What does "ich magnet" really mean?

[spinman]

Is ich something that either a fish has or hasn't? Or rather, is it something that lies dormant in a healthy fish and can manifest itself due to stress for example.

My thinking is if you get a PBT for example, which is regarded as an ich magnet, and hypo it for 6-8 weeks, aren't you eradicating the ich life form that it may be harboring? So if it develops ich in the future, where is it coming from? Assumtions are being made that the main has been fallow for the hypo duration and no other fish are added.

Spin

 

[Brenden]

If you correctly hypo a PBT and put it in a tank that has been fallow for 8 weeks the PBT will not get ich. However the first time you intro a coral or fish that has not undergone proper QT you have a chance of subjecting the fish to ich. Some fish like PBT and achilles are just more prone to getting ich thus the term "ich magnet"

 

[Fish Dude]

I agree. It seems that PBT and hippo tangs have that tendency to just pull ich out of thin air in a healthy system. It seems that it comes and goes in the form of dusting on the fins through the life of the fish in the best of reef tanks.