Is it possible to have ich dormant after 3 years

[chjay00]

In the past I have never QT my fish. The current fishes I have in my tank have survived an ich out break in my tank with out treatment. Since then, my tank is running well and I have not seen ich on any of my fishes for over 3 years.

My question, will my display tank still have ich since I didnt QT in the past?
I'm planning to add some new fishes and I planning to QT them. But it will be pointless if I have ich dormant in my tank.

Jay

 

[khaosinc]

I have read on a couple of sights that ick 'burns itself out' after 11 months or so. This is in the catagory of I read it on the internet so it must be true. So take it for what its worth.

 

[lisafoster]

From what I have been told if the tank was not left fallow for several months it is still in the tank. I knoe I have ich because 8 months ago I had an outbreak did not remove all my fish so it is probably lying in wait . Stress can bring it out. I would still consider qt'ing in case the stress of the move causes the new fish to break outwith ich.

 

[chjay00]

I guess I'll start tearing down my tank and QT the current fish I have. There goes my weekend. :sad2: I was planning to leave my tank empty for a month. Is that long enough?

 

[Paul B]

It's up to you but I would not tear down that tank on the premise that you have ich and it will infect your fish. Quarantine the new fish and if they get ich, they were probably going to get it anyway.
If you keep the fish healthy enough, they won't get ich.

 

[aquaph8]

As far as leaving the tank empty go 8 weeks. Ive also heard six, but if your gonna go that far why not be sure and go two more weeks. I wouldn't tear the tank down either. If your fish seem healthy, just start QTing now to keep them that way.

 

[Stuart60611]

I have read on a couple of sights that ick 'burns itself out' after 11 months or so. This is in the catagory of I read it on the internet so it must be true. So take it for what its worth.

The data this is based upon is not necessarilly conclusive. The study that this assertion came from was conducted by a guy named I believe Burgess or something close to that and another guy. They were performing experiments on crypt. To conduct their experiments, they purposely infected fish with crypt and were breeding crypt for this purpose. In doing so, they discovered that the same strain of crypt that they were breeding to infect fish could not continue to breed with new offspring after 11 months.

This does suggest that the same strain of crypt can only reproduce a limited number of generations. However, it is not really conclusive that this would hold true in a more natural environment or may not be the result of some other limitation associated with the methodology the scientists were using to breed the crypt to infect the fish for their experiments.

 

[chjay00]

I've already tore down my display tank. So, when I move the my Regal Tang to my QT, he had already show signs of ich. So YES, ich will stay dormant in your tank as long as you have fish.

Do you think 5 fishes in 55g QT is too much? I'm worried the bio-load will be too much.

I have the following fishes:
Harlequin Tusk 5-6"
Bluethroat trigger 4"
Yellow Pyramid BF 5-6"
Naso Tang 4"-
Regal Tang 6-7"

Jay

 

[aquaph8]

Im gonna let someone else take that one. I dont know if I would put that fish list in a 55 or not. Rather large group. Did they have any aggression in your DT and how big was your DT?

 

[RBU1]

It's up to you but I would not tear down that tank on the premise that you have ich and it will infect your fish. Quarantine the new fish and if they get ich, they were probably going to get it anyway.
If you keep the fish healthy enough, they won't get ich.

I am starting to feel this way also......

 

[RBU1]

I've already tore down my display tank. So, when I move the my Regal Tang to my QT, he had already show signs of ich. So YES, ich will stay dormant in your tank as long as you have fish.

Do you think 5 fishes in 55g QT is too much? I'm worried the bio-load will be too much.

I have the following fishes:
Harlequin Tusk 5-6"
Bluethroat trigger 4"
Yellow Pyramid BF 5-6"
Naso Tang 4"-
Regal Tang 6-7"

Jay

Well I hope your tank has some kind of established biological filtration. Especially with that bio load. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I went thru the same thing you are right now. The only difference is I tore down a 300 twice. On the last go around I QTed everything and even treated avery fish for 4 weeks with Cupramine at .5. Guess what my main tank still has ich and that was after a 12 week fallow period in the main tank. So I have given up with trying the ich free system. I will continue to QT and treat all new fish to hopefully build up their immune system to be able to fight off whatever is in the tank. I don't think that tank you have is large enough to support all those fish. I would go get another 55 and split them up. That being said I usually like to keep my treatment tanks running to make sure the biological piece is in place. If not you will kill your fish anyway with the cycle the tank will go thru. Make sure you keep a real good eye on ammonia and have enough water made in advance to do 100% water changes. Good Luck

 

[chjay00]

Im gonna let someone else take that one. I dont know if I would put that fish list in a 55 or not. Rather large group. Did they have any aggression in your DT and how big was your DT?

I had a little aggression. Only the Blue Tang would ram the naso and BT Trigger.
I never seen him use his tail and slap them. My DT is 180g (72"X24"X24") FOWLR
So far ther regal is playing nice in the QT.

Well I hope your tank has some kind of established biological filtration. Especially with that bio load. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I went thru the same thing you are right now. The only difference is I tore down a 300 twice. On the last go around I QTed everything and even treated avery fish for 4 weeks with Cupramine at .5. Guess what my main tank still has ich and that was after a 12 week fallow period in the main tank. So I have given up with trying the ich free system. I will continue to QT and treat all new fish to hopefully build up their immune system to be able to fight off whatever is in the tank. I don't think that tank you have is large enough to support all those fish. I would go get another 55 and split them up. That being said I usually like to keep my treatment tanks running to make sure the biological piece is in place. If not you will kill your fish anyway with the cycle the tank will go thru. Make sure you keep a real good eye on ammonia and have enough water made in advance to do 100% water changes. Good Luck

RBU1, I remember reading your post. I'm bummed that it didn't work for you, but I must bo this. If leaving the tank fallow works, great. But if not, I'm okay with it. I will use the time to rearranging the landsacpe and I also want to do a major water change. (50%)
I did end up splitting the group up. The Regal Tang, Yellow pyramid and Naso tang are in the 55. The Harlequin Tusk and BT Trigger are in a 30g rubbermaid bin. I've have already started to lower my salinity for hyposalinity.

Wish me luck
Jay

 

[RBU1]

Good Luck, Jay.

 

[WDLV]

I wouldn't tear down my tank on a maybe.
I think in terms of fighting disease the most effective approach from most useless to most helpful looks something like this.

1. Crossing your fingers
2. Medicated foods
3. Rely on a stress free display
4. A dip before adding them to a display
5. A quarrantine for less than 90 days
6. A quarrantine in hypo for less than 90 days
7. A quarrantine for 90 days
8. A prophylactic treatment based on the most likely diseases for that species
9. A quarrantine in hypo for 90 days

10. A treatment in hypo from the moment they arrive in your home with a low dose of a species specific prophylactic med for 90 days followed by addition to a low stress display with plenty of food (preferably medicated and/or with garlic.) and that's if they have no symptom of any disease while in quarrantine. If you do detect a disease, add 90 days after the last symptom has disappeared. Do all this and it's unlikely (not impossible) that you will have a disease outbreak.