This can't be normal

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Yeah it's stressful for a schooling fish to be by itself. Ideally you wouldn't be getting and quarantining just one, but that's not an idea situation, it's a real one. I have purchased single schooling fish and quarantined them. When possible I quarantined that fish along with others (to be kept in the same tank), but sometimes just by itself. Stressful? Sure, but it's temporary, and there's a big payday at the end :)
 
Thanks everyone--this has been most interesting. All my fish still look great, no ich so far! There is a heck of a lot of info on this thread, and the other one where the moderator separated it re: QT. I'm learning more every day, even though I've had tanks for several years nowI reckon I'll never stop learning, as many of you say. I never knew some people don't QT, and I guess the problem with columnaris and heat is something I'll have to face if ich turns up. The loaches too.... oh man, I don't even want to think about it! It's too much. It's funny, but every time I have an outbreak, I say that's it, no more fish, yet within a few months, I'm back, buying some more because the fish who survived it make the tank look so empty!
 
This is a great place for continual learning.

I agree too about the no more fish, ok I want more fish! Losses are sad, but fish keeping isn't really sad, it is enriching, and happy (y)
 
It sounds like some of the above disagreements are confusion over ...

- Remove one symptomatic fish and treat it alone
- remove all the fish and treat all the fish and leave the tank alone
- treat the tank and the fish

One person I think suggested treating the whole tank because you treat all the fish that way. The one who said no just remove the fish is referring, I believe, to removing all the fish not just the one that's symptomatic.

The OP may need more clarification in the recommendations.


Sent from my iPhone with three hands tied behind my back.
 
Based on what I have read, and only on what I have read, which is pretty much every article I could find, [ because so far I have not had to treat Ich myself ], it MAY be useful to remove heavily infested fish to QT. But you would still have to treat every fish.

If they are schooling fish, maybe the stress wouldn't be worth QT, but in any case, all that the QT for a few fish is meant to accomplish, when the main tank has to be treated anyway, is to reduce the parasite load in the main tank.

If one or a few fish are really heavily infested, when those Ich hit their reproductive phase, they'll add a lot of new Ich. If the other fish are only lightly affected, keeping the few who are really covered in Ich separate in QT might help reduce overall numbers in the main tank. It might be worth doing and it might be a waste of time, but it's something I have seen suggested a few times.

From all I understand too, you really must treat all the fish, because once Ich are in a tank, so long as there are fish for them to infest, there will be Ich.

The only other way to get rid of Ich in a given tank is to remove all fish, long enough for the Ich to die out. I can think of one reason you might do this.. if you had a planted tank with sensitive plants you didn't want to risk damaging with some med or other, removing fish to treat them in another tank is a way to skip treating the main tank.

You'd let the Ich die off naturally in the main tank. You'd raise the temp as much as was safe to speed up the Ich life cycle, and there are any number of articles that give you a good idea how long Ich can survive without fish at various temperatures. In cold water, it's a long time. It warm water, not that long.

Removing all fish means Ich will die out, as they'll be unable to complete their life cycle.
 
I've had schools of fish catch ich while other schools have been immune. Although if it was in the gills I didn't pick it.

Perhaps there I could put a school of fish in QT to treat (eg meds I could go full dose), whereas the DT with catfish and loaches would get maybe a heat treatment just in case.

Just throwing it out, all the times I've treated have been in DT.
 
Dont move them, ich is already in the darn tank and its a matter of time before it shows up. Start right now by increasing the temp to 86/30 and keep it there for 10 days. No less, even if ich doesnt show up or if it does and then goes away. 10 days! Some add salt, but its not needed if you do not have any. You want to keep the light off, as it makes the fish calmer and they need calm now..........stress + ich =dead fish.

Make sure the water parameters stay good and hopefully it will all work out. They could be acting how they are because they are being attacked by the microscopic ich parasite that has yet to show up as a white spot. I am guessing they are sick and reacting accordingly. Raise that temp up.
 
Also, id toss the fish you took out back in. He has a better chance with his tank mates as he is a schooler. Then do not add anything to the tank he was in for at least 2 weeks just to be sure.
 
There are as many possibilities as fish keepers.

Start with the facts

Ich is a parasite with several different forms.

Heat will kill it off around 86-89F keep it up for at least 3 days after the last spot is seen on a fish. This has to do with the life cycle.

Increase and decrease heat gradually (2 degrees per day will work)

Salt will kill it too. (dissolve any salt in water before treating) Add salt in gradually over 1-3 days depending on how much

Some plants and fish and snails can't handle too much heat and salt. Fish can harbor the parasite but after 3 days if there is not a fish host the Ich will die.

When raising temp more oxygen is needed in the tank as the higher temp reduces the available amount of O2 in the water available for fish to breathe. So add an extra air pump or two if the tank is larger.

High temps and meds in the water are usually a delicate to deadly combo.

All fish in a tank with Ich can be infected with the parasite.

Probably forgot something. But Good luck treating.
 
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- Remove one symptomatic fish and treat it alone
- remove all the fish and treat all the fish and leave the tank alone
- treat the tank and the fish
When dealing with Ich, it is less about treating the fish and more about treating the tank since Ich lives part of it's lifecycle off the fish. When you move a fish to a second tank you now have two tanks to treat. Because of this, I see little value in separating symptomatic fish. Either treat all the fish in the main tank or move all the fish and treat elsewhere. The only reason to move the fish at all is if you were planning to treat with a medication you did want in your main tank such as one that contains copper.

I've had schools of fish catch ich while other schools have been immune.
Those fish that you thought were immune are probably were/are infected with Ich. A fish can be a host for Ich without having an obvious breakout.
 
Those fish that you thought were immune are probably were/are infected with Ich. A fish can be a host for Ich without having an obvious breakout.


It certainly possible but one school of fish was loaded with spots and had heavy scale damage while other schools (barbs as well a loaches and catfish) had no signs or flashing.

Edit - should add the fish with ich were rasbora's so it may have looked worse on them as so small.
 
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I had a Giant Danio who came down with ich maybe 8-9 months ago. I removed him into iso and treated, then put him back in after treatment with heat/salt was over. Not a single other fish ever got it. So it doesn't make sense to me that it would still be in the main tank, yet all the other fish remained fine, to this day. The Danio was killed by a Rainbowfish about two months ago, so I no longer have him, by the way, but he didn't spread it to anyone.
 
I once had a tank come down with ich (prior to my current Q procedures) after more than a year with no new fish or plants added. Shocked? You bet I was.
 
It's amazing the cross section of how this ich has/forms, in different tanks, I have never had it and this thread will make me look very carefully now at the lfs........
 
I once had a tank come down with ich (prior to my current Q procedures) after more than a year with no new fish or plants added. Shocked? You bet I was.

I started always doing pwc water temp just a slight bit warmer than the tank water (maybe just a degree) and have noticed that never got an out break after that. The idea started when at the time had been keeping fish forever but never knew about the scientific process of the Nitrogen cycle, etc, like all the info available here.

Had moved and had nothing but problems for months with my tanks of fish and noticed several Ich outbreaks occurred after pwc and somehow thought to try that. Other than new fish introductions, I went for years and years without an outbreak after that. I think it was just a little bit less stressful for the fish, not sure if it was just luck or what. It is worth a try.
 
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