snail and ich
- Thread starter zens
- Start date
dfs/la2
.Registered Member
Zens,
Thank you for contacting us with this great question. At our shipping facility, our marine snails and plants are held in a different system than our fish. It is very unlikely for tomonts or theronts to be in the water with the marine snails or plants, as there are no fish in these systems to complete the Ich life cycle. We quarantine all of our live specimens prior to shipment, however, we always recommend quarantining any marine life for at least 2 weeks before adding it to the main aquarium.
The life stages of Ich that are free swimming are the tomont and the theront. The tomonts only spend about 12 to 18 hours in the water column before encycsting on the substrate. The theront must find a host within 12 to 18 hours or die.
The Ich parasite burrows into the skin of a fish where it feeds and grows for 5 to 7 days and the characteristic white spot develops. The protozoan then breaks out of the cyst and is called a tomont. The tomont swims freely for 12 to 18 hours until it produces sticky opaque material and creates a cyst, which then attaches to a rock, coral, glass, or other substrate. A tomont then starts dividing until it produces up to 200 daughter cells called tomites. This process is temperature dependent and can take from 3 to 28 days. When the tomites have finished dividing and are mature, they are then released into the water. They then develop cilia and begin to swim through the water looking for a host. These free-swimming organisms are called theronts. They will only live 12 to 18 hours if they do not find a new host fish to attach to and start the cycle over again.
Please let us know if you have any additional questions, we will be happy to assist you.
Felicia
LiveAquaria
URL=www.drsfostersmith.com]Drs. Foster & Smith[/URL]
Thank you for contacting us with this great question. At our shipping facility, our marine snails and plants are held in a different system than our fish. It is very unlikely for tomonts or theronts to be in the water with the marine snails or plants, as there are no fish in these systems to complete the Ich life cycle. We quarantine all of our live specimens prior to shipment, however, we always recommend quarantining any marine life for at least 2 weeks before adding it to the main aquarium.
The life stages of Ich that are free swimming are the tomont and the theront. The tomonts only spend about 12 to 18 hours in the water column before encycsting on the substrate. The theront must find a host within 12 to 18 hours or die.
The Ich parasite burrows into the skin of a fish where it feeds and grows for 5 to 7 days and the characteristic white spot develops. The protozoan then breaks out of the cyst and is called a tomont. The tomont swims freely for 12 to 18 hours until it produces sticky opaque material and creates a cyst, which then attaches to a rock, coral, glass, or other substrate. A tomont then starts dividing until it produces up to 200 daughter cells called tomites. This process is temperature dependent and can take from 3 to 28 days. When the tomites have finished dividing and are mature, they are then released into the water. They then develop cilia and begin to swim through the water looking for a host. These free-swimming organisms are called theronts. They will only live 12 to 18 hours if they do not find a new host fish to attach to and start the cycle over again.
Please let us know if you have any additional questions, we will be happy to assist you.
Felicia
LiveAquaria
URL=www.drsfostersmith.com]Drs. Foster & Smith[/URL]
Similar threads
