saltwater ick

[Rscomia]

Can anybody explain to me why any new fish I add to my tank gets ick and dies while none of the fish that I already have in there are affected I thought if one fish gets it all would get it

 

[Animal-Chin]

My guess is cause your old fish arn't stressed so they have strong emune systems that fight it off. The new one is weekend, gets it and dies. I'm no marine biologist though.

 

[Rscomia]

Any recommendations I spend lots of time acclimating them trying to avoid stress

 

[Animal-Chin]

I havn't found the magic solution yet either. I can have 4 fish enter the tank after acclimation and be just fine then the next develop what looks like ich. I really think there are lots of factors, like how long has the fish you bought been in the fish store unstressing from its journey. Sometimes we're buying fish that have been in a bag for a week then put in the store tank for a day only to be scooped back into a bag and brought home. Other fish may have had 3 months to chill at the store....

 

[Rscomia]

anybody else have suggestions

 

[Grizz]

QT the new fish, 4 weeks is the norm. the time gives the fish a chance to recover and build up some reserves before being stressed again

 

[Gregcoyote]

Depends on the fish. Stress does affect their immune systems and protective slime coats. It is a reason we don't recommend tangs in small tanks. They have a thin slime coat anyway and any stress can provide fertile ground as the spores are in everyone's tank.

 

[Rscomia]

If I dont add any fish for the next 28 days (read that is the life span of ick) Does it actually live on the fish that are already in there and dont seem to be affected by it?

 

[danbstrong]

If I dont add any fish for the next 28 days (read that is the life span of ick) Does it actually live on the fish that are already in there and dont seem to be affected by it?

If the ick dont have a host it can still take 4-8 weeks for it to die out

 

[Schism]

If I dont add any fish for the next 28 days (read that is the life span of ick) Does it actually live on the fish that are already in there and dont seem to be affected by it?

Ich often resides in the gills where you cannot see it. To cure your tank you need to quarantine all fish for 4 weeks with copper or hyposalinity treatment. Also your display must remain fishless during this time so the ich will not have a host and it will die. This takes approx 28 days.

Also to prevent introducing ich in the future all fish need to be quarantined for 4 weeks as well and observed for any signs of ich. Treatment can be done during this time but o dont like to treat unless i see an issue.

 

[danbstrong]

If I dont add any fish for the next 28 days (read that is the life span of ick) Does it actually live on the fish that are already in there and dont seem to be affected by it?

Schism said it best if possible take all fish out id go lil longer than 28 days tho ive heard it can take up to 8 weeks 28 days being minimum i had it once but i could not catch the fish because of aquascape the tang that had it died but my other few fish never showed signs of it its been couple years now and still no ich

 

[Gregcoyote]

Ick is opportunistic. There are almost always a few spores, but healthy and unstressed fish have no problem repelling them. IMO, it works from the top down, you can have UV sterilizers and the works, but if the fish are stressed it won't matter, they will still get sick.

 

[Sloanhaus]

Remove fish to quarantine tank will kill the ich in the tank. As far as new fish, you should quarantine them for 4 weeks. If you are adding Tangs to the tank, I would recommend doing a hypo salinity run on them. Start off with water from your tank an do slow water changes until you get to 1.09. This will kill all possibilities of bringing ich into your tank. The other benefit is that the fish experiences less stress at the lower salinity level. At the end of 4 weeks, start adding water from your DT to your QT until the salinities match.

 

[SWSCJ]

I have 11 tangs. Ick = stress. The reef tank I keep at 77 degrees and have 3 cleaner shrimp and 2 fire shrimp that constantly clean the 9 tangs I have in there. My Vlamingi breaks out with ick every time I do a water change. I keep the water temp at 80 degrees and feed it heavy when it breaks out. I've had most of these fish for 5 years. Not one did I quarantine.

 

[Sloanhaus]

I have 11 tangs. Ick = stress. The reef tank I keep at 77 degrees and have 3 cleaner shrimp and 2 fire shrimp that constantly clean the 9 tangs I have in there. My Vlamingi breaks out with ick every time I do a water change. I keep the water temp at 80 degrees and feed it heavy when it breaks out. I've had most of these fish for 5 years. Not one did I quarantine.

There is no dormant stage in the lifecycle. Ich does not lie in wait for a weakened fish to infect. However, any factor that reduces immunity like changes in water temperature and quality may, in a subclinically infected fish, accelerate an outbreak of Ich. The presence of ammonia, nitrite and high levels of nitrate in water does not in itself cause clinical cases of Ich. However, poor water quality will stress fish, allow an outbreak to spread rapidly and increase mortality rates in infected fish. Ich must be introduced to a tank per a host. Its caused by a Protozoa, it is not created in a clean tank. If your Vlaminigi is constantly getting Ich, I would think you would want to quarantine all your fish so that you alleviate the Ich in your display tank. Your tangs may have a strong enough immune system to fight it off now, but could change down the road.

 

[Sloanhaus]

I have 11 tangs. Ick = stress. The reef tank I keep at 77 degrees and have 3 cleaner shrimp and 2 fire shrimp that constantly clean the 9 tangs I have in there. My Vlamingi breaks out with ick every time I do a water change. I keep the water temp at 80 degrees and feed it heavy when it breaks out. I've had most of these fish for 5 years. Not one did I quarantine.

You do have one amazing though! I give you mad props

 

[danbstrong]

You do have one amazing though! I give you mad props

Yes +1 on ich must have a host

 

[danbstrong]

Yes +1 on ich must have a host

But with 9 tangs i doubt you could ever catch them to quarintine them

 

[SWSCJ]

The tank with 9 tangs hasn't had an outbreak since the tank was set up on Nov 2011. Three tanks merged into one and moved fish from NC to VA in coolers, all of them got ich. I've had tanks for 40 yrs and my mother was a marine biologist. I've always dealt with ich naturally. The vlamingi is in the Agressive 180g lagoon tank. Keeping the fish healthy, water changes, temp and salinity monitoring, I can work it out of the system and fish.

 

[bskerrichard27]

All tanks can be completely rid of ick is the proper qt is inplace