete the life cycle.

Just some thoughts.
 
It is my personal opinion that Ick is in everyones tank. Sometimes the conditions are right to bring it to our eyes. Hopefully, most of the time the conditions are not right. It makes you wonder if QT'ing is really worth it.
 
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