Issues with Ich

[Beckmola24]

I recently learned a hard lesson about quarantining fish.... I've never had the ability to have a QT setup and added 2 fish to my tank that wound up killing 4 out of my 6 fish with whatever disease they brought in..... The flame angel had ich for sure but the other two looked like their skin was white and patchy and their fins were shredded looking so who knows what it was that killed them.... Anyways I had 2 survivors who look healthy and have nothing on their bodies... My concearn is that the parasite/disease will stay in my tank if there are 2 hosts available.

So my question is.... Can the parasites die if the immunity of the two fish left is strong enough to fight it?

I need opinions as to what to do since I don't want to add new fish down the road and lose them again (and yes I will quarantine before adding the new fish next time)

 

[Nina51]

you need to set up a qt and put your remaining fish in it. if they show signs of disease, they will need to be treated.

you will need to leave your display tank fishless for 72 days for the ich parasite to die off. as long as you keep fish in this tank, ich will be present.

 

[snorvich]

I recently learned a hard lesson about quarantining fish.... I've never had the ability to have a QT setup and added 2 fish to my tank that wound up killing 4 out of my 6 fish with whatever disease they brought in..... The flame angel had ich for sure but the other two looked like their skin was white and patchy and their fins were shredded looking so who knows what it was that killed them.... Anyways I had 2 survivors who look healthy and have nothing on their bodies... My concearn is that the parasite/disease will stay in my tank if there are 2 hosts available.

So my question is.... Can the parasites die if the immunity of the two fish left is strong enough to fight it?

I need opinions as to what to do since I don't want to add new fish down the road and lose them again (and yes I will quarantine before adding the new fish next time)

Sounds like velvet based on the time line and mortality. About 5% of fish can develop temporary immunity (six months) to velvet, but they still carry it even though they are unaffected. Velvet requires a fish host during part of its life cycle so if you remove the two survivors, velvet will die out within six weeks in the tank. However, the remaining fish that did survive will need to be treated with copper or CP for a month.

 

[Beckmola24]

So are my other 2 doomed? They are both fish that hide in the rock work and there's no way I would be able to catch them (6-line and firefish). Both are way too fast. Any other options? Would a UV sterilizer help since they don't have the disease?

 

[snorvich]

So are my other 2 doomed? They are both fish that hide in the rock work and there's no way I would be able to catch them (6-line and firefish). Both are way too fast. Any other options? Would a UV sterilizer help since they don't have the disease?

UV would have no effect (by the way, they do have the disease, it is just not effecting them yet). If you do not remove them, treat them, and leave hte tank without fish, the tank will continue to have velvet since the fish will carry it acting as a host. Eventually, the immunity will wear off and they will likely succumb.