Can ich live on rocks?

[Leehunter]

HI guys I have had a change around in my tank and reintroduce a rock I have not used for about 2 months.MIT has been stored away from any tank and water, stored in a container.

Shortly after this I've had a very mild outbreak of ich, and wondering if the rock could have kept alive this parasite whilst not being used?
I did not boil the rock before reintroducing it and wonder if that could have been the cause?

It only appears to have affected my 2 fancy goldfish. All other water parameters are fine and I am doing regular way changes whilst I'm treating?

Any advice welcome.

 

[NYgiantsRP]

I would say no way. But I dont have any scientific reasons. Its a water parasite I wouldnt think it could live out of water for 2 months.

 

[librarygirl]

I don't think so either. Ich needs a live host (fish) to survive.

 

[jcolon]

From what I've read .. ich dies rather quickly without a host so I'd say introducing the rock and your ich was coincidental. What kind of rock? I bring all my rocks to a boil before I put them into tanks.

 

[Super_Blueberry]

Everything I have heard about Ich is that it can not live outside of water once everything it dries out, and it can only live in water outside of a host for a couple days at most.

The life cycle is something like this: (correct me if I'm wrong). It feeds on the host for around 5 days. The last couple are when your able to see the spots. Then it falls to the floor or anything else in the tank for a couple days and multiplies. Then they free-float in the water for a couple days looking for a new host. This is the only time it's vulnerable to meds, and if it doesn't find a host, it starves and dies. So from what I know, it's doubtful it came from the rock if it's been dry and isolated for that long.