Ick Season : local fish store theory

[webmoose]

I have to post this and get it off my chest:

I went to a local fish store yesterday and the one of the owners started talking about ICK. This is the theory according to this store:

It is ICK season and they likened it to 'dandlylion season'. I was told that they were recommending that anyone that buys fish at this time of year should be extra careful with ick to the point of buying ick medication and turning up the tank water... (kind of like a flu shot for flu season)

interesting theory.. I don't agree. Just had to share my experience.

It would be great if ICK was seasonal....

However I did start thinking about how this time of year could promote Ick to the point of having this LFS thinking this way..

1 of my theory's in my head is that the weather is changing drastically locally on a daily bases here so when you are transporting fish at this time of year you might expose them to a more stressful transport home....

 

[Menagerie]

I will vouch that a change in temp and stress on fish may lead to ich. A few weeks ago, the heater in my 10 gal tank broke--I didn't know it until my fish broke out with ich and I tried to turn up the heat!

Moose~what LFS were you at?

 

[Cafe Jeff]

Sounds like just good marketing to me. Jeff

 

[deeni0z]

the temperature doesn't really change that much in CA. It stays summer until about.. november-ish.

 

[revhtree]

I have visited 7 different fish stores in the past 2 weeks. Every fish store I visited the fish had ick. Some worse than others. I was wondering what was up. A couple of the lfs I had never seen ich at. Well maybe this is why. One lfs that NEVER has ich, had a tank full of fish with ich that he was treating. He said they came in that way.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[BrianNY]

Yes. If the distributors are selling fish with ich.................

The ich debate is never ending. If the parasite is present, a fish in stress will fall victim. Can ich ever truly be erradicated?

 

[revhtree]

I HATE ICH!!!!!!!!!

 

[urville]

the one good lfs here has never had ich ever. in the waht 3 years they have been here not one episode of ich. i have on the other hand seen glass tetras with acne which was the craziest thing i've ever seen.

 

[oscarbreeder]

I agree with revhtree.

I HATE ICH!!!

They should invent a cure to wipe it out for GOOD!!!

 

[QTOFFER]

Here's my take on ich: It's endemic within the commercial tropical fish industry. It's a PITA, but fortunately, it's relatively easy to treat.

I believe that most, if not all distributors have ich because of the tremendously high turnover within their tanks. Also, distributors are probably not too fussy about quarrantine or husbandry, since they are in the business to ship their livestock out fast. That's probably why I've seen ich, at one time or another, in every lfs I've visited. Lfs that deal directly with the breeders probably have fewer incidences of ich, since most breeders are very particular about their husbandry. However, if the lfs fails to quarrantine new arrivals..... :?

I'm sure that temperature changes can stress out a fish' immune system, but consider this: I've purchased and brought home seemingly healthy fish, both on frigid cold days, and on warm sunny days; eventually, they all got ich. I was always able to eradicate the disease with elevated temperature and I never lost a fish to ich itself, (although I have lost several to secondary infections that showed up after the ich was gone). Once cured, the fish never developed ich again.

I think the stress of being netted, jostled on the way home, and placed into an unfamiliar tank is enough to weaken the immune system to the point where ich can break out.

 

[webmoose]

There was no ick present in the tanks at the store. They were asking me to look into some of the tanks...saying.. "see no ick"

Now that it's been a few days I have thought of some of the things I should have said.. Like if it is Ick Season then they should be able to show me some examples of Ick in their tanks..

I really don't know what the point of the store owners theory was.. It just kinda made me uncomfortable and not really in the mood to buy fish at that store.. haha

 

[An t-iasg]

I also have been wondering about all the ich threads lately. I remember last March, it seemed like a lot of us had cyano outbreaks all at the same time. I thought that the ich outbreaks could be weather related. During shipping, it's getting cool enough now that maybe a less-resistant fish is susceptable. The days are still warm, but the temps at night drop fast, and fish without a heat pack in their shipping container are going to get stressed by the temperature change. Plus all the things that QTOFFER said -- lack of QT, netting, unfamiliar surroundings -- can also take a toll on the fish, at any time of year, and it's doubly stressful now, with colder weather coming.

 

[Canuckfan]

Well , unless the ich parasite is actually in your tank , you can't get ich . Some people believe that it is always present in tanks that have had outbreaks , & reappears when the fish get stressed due to temp drops , poor water conditions , or harassment from other fish . I'm of the belief that as long as I treat my tank for 2 weeks after the last spot disappears & keep the temp at 84F , I have killed all the parasites in the tank .

The only times I have gotten ich are when I add new fish . This could be avoided if I set up a Q-tank , but I have yet to do this .

I have also read that ich can somtimes get in a fish's gills & live out its entire lifecycle there , making it almost immune to most conventional meds .

Since it can take a week for the white spot phase to actually appear , it's prob a good idea to hold off purchasing any new fish until they have been symptom free in the dealer's tanks for 7-10 days .