Your thoughts on "Ich-Free" tanks - IS IT POSSIBLE?

[NastayNatron]

Originally Posted by jorjef

Why don't people just agree to disagree, hold onto what they believe is correct, go to their respective tanks and call it a day!

What fun would that be

[Coralgurl]

For myself, with barely 8 months into this hobby, when dealing with the ich outbreak I recently had, I researched both sides, ich is always present or you have an ich free tank. I set up a qt and put my fish in. I don't know what I did wrong and why I lost so many fish. Maybe the ones that died really fast were really sick with ich and the stress of moving them killed them. Fine. Why I lost another fish last week, with 4 weeks clear of visible ich I have no clue. Not ammonia, not copper od. I just don't know. The copper treatment has stressed the chromis enough for it to form lympho. At this point I decided, this is not worth the stress on the fish, me or my family. I thought I was doing the best thing by setting up the qt and it simply did not work for me. I realize SW fish are quite hardy and I'm sure I did something wrong, which you have no idea how this makes me feel. For these reasons I will no longer qt fish. The article posted earlier in this thread makes a lot of sense, I have a lot more to learn but I'm not prepared to fight with a set up that led to more fish dying than it saved. For those that qt works, great! Nobody is going to convince me to continue to experiment with a qt at the expense of a fish regardless of the argument.

[globaldesigns]

Originally Posted by daniella3d

What? no, the ich is not present and dormant on every fish, that's simply not true. Ich does not live inside a fish either, it live on the skin and gills.

Your fish got ich and then it disapeared and then returned, that's because ich is going through cycles.

There is no point in doing a quarantine on a fish that has ich if you are not going to treat it and then put it in your tank. YOu might as well put it directly into your tank! Ich is not going to go away on its own without a proper treatment.

Daniella, sorry but you are incorrect. Google ICH, and you will find alot of articles. Here is a blurb from one such article:

"The adult parasite burrows into the skin of its victim, feeding on blood and dead epithelial cells. The irritation caused by the burrowing parasite causes the skin of the fish to swell and produce white cysts seen as a small spots."

Here is another one:

"Cryptocaryon is a fully ciliated protozoan that is present in all saltwater environments. It is prevalent in marine aquariums, aquaculture ponds, and in import and wholesale holding environments. This widespread protozoan penetrates the skin and gills of the fish. Depending on the immune status of the fish, it can cause symptoms as mild as just a few small white spots to more severe symptoms including severe irritation, loss of appetite, lethargy, severe respiratory distress, and death."

Here is the link for the second quote: http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/g...ral_pagesid=78, also note this article states it penetrates the skin. Again, ICH doesn't just live on things, it is inside the fish. Also note, that it even states ICH is present in "ALL SALTWATER ENVIRONMENTS", this article does discuss quarantining as a "prevention", but not a cure or elimination.

[MarkoD]

No wonder Danielle has no ich. There's no fish

[jorjef]

[daniella3d]

Yes I know that, what I meant is that it does not live inside the fish...like in the guts.

I know it burrow in the skin and gill.

when they say that ich is present in all environment, they simply mean that it can be found in the ocean, aquariums, etc...not that it is always present in all of these! no serious company or organism would be stupid enough to claim that ich is present 100% of the time in all and each one of these environments.

"This widespread protozoan penetrates the skin and gills of the fish. Depending on the immune status of the fish, it can cause symptoms as mild as just a few small white spots to more severe symptoms including severe irritation, loss of appetite, lethargy, severe respiratory distress, and death."

[daniella3d]

yes my 75 gallons tank is understocked with these:

1 niger trigger about 7"
1 copperband butterfly about 5"
3 pajama cardinals
1 mandarin

and a male mandarin in quarantine and 2 clownfish in quarantine awaiting to be in the tank.

Not enough fish? Should I add another niger trigger you think??

Originally Posted by MarkoD

No wonder Danielle has no ich. There's no fish

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by jorjef

whao, buddy, that horse is dead. You gotta stop beating it!!

[Tracey2]

OP, I think you have to make up your own mind. I qt to rule out velvet, like Marie I have achillies, 3 regal angels and a copperband so I care enough to qt all new fish. As for ich, its just a parasite so of course it doesn't have to exist in our tanks but is extremely difficult to avoid, all new coral, rock etc would have to be in qt for 3 months IMO and all new fish treated with copper or hypo. I use copper on hardy fish and hypo on delicate ones. Good luck

[daniella3d]

Well there may be hope for you. I have read that ich will depleate itself out of a tank after about 10 generations if there is no new addition. I don't know if it is true or not but if it is true, then you might actualy get ich free at some point. Good luck with it. It is good that you decided to still quarantine as marine velvet is not so forgiving as ich.

It is really sad to see that you still have ich since you took so much care to quarantine your fish. it's not fair. If you treated with Cupramine, I would think the ich got into your tank with coral or in the water the coral were in. Really bad luck

Originally Posted by NastayNatron

Ich can be dormant on rock longer than 1 week. . . thats why you have to keep a tank fallow for 6-8 weeks to be sure all the ich dies before adding fish back in if you go through treatment. Like I said I have treated ALL fish with cupramine and took all precautions necessary to prevent ich. The only thing I did not do is quarantine coral. I dipped all coral in revive but am not about to set up another tank for coral quarantine. Maybe I got unlucky and it managed to come in on coral .