Quote:
Originally Posted by fishytime
Two puffers, 1 tank=stress? Ich is not carried in to the tank. It is a parasite that is constantly present in the aquarium. It is only when a fish becomes week or stressed that their immune systems cant fight it off. I would try and figure out the reason for the stress.
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Why would two puffers in one tank equal stress?
If you have any idea what would be stressing them, let me know! There is zero aggression. Not even the odd chase. They are fed 3 times a day. Nitrates are kept to 5 and below at all times. Temperature has not swung more than 1 degree in 4 months (this has been a lot of work). Stress is exactly what I have worked my butt off to make sure is NOT in the tank. I think the reason this is such a mild break out each time (about 5-6 spots on the two puffers) is because the tank is so stress free. Sorry if it sounds like Im attacking your comment but I made it very clear in the beginning that I have worked extra hard to make sure stress in not a factor. And I strongly believe it has not been. Or I think they would all be dead months ago.
Maybe I need to clear this up...This is not a big outbreak by any means. Its only 2 of the 15 or so fish that even get the ich and its about 5-6 spots each usually. This last time the dogface did have it a bit worse than that but by this morning almost all the spots are gone. So its not a terrible outbreak and the fish don't even seem to notice its there but it still really bugs me and I am worried that if something does go wrong (power outtage, temperature swing, etc.) that they will get attacked hard by the ich.
BTW, as written in the Reefkeeping articles, I do NOT believe ich is present in every tank. And you can rid your tank of ich. Its just been hard this time.