Ick question

[tanker]

Does anyone know if ick will go away by itself, or must you medicate or kill it?? Is it in the water always??-just waiting for a stressed fish to attach to??

 

[BigReefing]

I know alot about this. I had it and read everything I could. They feed on the fish and as long as there are fish in your tank, ikk will be there. If you move the fish of your tank and AT them, the ikk will die after a month or so, because it has no host. Copper sulfate is the only thing you can treat them with and it actualy hurts the fish. In all my many experances with ikk. I would say throw the fish out that have ikk, if not all your fish and just start over agian. That may sound bad but if i had to do it agian thats what i would do, or you can qt them and treat them, but you cant treat them in a tank with coral and waht not or everything dies. The chems are nasty. So trust me, if you dont have alot of money in fish dump them. If you have big investsments in them treat them. I spent a month reading everything I could find on it. Some fish like flame angles don't take kindly to treatment. Latter. email me if you have more questions. Its a pain.

 

[BigReefing]

It dies in the main tank about 30 days or so after the fish are all out. some say it takes longer. Also if you have cleaner shrimp like skunks the red and white stripe ones. They actualy will eat some of it as well as eat it off the fish.

 

[reg828]

some fish has immunity with ick, they are the ones that are lucky because they will not get it, but some can easily be infected. i am in a process of curing my main tank, leaving it no fish for 7 or 8 weeks and at the same time i can hypo them at the qt tank. you can do the same or you can leave the fish, see if he can have immunity and ick will never come back. thats what i experimented with flame angel, i left him to see if he can fight it, it went away for few days, but few days later it came back twice as much.

 

[guyguerra]

Here is a link to a GREAT thread about Ich. You should be able to find all your possible options in this thread. Good luck. Many of us have had to deal with it, but it doesn't have to be terrible. Look at your situation and pick the best option, then settle into your plan and ride it out.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=595224&goto=newpost

 

[BigReefing]

my opinion is dont ever raise fish