The main cause of the onset of ich is stress; stress can compromise the immune system of the fish making the fish more susceptible to ich as well as other parasites and diseases. This can be caused by the stress the fish encounters during shipment and then being added to the aquarium.
Wrong or misleading information.
The main cause for an Ich outbreak is the presence of the parasite in your aquarium. Ich is a parasite and it must be present for the fish to acquire it. A fish doesn't have to be stressed in the least to get ich (this is a myth). Actually once the fish get's Ich it WILL BECOME STRESSED. However with that said, normally when a living organism is stressed the immune system isn't up to par and it will not fight off diseases as easy.
Ich is to a fish as a common cold is to people and is present in any aquarium set up, new or old. Any sudden changes in the environment such as the addition of new fish, fluctuations in water quality, and temperature can also bring on an outbreak of ich in an established aquarium.
This is simple UNTRUE and FALSE information. It is a parasite not a bacteria and is NOT like a common cold. It isn't airborne, it can't spread by exposure. It can not magically appear out of no where. It is not always present in an aquarium and it must be introduced in order to be found in the aquarium. The parasite must physically be moved into the aquarium. This is scientifically proven and is not open for debate.
I may be in the minority on the following but it seems like you are being irresponsible dosing a lot of antibiotics in your QT systems. Is it a QT system or Hospital System?
"To combat common bacterial infections such as Vibrio, therapeutic baths containing antibiotics such as kanamycin, nitrofurazone, Neomycin and other commercial antibiotics are given."
That's a lot of antibiotics given when most are probably not even needed. The irresponsible use of antibiotics on fish is going to cause problems down the road to the industry as a whole. Fish build up an immune system to these antibiotics and the diseases become harder and harder to fight off. This is the same problem that has happened to humans in recent years with broad spectrum antibiotic use. It's only a matter of time before we start seeing more "super strains".
Under Disease Prevention your site mentions "Other fish such as Angelfish, tangs, certain genus of wrasse, and several other specific species are given therapeutic saltwater baths. These baths contain praziquantel or other medications that eliminate flukes, protozoan, and parasites commonly found on wild fish."
Again the same problem as mentioned above. Dosing meds when it may not be needed.
"In addition to the baths, all quarantined fish are treated with copper sulfate and a 37% formaldehyde solution (Formalin) to combat Amyloodinium ocellatum and Cryptocaryon irritans."
Wow, a double poison! The study of this type of treatment is really still in it's infancy but already we know that exposure to copper is bad long term on fish. It causes early liver failure and fish exposed to copper typically have shorter lives. Formalin is worse long term then copper. Also worth noting is that certain fish should never be exposed to either of these.
It's one thing to use these "meds" in a hospital tank when a fish is sick and really needs some type of "med", but it's quite another thing to dose these products ESPECIALLY TOGETHER as a "proactive" measure.
I realize LA isn't the only company doing this. Many LFS also use copper in their tanks but many are starting to wise up too. I myself try and make a point whenever possible to purchase specimens that haven't been subjected to a lot of unneeded "therapy".
I myself wouldn't "brag" about my QT setup if I were you but that's only my 2 cents and probably worth less then that.
Carlo
