I'm an Idiot

[daniella3d]

wow...can't beleive I am reading this!

In the ocean the ick kyst are getting dispersed all over the currents and rarely they will be able to remain on a fish for very long because they get wiped away as soon as they detatch from the fish so not large scale infection can take place. However in the aquarium where the fish are so confined it is very easy for the ick to find the same fish over and over again until that poor fish is covered.

So yeah...if you dumped a bucket full of ick into a tank you would infect all of the fish in there. Has nothing to do with healthy or not healthy fish...it is a parasite and it will parasite.

Also you say you saw fish survive ick without treatment...fine....except have you ever seen fish survive marine velvet without treatment? now they are both parasites and the only reason that some fish manage to fight off ick is that it is not as nasty parasites. It's not only due to the fish fighting it off, it also has to do with the fact that ick is not such a deadly parasite as some others. If your theory about healthy fish fighting off disease would be true, then quite a bit of fish would survive velvet infestation, but that's simply not true. I guess that according to your theory, it means that a lot of fish are not heatly or they would not need medication to fight off marine velvet.

Originally Posted by MarkoD

Ich is all over the place in the ocean. If it was to be killing healthy fish, they'd all be dead

Just like healthy people with normal immune systems don't die from the common cold

[MarkoD]

Can you explain why one fish will get ich. And it will get worse and worse as the parasite multiplies. But all the other fish in the tank are not effected?

Originally Posted by daniella3d

wow...can't beleive I am reading this!

In the ocean the ick kyst are getting dispersed all over the currents and rarely they will be able to remain on a fish for very long because they get wiped away as soon as they detatch from the fish so not large scale infection can take place. However in the aquarium where the fish are so confined it is very easy for the ick to find the same fish over and over again until that poor fish is covered.

So yeah...if you dumped a bucket full of ick into a tank you would infect all of the fish in there. Has nothing to do with healthy or not healthy fish...it is a parasite and it will parasite.

Also you say you saw fish survive ick without treatment...fine....except have you ever seen fish survive marine velvet without treatment? now they are both parasites and the only reason that some fish manage to fight off ick is that it is not as nasty parasites. It's not only due to the fish fighting it off, it also has to do with the fact that ick is not such a deadly parasite as some others. If your theory about healthy fish fighting off disease would be true, then quite a bit of fish would survive velvet infestation, but that's simply not true. I guess that according to your theory, it means that a lot of fish are not heatly or they would not need medication to fight off marine velvet.

[jorjef]

Originally Posted by MarkoD

Can you explain why one fish will get ich. And it will get worse and worse as the parasite multiplies. But all the other fish in the tank are not effected?

Their super fast ninja like reflexes allows them to continually dodge the onslaught of the relentless evil doers called "The Ich" ... Unno just really having some fun here.... please continue.

[daniella3d]

yes maybe...are you sure it's ick? have you id it under a microscope?

Might be just some skin irritation/pimples or a skin reaction to something.

What you describe is rare though and not representative of ich infestation.

With ich, it seem that there is different level of infection and it come be quite mild at the beginning only to become plague proportion and kill every fish at some point. Sometime it's just the opposite and it start big and become less infective after a while and only a few bits of it show up here and there.

It is very hard to predict how "virulent" an infestation of ich will turn out. I guess there are a lot of influencing factors playing a role in each situation.

Originally Posted by MarkoD

Can you explain why one fish will get ich. And it will get worse and worse as the parasite multiplies. But all the other fish in the tank are not effected?

[Bblinks]

I am so sorry to hear that Marie. please keep us updated on how he does. I did recently gone through the same with my show achilles, unfortunately my guy didn't make it. Now I have a 4 inch spicement which also contracted ick. I am gonna try uv and protomarin and hope for the best. I guess best of luck for both of us.