How do you get ich?

[dabears26]

I have been in aquariums for about 8 years and have never had ich.Just recently added a hippo tang to my reef and it has come down with ich.Its driving me nuts because .I did everything rite even acclimated for hours.I have read this and other scale less fish are prone to ich.But why?I have been adding garlic to solve it.I also have some NO-ICH that says it safe for reefs but i am cautios of adding anything to my reef......Any Comments could help...

 

[Krish]

Usually whenever I touch poison oak I get an ich!(LOL) Seriously though, that is a common thing for tangs especially blue hippos. You may have acclimated him nicely, but the trip home may have been stressful for him. Very delicate fish to say the least. I hope it clears up soon.

 

[wrightme43]

Ok here is the deal as I understand it.
If you bring home a fish from the store that has ick on it, or the water from the store has ick free floating, or trophants dormant in it, and then add the fish to your tank you will get it.
If you quar. your fish for two weeks you will catch and deal with it 90% of the time, 4 weeks and you will beat it almost 100% of the time.

 

[dabears26]

We will see if not a expesive sacrifice to the porcelin god....Well its been since Super bowl sunday and the fish is fine but i still c spots.....I have heard some people say ich is always in your water.But only stressed fish with weak immune systems catch it ...True or False????????And will it just go away....??

 

[Krish]

I have heard some people say ich is always in your water.But only stressed fish with weak immune systems catch it ...True or False????????
__________________

Can't say I've ever heard of that before...Did you try a search on ich here? They had some really good discussion lately on it. May be of some help to you...

 

[wrightme43]

No ick is not always in your water. With proper quarentine procedures it is not a issue at all, in display tanks.
Think of it like this. Ick is a exclusive parisite on fish. It has a short life span. If you remove all the fish from your tank for say 6 weeks, and quar. all new arrivals, it will be eliminated.
Starve the little #%$^^$^%$@ things out. LOL

 

[dabears26]

Yeah but how do i cure it in my display tank without removeiing thr fish?

 

[wrightme43]

If you have corals and live rock, its almost impossible. Even if you critters recover, there will be some in thier on the gills and stuff, just waiting for a stress event to come back.

 

[dabears26]

So there is no reef safe cure?...I bought some stuff called NO_ICH its from marine aquaria...It say's its reef safe..and will not harm coral or invertabrates it says not to run a protein skimmer while using for 7 day's then it will bio-degrade in system within 5 days.And then recommends to repeat protein skimming and some charcoal filtration....?.Dont know what the @#$% to do ....It says its all natural ...But ive heard that before...And i have alot more coral$ than fish$

 

[wrightme43]

My opinion, and my opinion only is that the way to go, is to remove the fish, and treat them with, low salinity seperately.

 

[dabears26]

I tried catching that little mother$%#$%! .With all my live rock there to many place's to hide!!!!!!!!

 

[steve-s]

I have heard some people say ich is always in your water.But only stressed fish with weak immune systems catch it ...True or False????????And will it just go away....??

Completely false. A weakend immune system will definately allow the fish to be overcome faster but it can only become infested if C. irritans is present in the first place which is easily corrected. A perfectly healthy fish is just as likely as an ailing fish.

article I wanted to share..Ich (crytocaryon irratans)

disappearing ick???

Cheers
Steve

 

[moortim]

I found this article online and I think you should check it out.

http://www.bestfish.com/saltich.html

 

[dabears26]

Thanks Moortim......I think im going to take out my corals and rocks to remove the fish that are infected and treat with this NO-ICH.

 

[steve-s]

Therapeutics: saltwater fish have a number of natural defenses against ich, and if the fish are healthy enough and the outbreak mild enough, sometimes the fish may cure themselves, just as they would in nature. We can assist them to some degree by maintaining good water quality and providing a nourishing diet. Raising the water temperature shortens the disease cycle and may add vigor to the fish's defense system. Lowering the salinity to about 1.015 seems to inhibit the breeding cycle of the parasites. Giving the fish a two minute freshwater dip may eradicate parasites from the outer layers of skin and gills. Keeping only a few fish in a large aquarium (as in the currently popular "reef" type tanks) can make it harder for each parasite to be successful in finding a host, and the disease may die out.

I would disregard that part of the article. Many myths and untrue factoids. That last sentence is really a whopper!

Thanks Moortim......I think im going to take out my corals and rocks to remove the fish that are infected and treat with this NO-ICH.

If you have a QT, treat with something proven to work. All that effort for a "mabye" seems rather futile to me. FWIW, you do not need to remove all your rock and corals.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=707656

Cheers
Steve

 

[dabears26]

Thats just it steve i dont have a qt..

 

[Paul B]

Quote

I have heard some people say ich is always in your water.But only stressed fish with weak immune systems catch it ...True or False????????And will it just go away....??

This is a touchy subject and there are a lot of opinions. Ich is always present in my reef. How do I know? My fish usually die of old age but at some time all fish have to die from something. When they get near the end of their life for whatever reason they get noticably weak and usually succomb in a few days. At that time, my fish will get ich. I have been observing this in my reef for about 25 years, before that I had to keep copper in the water continousely as all saltwater fish when imported had ich.
I believe the paracite completes their life cycle in my tank infecting the fish just enough to complete their life cycle. I am sure that sometimes the ich dies out completely but since I do not quarintine (but you should) I know I am introducing it all the time. I also know what the experts say about ich life cycle. I know some of the experts, some of them even came to my home to see my reef. My fish do not exhibit any signs of the disease and have not for all those years. Obviousely they are immune although I don't know how.
If you quarintine properly (like you should) you will never have ich in your tank. It has to be introduced somehow. Most fish are not immune and all fish will die from ich. It is a very simple disease to cure but as has been stated, not in a reef. As far as I know, there is no reef safe cure that will work every time. An ich paracite is an invertabrate and a poison that kills paracites will also kill most other inverts.
It can be cured in a day with copper mixed with quinicrine hydrocloride a malaria medicine not easily obtained in the states. Copper alone will work in about three days but the fish must stay in the treatment for two weeks.
Good luck.
Paul

 

[dabears26]

Thanks paul

 

[dabears26]

More info?

 

[Terry B]

I can't agree with much in that article or with what Paul said. If you quarantine all fish for 3+ weeks BEFORE they go into the display tank then you may never have an outbreak. Once it is in a reef the only real way to get rid of it for sure is to remove ALL the fish (not inverts) for 30 to 60 days. This allows the parasite to starve out for lack of food source (fish). During that time I would treat in a seperate quarantine system (Large Rubbermaid containers make good Qtanks) with hyposalinity. Measure the salinity with an accurate refractometer at 12-14ppt salinity (not Specific Gravity). Check the pH and salinity daily. I suggest keeping a cycled Qtank running at all times. Since you don't have a cycled Qtank you will be making lots of LARGE water changes.

HTH,
Terry B