Ick parasites

[ScotJudd]

A general question about the Ick parasite. At 78f, a fairly typical temp, how long can an Ick parasite live without finding a host. If a tank has been Ick free (no white spots on fish) for about 2 weeks can I be confident that the tank has become Ick free?


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[Andy Sager]

A general question about the Ick parasite. At 78f, a fairly typical temp, how long can an Ick parasite live without finding a host. If a tank has been Ick free (no white spots on fish) for about 2 weeks can I be confident that the tank has become Ick free?


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This post may help you better understand this parasite. Using Heat to Treat Ich in Freshwater Tropical Fish - Article at The Age of Aquariums - Tropical Fish


Hope this helps.

 

[Yorg]

Hi ScotJudd:

I think the lifecycle of the organism runs about 7 to 10 days, so 2 weeks would probably be enough time to have a fairly high level of confidence. The problem is that an infection may not be obvious right away (for example, if just the gills were infected you might not know unless you took the fish out and examined it closely, or if it was visibly sick).

Did you use only the heat method, or did you use another treatment for the outbreak?

-Yorg

A general question about the Ick parasite. At 78f, a fairly typical temp, how long can an Ick parasite live without finding a host. If a tank has been Ick free (no white spots on fish) for about 2 weeks can I be confident that the tank has become Ick free?


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[ScotJudd]

When I had an outbreak a year ago I used just heat and it was effective. My main tank is clear.
I was really trying to check that if fish are quarantined for more than two weeks without symptoms then are they considered safe to transfer to the main tank. I tend to wait 4 weeks but occasionally a small shoal of fish need releasing sooner because they can bicker in a small QT.


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