Is there Ich in my tank?

[flixxx]

Hi there,

back in December of 2013, I got hit with Ich and wiped out my fish.

since then, I did the 72 days wait time and quarantined/treated every single fish for 30 days with CP before getting into my display tank.

Everything has been going fine, on November of 2014 I got a green mandarin. Prior to that a lot of reading suggested not to QT this guy and the thick slime coat should not cause any alarm of Ich getting into the main tank.

Unfortunately the poor guy didn't last a week (poorly acclimated? not sure...), the issue is though that a few days later I noticed white dots on my royal gramma and she was rubbing against the sand... Not a good sign.

There was no way to catch the gramma and I didn't want to further stress it. all i was able to do was treat the DT with prazipro hoping it was flukes or something else.

Since then, there are no symptoms on any fish and every one seems happy. I imagine now though I am living with Ich again in the tank? Anything I can do to confirm?

Thanks

 

[emcmilla]

I can't imagine under what circumstance using a QT would make sense. While I have never owned a mandarin,what was the reasoning you found on why you shouldn't quarantine the fish?
As I learned with my own experience, there is a chance there may be ich in the tank. In my situation only one fish really seemed to show signs of ich. I removed all fish and put them in a QT. I never did treat for ich with copper. There were two reasons for this: first, was very worried the copper would kill my fish because of the danger of using prime and cupramine. And second, no other fish showed any sign of ich. They are back in my DT and seem to be fine (with the exception of my magnificent foxface who is having unrelated issues).

 

[Chief Reef]

I can't imagine under what circumstance using a QT would make sense. While I have never owned a mandarin,what was the reasoning you found on why you shouldn't quarantine the fish?
As I learned with my own experience, there is a chance there may be ich in the tank. In my situation only one fish really seemed to show signs of ich. I removed all fish and put them in a QT. I never did treat for ich with copper. There were two reasons for this: first, was very worried the copper would kill my fish because of the danger of using prime and cupramine. And second, no other fish showed any sign of ich. They are back in my DT and seem to be fine (with the exception of my magnificent foxface who is having unrelated issues).

Mandarins are generally regarded as an exception to the QT rule as they usually only eat pods which are absent in a barren QT tank. and even if they did go for prepared would require a lot as they have a complicated digestive system and need to feed frequently which would foul up the water fast.they also usually come in malnourished and a lengthy QT would be the end of them.

Couple this with the fact they are sensitive to copper and are generally resistant to parasites due to them sleeping in a mucus cocoon at night and most people just pure straight in the DT and focus on getting them to feed. Which unfortunately can lead to OP's situation

 

[Chief Reef]

Hi there,

back in December of 2013, I got hit with Ich and wiped out my fish.

since then, I did the 72 days wait time and quarantined/treated every single fish for 30 days with CP before getting into my display tank.

Everything has been going fine, on November of 2014 I got a green mandarin. Prior to that a lot of reading suggested not to QT this guy and the thick slime coat should not cause any alarm of Ich getting into the main tank.

Unfortunately the poor guy didn't last a week (poorly acclimated? not sure...), the issue is though that a few days later I noticed white dots on my royal gramma and she was rubbing against the sand... Not a good sign.

There was no way to catch the gramma and I didn't want to further stress it. all i was able to do was treat the DT with prazipro hoping it was flukes or something else.

Since then, there are no symptoms on any fish and every one seems happy. I imagine now though I am living with Ich again in the tank? Anything I can do to confirm?

Thanks

Once a fish has ich, it's in your tank. Healthy fish can fight off infections with good food and low stress and won't show symptoms. But it's there. It will probably pop up when you add a new fish or when parameters are out of whack.only way to truly remove it is to QT and treat everyone while leaving your display tank without fish for 72 days. Snorvich has a few stickys on diagnosing and treating fish diseases/parasites. You should given read. Good luck.

 

[flixxx]

Once a fish has ich, it's in your tank. Healthy fish can fight off infections with good food and low stress and won't show symptoms. But it's there. It will probably pop up when you add a new fish or when parameters are out of whack.only way to truly remove it is to QT and treat everyone while leaving your display tank without fish for 72 days. Snorvich has a few stickys on diagnosing and treating fish diseases/parasites. You should given read. Good luck.

That's what i was afraid of. I worked so hard to keep ich at bay. catching these fish will be next to impossible.... I got some work ahead of me now.

Thanks for the response.

 

[Chief Reef]

That's what i was afraid of. I worked so hard to keep ich at bay. catching these fish will be next to impossible.... I got some work ahead of me now.

Thanks for the response.

Yeah sorry man going through the exact same thing myself. Gave a leopard Warsaw a pass on QT and well...Sig says the rest. I'd suggest TTM for fish sensitive to copper like b mandarins and leopards that have trouble eating. Think it's done in like 9 days compared to the 30 for copper and hypo