Ich?

[carey]

So what would my situation be? I have setup at least 20 tanks in the last 4 years and have never had ich. The only fish I qt'd were my tangs and an anthias and then it was a 55g qt with live rock and the works. No stress there. I have not qt'd since then and have still seen no ich...would this mean my tanks are ich free? They are defintely large enough for the fish I put in each tank so that shouldnt be an issue.
I have however, at the beginning had an outbreak of what I believe was marine velvet. It wiped out most of the fish I had in a matter of maybe 3 days. The tank was large enough, water quality was great but still I had losses. BUT I also introduced a sick fish to that tank which was the way it came in. Maybe not a great example as velvet is a horrible and fast acting disease but thought I;d throw that in.

 

[Hondatek]

So what would my situation be? I have setup at least 20 tanks in the last 4 years and have never had ich. The only fish I qt'd were my tangs and an anthias and then it was a 55g qt with live rock and the works. No stress there. I have not qt'd since then and have still seen no ich...would this mean my tanks are ich free? They are defintely large enough for the fish I put in each tank so that shouldnt be an issue.
I have however, at the beginning had an outbreak of what I believe was marine velvet. It wiped out most of the fish I had in a matter of maybe 3 days. The tank was large enough, water quality was great but still I had losses. BUT I also introduced a sick fish to that tank which was the way it came in. Maybe not a great example as velvet is a horrible and fast acting disease but thought I;d throw that in.

IMO there is no way to know if there is any ich parasites in there or not. To be perfectly honest the only way I know my tank is 100% ich free is because every single one of my fish has been through hyposalinity before going into my display tank and anything wet that is not a fish gets tank transferred. I really don't have anything but fish in my tank anyways . For me it is all about controlling ich . Just like you use rodi water to control your water source I kill ich on contact in my qt tank so I will never have to deal with it again in my main tank .

 

[Hondatek]

Oh and from my reading it takes 11 months with no new fish introductions for the ich parasite to burn itself out. Basically it inbreeds so much it eventually dies .

 

[wrasse326]

The tank is 120 gallons. I had another tang and other fish that only showed ich if something drastic happened. I had an anthias that never showed ich.. but the sailfin seemed to always have ich. That's what frustrated me and made me wanna leave the tank empty for 12 weeks and treat everything in quarantine. And maybe it's a coincidence but it's been 6 weeks since I put the scopas and two clowns back and they haven't had any ich. So what am I supposed to do about a fish that the ich just won't go away from without treating them. When he was in the same tank with other fish that didn't show ich but he did all the time. And the only time my sailfin actually didn't show ich was when he was in my 55 gallon reef while waiting to be treated in the next batch of fish. And I've never heard of ich taking 11 months to die off. Of all the things I read I read the longest known was 11 or 12 weeks. Don't know how that was tested but it's what I read lol. So maybe someone can give me some advice for if I do get ich again even after going through all this. It's not the tank size I know that's why you asked. Because in the 55 gallon tank he was actually clear two weeks after he was in there and I didn't see it again until I put him in the qt tank. There was more algae in that tank than there was in the 120 so maybe he was eating more. Idk but I just got tired of seeing it on him all the time so I'm trying treatment now and I read a lot of other forums and talked to people

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[Hondatek]

11 months with fish in the tank not fallow.

 

[Gregcoyote]

It's hard to tell. I just know there is a connection between stress and disease resistance. That tang may have something else going on that has lowered his resistance to the parasite. Maybe a tank mate? Tangs are Ich magnets because they have a naturally thin slime coat. Doesn't take much for the parasite to be able to hit flesh.

Some other pathogens, like velvet, may have a critical mass in the water before it takes off. It can perhaps attack healthy fish. But again, I take no precautions and haven't seen disease in many years. Knock on wood I guess.

 

[wrasse326]

11 months with fish in the tank not fallow.

Ohh ok lol
Is there any kind of thing that causes a fishes slime coat to just be non existent? I just don't know what to do. Even in the qt tank I can't get rid of it. He's been in there for 6 weeks and is still covered in it. And I've been treating with cupramine. I wanna say forget treating it after reading everything but I feel like that's not gona do any good if I put him back in the 120 and he still is covered in ich. Could it be something else?

 

[Hondatek]

Do you have a picture of the fish?Are you testing your copper levels daily and adjusting for top off water and all of that ? Post a current copper test if you can. Shouldn't be alive with 6 weeks unless the tanks are getting cross contaminated somehow .

 

[wrasse326]

I'm at work now but when I get off I'll take a pic of the fish and test the water again. I have been testing it once or twice a week. Is that not enough? According to the test it's been at .5-.6 everytime I've tested it. I do have a thread with the title been treating sailfin for 4 weeks with cupramine. I put up a pic of a test. Don't know if the test kit is wrong or maybe I'm not doing it right

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[Hondatek]

I would be testing when you top off the tank to see what it is before and after you do that. I see your thread and that test kit looks hard to read. The API kit will work with cupramine so you could always double check with one of those . Post the pics and results on your thread later and I will have a look then .

 

[wrasse326]

Ok thanks and it is kinda hard to read. Are the Api kits better? I got the seachem kit because somebody said its best to get the same brand as the medicine ur using

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[Reeffanman]

Like what for instance?

Extended power outage. That sort of thing

 

[mr_X]

I've had extended power outages. The fish all died, but not from ICH... from suffocation.

 

[Reeffanman]

I'm saying the possibility is there that they can succumb to the parasite. Given they are stressed to where their immune drops

 

[mr_X]

I'm saying the possibility is there that they can succumb to the parasite. Given they are stressed to where their immune drops

Just like in the ocean. Meanwhile, they can live out their lives without any issue.