thatmagicguy
Aquarium Advice Freak
Hi Venus.
"Close, but no cigar; I'm thinking you may have confused nitrites with nitrates."
Not sure what you meant here. I wasn't confusing the two. I was talking about nitrItes. NitrItes are far more toxic than nitrAtes and the condition called methemoglobinemia in fish is caused by nitrItes. It is often referred to as "brown blood". NitrAtes in fish tanks are far less toxic and are kept under control through regular partial water changes among other methods.
Regarding ich. Yes of course fish can recover from an infestation without intervention. More often outbreaks occur due to stress from falling temperatures, elevated ammonia and nitrites, the addition of new fish, all of which cause stress and a failure to produce an adequate slime coat to protect from free swimming ich. If these problems are corrected the fish can and do recover frequently when the ich falls off. They recover their slime protection and the new swimmers that hatch out later cannot reattatch in any appreciable numbers.
Outbreaks occur because aquarists are not observant enough to see the initial infestation which is usually very small in numbers and when these fall and subsequently hatch out into the massive swarms of swimmers it is then that the bad infestation is noticed.
The reason heat works is not because heat kills ich. Heat lessens the time ich is on the fish, thereby causing less damage and the fish can then recover it's protective slime coat. All of this scenario has been bore out time and again in my lab experiments.
Medications made up of formalyn and malachite green do work. They kill the free swimming ich. But in the process they quite often leave the fish further stressed and often reinfestation occurs.
So regarding your statement, "As for ich; I can't imagine ich would ever go away on its own; even under the best water conditions.", that's okay. But the facts again, do bear out that if a fish is allowed to recover it's slime coat adequately they will fight off a reinfestation. And the ich will once again be reduced to manageable numbers. And often it is simply a matter of bringing the initial cause under control, which is usually a drop in temperature, elevated ammonia and nitrites, and the stress from adding new fish or moving a fish.
Bill
"Close, but no cigar; I'm thinking you may have confused nitrites with nitrates."
Not sure what you meant here. I wasn't confusing the two. I was talking about nitrItes. NitrItes are far more toxic than nitrAtes and the condition called methemoglobinemia in fish is caused by nitrItes. It is often referred to as "brown blood". NitrAtes in fish tanks are far less toxic and are kept under control through regular partial water changes among other methods.
Regarding ich. Yes of course fish can recover from an infestation without intervention. More often outbreaks occur due to stress from falling temperatures, elevated ammonia and nitrites, the addition of new fish, all of which cause stress and a failure to produce an adequate slime coat to protect from free swimming ich. If these problems are corrected the fish can and do recover frequently when the ich falls off. They recover their slime protection and the new swimmers that hatch out later cannot reattatch in any appreciable numbers.
Outbreaks occur because aquarists are not observant enough to see the initial infestation which is usually very small in numbers and when these fall and subsequently hatch out into the massive swarms of swimmers it is then that the bad infestation is noticed.
The reason heat works is not because heat kills ich. Heat lessens the time ich is on the fish, thereby causing less damage and the fish can then recover it's protective slime coat. All of this scenario has been bore out time and again in my lab experiments.
Medications made up of formalyn and malachite green do work. They kill the free swimming ich. But in the process they quite often leave the fish further stressed and often reinfestation occurs.
So regarding your statement, "As for ich; I can't imagine ich would ever go away on its own; even under the best water conditions.", that's okay. But the facts again, do bear out that if a fish is allowed to recover it's slime coat adequately they will fight off a reinfestation. And the ich will once again be reduced to manageable numbers. And often it is simply a matter of bringing the initial cause under control, which is usually a drop in temperature, elevated ammonia and nitrites, and the stress from adding new fish or moving a fish.
Bill