Originally Posted by
ntracy
http:///forum/post/2656245
Thanks dude! I've been given so many opinions over the last few days about this... a lot of people say that ich is always in the tank, and always in the fish, but I've also heard that it's a disease that can be cured and can be completely removed from your tank. I believe the latter, especially because of wikipedia
.
First ntracy, I gotta give you kudos on your research attempt and your patience with this board. I have been a long time member and I understand what they are saying and why they are saying it, but I can also see how you as a newbie can feel overwhelmed and intimidated. Everybody who has given you advice thus far, is doing so with your best interest in mind, and I applaud that you keep coming back.
We all made mistakes, and we all fell for some gimmick when we started, and we are trying to help you not fall to far from the same ones, and pretty soon, your gonna be saying exactly what your reading here.
OK, I have done much much research on ick as my fish are currently, right this moment, in hypo.
What I know (without a doubt) is..
Ick has 4 stages of life.
Only 2 of those 4 are unprotected and vulnerable for eradication.
Ick is not "in every system" nor does it have to be.
It is a parasite, just like any other and people have gone through great lengths to find the easiest ways to keep them out of our tanks.
4 stages, in a nutshell (to put a picture with what your reading)
We'll start backwards...
Parasite on fish. "Protected" in a cyst covering. That covering is what you see when you think you are looking at ick itself.
It eats till it's full then free swims in the tank (at which point it's vulnerable)
Swims til it finds a hard surface to multiply (again protected with it's cyst covering)
Thousands of tiny baby parasites emerge from that protective cyst to find a host (again, unprotected)
You can search the timelines of each cycle if you want, but if a parasite drops off of your fish at 2 PM on sunday(and you remove all your fish at 3 pm), it will go through it's phases and live for up to 6 weeks without a fish live off of.
So a tank with no fish for 6 weeks, is a tank with no ick. (most of the time
)
And doing hypo will not kill them in 2 of those stages, which is why we do hypo for several weeks, to get them all.
Now, that being said, it is crucial that you learn how to properly bring down the salinity, but even MORE importantly is to know how SLOW you gotta bring it back up. Raising the salinity is "routinely" how the hobbiest kills their fish.
I may go extra slow, but I raise mine .001 every 12 hours.
OK, I'm done.