Quarantining conundrum

[Mebbid]

So after having some issues from not qting fish back when I entered the hobby, I have now begun qting everything.

My only problem is that fish don't always show signs of ich. I went 4 months without seeing any of my fish flicking or any spots when I knew there was ich in the tank.

without medicating or treating the fish in qt how do you know there's no ich?

 

[Andy Sager]

When fish are healthy, they are capable of resisting infestations of the parasite which may explain why you saw no issues with the fish in the "ich" tank. It also happens that the fish may have had only a few parasites that you did not see. But the lifecycle of most "ich" parasites have both on fish and off fish periods which could also explain that situation.
You might find it helpful to read through the following( first 2 posts) ***ICH: HOW TO TREAT: Marine ICH(cryptocaryon irritans) - Reef Central Online Community

As for "how do you know?", It's best to keep QT fish in a bare aquarium so there is little chance of the parasite(s) finding a home to encyst. Next would be to keep a UV serilizer on the QT tank so that should the fish have any ich parasites release from them, they will hopefully be eradicated by the sterilizer. Next would be to keep the fish in QT for a slightly longer period than the complete life cycle of the ich parasite.
That's the way I would do it without medicating.

Hope this helps

 

[TheTodd]

Andy - what about hypo plus a UV?


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[Gregcoyote]

All that works, but the faster you get the new fish eating and calming down, the less chance it's immune system will falter and ick gets a chance to replicate.


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[Andy Sager]

I'm with Greg on this one. While Hyposalinity does work, it does lend itself, albeit by a small chance, that an organism can adapt to the lower salinity which will create a bigger problem in the future. It also can effect different fish in different ways so some my handle it better than others and if you don't know which ones do and which ones don;t, that's a potential lot of money you are gambling with. Keeping the fish healthy, in a "normal" situation while preventing the parasite from replicating, to me, is the better choice.

 

[Mebbid]

Yeah, that all makes sense. I'm still just worried about a few parasites hitching into my tank unnoticed though.

 

[Andy Sager]

Yeah, that all makes sense. I'm still just worried about a few parasites hitching into my tank unnoticed though.

The last approach would be to give your fish a freshwater bath prior to going into the main tank then not adding any of the water you used to acclimate the fish in back into the tank.
Short of a microscopic investigation of the fish itself, I don't think you can ever be 100% sure. Just as sure as you can be. You have to remember that some diseases and pests live inside the fish and aren't effected by external meds or UV but unless you are going to go through a thorough inside/ outside medication regimen, you just have to do your best and take your chances. I know of nothing but bad husbandry to instigate an issue derived from internal "bugs". Only meds to kill them while they are internal.
Hope this helps.