ICK ?'ns

[pavehawk]

If you see a fish in a fish store that has what appears to be ICK or any other thing like cloudy eyes etc and the tanks are all set up side by side like most stores do. Wouldn't the way the tanks are filtered and the water returned just spread to the other tanks. I.E. if they all shared a big common sump?

Is this why people do not QT or observe a new fish in the sump instead of using a QT tank?

 

[RBU1]

If the systems are all plumbed together there is a chance that all fish will have the parasite.

 

[rrrrob]

i'd be leery of fish with cloudy eyes, but i've bought fish with ich, introduced it directly to my main tank, and guess what? the ich went away and none of the other inhabitants succumbed to the disease...I have done this on several occasions with success. Flame if you must...

 

[RBU1]

i'd be leery of fish with cloudy eyes, but i've bought fish with ich, introduced it directly to my main tank, and guess what? the ich went away and none of the other inhabitants succumbed to the disease...I have done this on several occasions with success. Flame if you must...

Ne need to flame its your tank. I wish you continued success in your desire to play Russian Roulette.

 

[rrrrob]

it's not russian roulette...it's common sense and 30+ years of experience. Think about it...fish are exposed to ich in the wild. They are imported with ich. They are not sterilized at the LFS nor in your quarantine tank. If the water is clean and the fish aren't stressed out by bad matches with other tank inhabitants, there should be no issue with ich.

 

[RBU1]

it's not russian roulette...it's common sense and 30+ years of experience. Think about it...fish are exposed to ich in the wild. They are imported with ich. They are not sterilized at the LFS nor in your quarantine tank. If the water is clean and the fish aren't stressed out by bad matches with other tank inhabitants, there should be no issue with ich.

Yeah OK....Its Russian Roulette in my book.. In the wild fish can swim great distances. In our tanks they can not.

 

[rrrrob]

i am not sure I understand why long-distance swimming relates to ich resilience, except in the case of fish swimming away from polluted waters, where it has been documented that ich and other diseases do flourish, but in my book, copper and hypo are russian roulette, and I've never won with those. Most of the threads here that start out that way seem to end badly...just sayin'...

 

[RBU1]

Yes swimming away from polluted waters..........In my opinion if you know what you are doing and what to look for Cupramine is safe to use.

 

[Chris27]

Comparing the parasite in the ocean to that of a small tank is absurd. A confined space changes all the rules....

An experienced reefkeeper should be providing a little better advise then to go to the fish store, pick out a fish that you know is unhealthy enough to let the parasite take hold, and then throw it in a tank full of healthy fish.

 

[Chris27]

If you see a fish in a fish store that has what appears to be ICK or any other thing like cloudy eyes etc and the tanks are all set up side by side like most stores do. Wouldn't the way the tanks are filtered and the water returned just spread to the other tanks. I.E. if they all shared a big common sump?

Is this why people do not QT or observe a new fish in the sump instead of using a QT tank?

That is exactly why. If the infected fish is in your sump, the parasite will make its way to the display in short order.

Quarantine is just that, quarantine, you keep it away from everything else, in a controlled environment, so that you don't infect a healthy population.

Some fish stores have isolated systems to allow for treatment, but space constraints or associated costs make it hard for others. If you happen to find a LFS that does QT, stick with them, it's a good store that cares about what they are doing!

QT / Hospital tanks are a great investment in the future of the hobby. Everything (chemistry, filtration, supplementation, etc.) is already hard enough, why throw ever dying fish into the equation when you can fix it with a $40 setup from craigslist....

I'm an avid QT supporter for the simple reason that I hate fish dying, after I adopted a good regimen my fish losses all about stopped.

 

[rrrrob]

I hate fish dying too, which is why I stopped using meds and instead attacked the cause (usually water quality), not the symptoms. Healthy unstressed fish ward off disease naturally.

 

[rrrrob]

Comparing the parasite in the ocean to that of a small tank is absurd. A confined space changes all the rules....

An experienced reefkeeper should be providing a little better advise then to go to the fish store, pick out a fish that you know is unhealthy enough to let the parasite take hold, and then throw it in a tank full of healthy fish.

Experience has taught me that hypo, copper, etc. do nothing but make the situation worse...just read the threads here--

"my fish is sick"

"oh? copper the heck out of it, then a freshwater dip, then add garlic to get them eating, then lower the salinity..."

"I lost the fish last night "

I see this OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

As for comparing animals in the wild vs a tank being absurd: not so much--the whole POINT of reefkeeping is to mimic the animal's natural surroundings as closely as possible. Copper and freshwater dips, etc., don't fit this scenario.

 

[RBU1]

OK I am done debating this with you. Like I said keep playing Russian Roulette.....Soon enough you will put a fish in your tank that has something that will wipe out your tank. Apparently you are willing to take that risk. I am not.......

 

[rrrrob]

okay....and YOU keep torchoring you fish with unnecessary meds and freshwater dips/hyposalinity...eventually the failures will start to register and you'll try something else, as I did.