Ich prevention

[Adamzam15]

My fish are very happy and healthy.

But two questions here:

Firstly, how can I prevent ich? I've read a lot of what you guys have posted and want to avoid if poss.

Secondly, my tank is planted and all dish have scales. What would be the best treatment if this did strike?

 

[julielover]

Ich is always present in your water. The things that could bring it on in your fish include a sudden Temperature change, a drastic Hardness change, a sudden Salinity change or a big ph change. Always inspect new fish for Ich. They have gone through a very stressfull environment before getting to your house and can be very weak.

 

[jlk]

Ich is always present in your water. The things that could bring it on in your fish include a sudden Temperature change, a drastic Hardness change, a sudden Salinity change or a big ph change. Always inspect new fish for Ich. They have gone through a very stressfull environment before getting to your house and can be very weak.

I disagree completely with this statement. Ich is NOT always present in the water. Ich is a parasite that needs to be introduced into an aquatic system via an infected fish. It NEEDS a host in order to survive and propogate. It does not 'magically' appear out of nowhere.

The easiest means to prevent ich is to purchase healthy fish and qt ANY new fish for minimum of four weeks to prevent ich from being introduced into your main tank. If a new fish comes down with ich, treat accordingly and restart qt from day one once a fish is fully recovered. Stress results in a fish having a compromised immune sytem and makes it suseptible to multitude of health issues that an otherwise healthy fish would not suffer from. Limiting stressors, quaratining any new fish, keeping your water healthy and feeding an appropriate balanced diet is more than half the battle in preventing fish illnesses and is the key to prevention.

 

[jcolon]

The easiest means to prevent ich is to purchase healthy fish and qt ANY new fish for minimum of four weeks to prevent ich from being introduced into your main tank. If a new fish comes down with ich, treat accordingly and restart qt from day one once a fish is fully recovered. Stress results in a fish having a compromised immune sytem and makes it suseptible to multitude of health issues that an otherwise healthy fish would not suffer from. Limiting stressors, quaratining any new fish, keeping your water healthy and feeding an appropriate balanced diet is more than half the battle in preventing fish illnesses and is the key to prevention.

+1

Ich has to be introduced into a healthy tank ... mainly by new stock that are not QT'd. Plants from an ich infested tank may have the parasite attached to it ... so a bleach solution dip or an H-Peroxide dip should take care of that. Personally I don't buy anything from a tank where I see have Ich.

Once ich is irradiated, it's gone.