Ick and coral?

03Mach

New member
One of my tanks has been battling a bout of Ick, it seems to be getting better, but I know it’s still present. It has some Xenia in it and a few other corals. My question is….. Will coral (and cheato) carry Ick parasites? I want to add some of the smaller Xenia and some cheato into my uninfected nano.

J
 
Re: Ick and coral?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9448676#post9448676 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 03Mach
Will coral (and cheato) carry Ick parasites?
corals and algae can't contract Cryptocaryon, but (although unlikely) they might possibly harbor a hitchhiker.
 
Personally and not too facetiously I think they eat it. The swimming phase is the right size and there's no reason they shouldn't. I had ich in my main tank about 9 months ago and added a tang about 2 months ago with no outbreak, so it's gone somewhere: tangs aren't known for immunity. Maybe the corals or pods DID eat it.
 
So would I be ok with putting it into the nano? What is the chance of the rock harboring the ick? My nano is ick free and I'd hate to put it at risk.
 
What I would worry about is carrying freeswimming parasites in with the cheato---not so much the xenia, but cheato is frequently sold simply as a copepod mop, ie, you know you'll get copepods of all sizes with it. Now, granted, ich is smaller, but that maze of tangles is so designed for transporting small animals, I'd worry about it as a vector for ich infestation---one of the rare situations where a non-animal might actually bring it in, because it brings so much water with it.
Re the xenia and the rock, I'd create a pool of fresh, balanced, temp-controlled saltwater, and swish it quickly in there before putting it in the other tank, just to be sure anything in the water didn't transfer with it.
 
So the cheato would be the bigger concern? If I want cheato should I just buy a new small clump of it for the nano?
 
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