Ich LifeSpan without a Host

[BuckeyeFrags26]

OK fellow hobbyists and diehard hobbyists,
I have a reef tank that has been 11 months without fish and only inverts and corals. How long can Ich last without a host? I'm asking for known cases of Ich living past the known death time frames of the life cycles.

 

[jduck]

76 days fallow, you should be good

 

[ThRoewer]

cysts have been observed to last up to 72 days - but longer periods may be possible depending on the strain.

The infective stage is only able to infect a fish for about a day and only lives for 2 days total without a host.

 

[snorvich]

What they said.

 

[WLachnit]

Question just occured to me... I have a coral frag/QT system with no fish. I leave my corals in QT for 72 days before I move it to my DT. I have also been starting the clock over if I add any frags to the coral QT. But it now occurs to me that any potential Ich that has encysted to the hard surface (Tomont phase), won't move or relocate, correct? If this is the case, then I should be able to move individual corals from my QT to my DT provided that they have been in the QT for 72 days regardless of other additions that may have tomonts (cysts) attached, correct? Am I missing something?

 

[ThRoewer]

I would think you are correct.
But if you are really paranoid about ich, it could be a good idea to add an in-between step of two days to make sure no infective stages can hitch a ride with the water-film on the coral.
At a minimum I would do a dip and a rinse.

 

[WLachnit]

I would think you are correct.
But if you are really paranoid about ich, it could be a good idea to add an in-between step of two days to make sure no infective stages can hitch a ride with the water-film on the coral.
At a minimum I would do a dip and a rinse.

Thanks. That's what I thought.

 

[microlady]

Ich is still in my system after a 3 month fallow period.

 

[CrayolaViolence]

Ich is still in my system after a 3 month fallow period.

Yup. Same here. over 3 months no fish, fallow, nothing. First fish out of hypo QT into the system had ich within 2 weeks.

I've also read in one scholarly journal ich can live in a healthy host, showing no signs for up to six months. And unless the ich is outside the fish, there doesn't seem to be anything that can kill it. Even then I'm skeptical.

 

[WLachnit]

Ich is still in my system after a 3 month fallow period.

Do you think it came from dormant cysts in the fallow tank? Or from fish that were introduced to the tank?

 

[ThRoewer]

There would actually be a way to test a tank for persistent ich after a fallow period:

• get a black molly that was raised in freshwater and therefore never got in contact with marine ich.
• acclimate it to saltwater (using a sterile tank and freshly mixed saltwater)
• put that fish into the tank you want to test.

If that fish gets ich you have evidence that the fallow period failed and that there was still ich present in the tank.

Black mollies are ideal since ich will show well on them.

Any test with saltwater fish would not exclude the possibility to reintroduce ich this way or a false negative due to the test fish being immune to some degree.

 

[russ13]

I have read that increasing the temp of the water decreases there life span


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ThRoewer]

I have read that increasing the temp of the water decreases there life span


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not really.
Cryptocaryon is not significantly affected by temperatures within the range that tropical reef fish and corals can handle.

 

[Dmorty217]

not really.
Cryptocaryon is not significantly affected by temperatures within the range that tropical reef fish and corals can handle.

+1

 

[microlady]

Do you think it came from dormant cysts in the fallow tank? Or from fish that were introduced to the tank?

I would bet dormant cysts in my case. All fish were properly quarantined and treated. Luckily I don't think it's a virulent strain, but time will tell.

 

[pisanoal]

Yup. Same here. over 3 months no fish, fallow, nothing. First fish out of hypo QT into the system had ich within 2 weeks.

I've also read in one scholarly journal ich can live in a healthy host, showing no signs for up to six months. And unless the ich is outside the fish, there doesn't seem to be anything that can kill it. Even then I'm skeptical.

Every post like this I have read has come from reintroducing a fish using hyposalinity as a treatment method. (at least the ones that have specified which method they use). I have also read countless times that hypo is the harder of the methods to pull off, and that some ich strains are resistant to hypo. Any input? Can anyone chime in on properly performed TTM or copper/cupramine that reintroduced after 3 months and had it return?

 

[pisanoal]

I would bet dormant cysts in my case. All fish were properly quarantined and treated. Luckily I don't think it's a virulent strain, but time will tell.

What was your treatment method?

 

[ThRoewer]

Every post like this I have read has come from reintroducing a fish using hyposalinity as a treatment method. (at least the ones that have specified which method they use). I have also read countless times that hypo is the harder of the methods to pull off, and that some ich strains are resistant to hypo. Any input? Can anyone chime in on properly performed TTM or copper/cupramine that reintroduced after 3 months and had it return?

There are reports of this with all treatment methods. Even where the fish were symptom free for weeks in a QT - no ich until the fish are reintroduced.
So there is no specific treatment method to blame.

It rather seems there is an ich strain that can hang out for longer without fish than the previously observed 72 days.

As for hyposalinity - it's quite easy and usually effective. For sure easier than copper.
TTM can be easy as well and there are plenty instruction threads around here - just use the search function or check the stickies.

 

[pisanoal]

There are reports of this with all treatment methods. Even where the fish were symptom free for weeks in a QT - no ich until the fish are reintroduced.
So there is no specific treatment method to blame.

It rather seems there is an ich strain that can hang out for longer without fish than the previously observed 72 days.

As for hyposalinity - it's quite easy and usually effective. For sure easier than copper.
TTM can be easy as well and there are plenty instruction threads around here - just use the search function or check the stickies.

It just seems that hypo has been at least anecdotally cited as the least effective. I had not noticed specifically reports of the other methods, only with hypo. Not saying there weren't any, just that is the trend I took note of. I've been researching a lot lately as I have a new larger tank build going on right now, and I'm trying to "properly" qt my existing fish and new arrivals as I will be going for more expensive delicate fish. I suspect that my current fish have been exposed to several different parasites through time but have become resistant to them. I haven't seen signs of anything in over a year, including after a move. I am going to be using cupramine to treat as I have read that it is potentially effective against several diseases. I started with dry rock and sand, but added a cuc from reefcleaners, and moved my coral over after a bayer dip and removing them from their base rock to try to keep vermetids out of this tank. I was initially thinking 6 weeks fallow, as that is what I had read at the time, but now I'm thinking 72 days.

 

[lg2725]

At first read it seems 72 days is sufficient but looking deeper into it, I'd go the extra 3 for a total of 75 days fallow.