Ich and what carries it?!

[Justusfish]

I am buying a 210 gallon tank with no visible Ich on any of its occupants. My 50 gallon tank has 8 fish in it, three with Ich, (relatively mild) Two tangs and one Maroon clown affected. The damsels and pajama cardinals, a non-issue. No ich.

So my question is this: Can I put my live rock from the "iched" tank into the 210 or do they contain ich? Can I move my corals over? Then I could treat my fish after removing the rock and coral with chemicals and quarantine them for eight weeks before moving the fish into the tank?

Is any of this feasible?

Thanks

[marie]

It is possible and probable that ich will transfer over with the rock from your tank

[marie]

This is from an article Steven Pro wrote for reefkeeping magazine

The lifecycle of the parasite is interesting and important to understand when evaluating a treatment. The stage where the parasite is attached to a fish is called a trophont. The trophont will spend three to seven days (depending on temperature) feeding on the fish. After that, the trophont leaves the fish and becomes what is called a protomont. This protomont travels to the substrate and begins to crawl around for usually two to eight hours, but it could go for as long as eighteen hours after it leaves it's fish host. Once the protomont attaches to a surface, it begins to encyst and is now called a tomont. Division inside the cyst into hundreds of daughter parasites, called tomites, begins shortly thereafter. This noninfectious stage can last anywhere from three to twenty-eight days. During this extended period, the parasite cyst is lying in wait for a host. After this period, the tomites hatch and begin swimming around, looking for a fish host. At this point, they are called theronts, and they must find a host within twenty-four hours or die. They prefer to seek out the skin and gill tissue, then transform into trophonts, and begin the process all over again (Colorni & Burgess, 1997).

[mark]

Though possible you would bring ich across, sounds like you will be having two tanks anyway which would allow you to break the life cycle.

Set up 210 with your rock and coral, all fish in in the 50 for your 6-8 week treatment and observation.

Big caution with a QT is make sure to monitor for NH3 frequently as since no rock or for biological filtering it can build quickly.

[Reefer Rob]

It would be easiest to treat your fish in your quarantine tank, and leave your old tank "fishless" for 5 weeks. Anything you bring over before 5 weeks could cause an infestation in your new tank.

[Justusfish]

Thanks for the help folks. Much appreciated.