ich ever gone?

[minhvu]

Ok, i recently place all my fish in QT with copper. I'm leaving my DT fish-free for 8 weeks. This is supposed to be long enough to kill all ich in DT and on the fish. Any new fish will spend 2 weeks in QT. My question is will ich ever be a problem or will this take care of ich for good? I recently heard that ich will always be a problem no matter what i do, if stressed is presented. Is this true?

 

[Freed]

Ich WILL NOT always be a problem if you QT properly. Two weeks is not enough, should be at least 4-6 weeks. It is a blown out myth that all tanks will always have ich in them. Copper, hypo(easier to do) or tank transfer method are the only documented and proven ways to eliminate ich before putting new fish in the main tank.

 

[jmicky41]

So, if I quarantine my fish for a month or so and see no spots should they be good to go in the display? Or should I assume they all have ich when purchased, and treat them for assumed ich?

 

[Freed]

To be on the safe side I assume that the fish COULD POSSIBLY HAVE ich in their gills and just not be visible on the fishs body. I always treat with hypo for 4-6 weeks before putting in main tank. There are those that will tell you to just look at them for 4 weeks and if you see no ich then you are good to go BUT does that mean the fish doesn't have ich actively feeding on the fishs' gills? Up to you on that one.

 

[jnc914]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13003562#post13003562 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jmicky41
So, if I quarantine my fish for a month or so and see no spots should they be good to go in the display? Or should I assume they all have ich when purchased, and treat them for assumed ich?

Quarantine should be 4-6 weeks, and preferably in Hypo or Cupramine (a less toxic copper and more effective than hypo) if there are symptoms of parasites. However I also always assume that a fish is carrying parasites, even if there is no immediate visual evidence of it. I recently had an outbreak of velvet which I believe came from a Regal Angel that I had only Qt'ed for 3 weeks in Hypo(which doesn't work for velvet). It apeared very healthy until I moved it into the DT, and then almost every fish had velvet within a week and a majority of the fish died within 2-3 weeks. I had tried to treat the DT, but it was too late. From now on everything goes through my QT. My DT will be fallow for the next 8 weeks.

 

[limitdown]

There are other fishkeepers on here that treat all incoming fish with cupramine regardless of whether symptoms are present. My recent troubles with ich even after QT'ing for a solid 6wks is pushing me to consider that approach.

 

[Crush Coral]

I have read that tangs do not do well with copper. Something about their digestive track not recovering. What do you guys do with tangs?

 

[limitdown]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13036934#post13036934 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Crush Coral
I have read that tangs do not do well with copper. Something about their digestive track not recovering. What do you guys do with tangs?

My sailfin tang was in cupramine for 3 weeks and i've now had him for over 1yr.

 

[Crush Coral]

Thanks for the reply.

 

[marc price]

i never had a problem with tangs/copper. i don't like the heavily chelated copper which others here are using. i've found the product mentioned in the above post to be unreliable and not anywhere near as effective as a simple copper sulfate or citrate such as aquarium systems sea cure. it's just as safe and probably safer when correct therapeutic levels are used (in a bare bottomed tank with inert decorations) and tested for. i also leave the display tank fallow for no less than 10weeks.