Can Ich be dormant in your tank?

[92protruck]

Ok, Sepulatian instructed me to start a new thread although I thought this was releavant to the original question and responses provided and not a hijack. At any rate, I have always been told that ich has a very specific lifecycle. It hatches, finds a fish host, drops off burst open finds a new host etc. (I am going from memory here..not exactly right but you know what I mean). I have read Beth say many times that ich cannot be "dormant" it continues its lifecycle until it dies out. Here is a quote from Beth to illustrate:
"It is physically impossible, imo, for ich to be dormant and "hide". Ich has 3 life stages, which are described in the FAQ Thread, and can be seen on fish during the infestation stage. Now, it could be that the hobbyist doesn't notice it, or doesn't know what to look for, but it can be seen with the

[hr]
eye. Even if ich is missed during the initial infestation stage, by the time it reaches plague proportions its impossible to miss. Ich is a simple fish parasite. It doesn't hide, it doesn't lurk in the tank, it is not caused by stress, it is not always in the water. Its just a fish parasite. In the absence of fish, you will never see ich. If fish are appropriately QT-ed, you will never see ich." From a post started Nov. 19, 2005. Sorry, I don't know how to reference a link to the post. This sounds contrary to Lion_Crazz and Sepulatian's response to a post further down the page wherein it was stated that ich can be "dormant" in your tank and apparently awakened to attack a stressed fish.
Either it can be dormant or not, I would like to hear opinions on this as it would completely change my QT procedure and what I recommend to others that post questions on ich. My opinion, it cannot be dormant. Some may confuse sub-clinical with dormant but it cannot be dormant and brought out to attack a stressed fish. It continues its 14 day lifecyle period...no dormancy. What are your opinions?

 

[lion_crazz]

92Pro, perhaps dormant was the wrong word. All ich needs is to host for a brief period of time to reproduce, fall back into the rocks or substrate to begin its new life cycle and continue living. There are a lot of people who do not observe their tank very closely, and their fish may have ich very early in the morning/night, and they never notice it. Well, this is enough for the ich to attach, reproduce, and begin a new generation.
There are countless number of posts, even from Beth, which state that if the person has not treated for ich or has used a "reef safe" med to get rid of the problem, then the ich is still there and will return in the future. I believe that this is what Sepulatian and myself were trying to get to.
Ich does not just go away on its own (the extreme majority of the time). Something needs to get rid of the ich for it to die. There are two ways that ich is killed; copper and hyposalinity.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by lion_crazz
92Pro, perhaps dormant was the wrong word. All ich needs is to host for a brief period of time to reproduce, fall back into the rocks or substrate to begin its new life cycle and continue living. There are a lot of people who do not observe their tank very closely, and their fish may have ich very early in the morning/night, and they never notice it. Well, this is enough for the ich to attach, reproduce, and begin a new generation.
There are countless number of posts, even from Beth, which state that if the person has not treated for ich or has used a "reef safe" med to get rid of the problem, then the ich is still there and will return in the future. I believe that this is what Sepulatian and myself were trying to get to.
Ich does not just go away on its own (the extreme majority of the time). Something needs to get rid of the ich for it to die. There are two ways that ich is killed; copper and hyposalinity.
Yes

I appologize for any confusion 92Pro. What we were refering to as "dormant" is the period of time when the ich drops off of the fish to reproduce.

 

[beth]

My opinion is that ich is a living organism and follows a set life-cycle, just like all living organisms do. The life cycle of this organism is very specific and comes in 3 stages. It must complete all 3 stages or it won't survive.
People talk about dormancy because the parasite has gone unnoticed, and then suddenly appears to pop-up. No, it has only gone unnoticed, perhaps even with very minimal amts of the organism present, then over time, the parasites proliferates to the point that it become noticeable, appearing to the unsuspecting hobbyist that the ich suddenly appeared for no reason because no new fish additions have occurred. Alternatively, corals or sand, or live rock, or hard shelled inverts may have been introduced to the aquaria which came from tanks exposed to ich. The hobbyist adds some to his/her system, thinking its no problem because its not fish. Then suddenly ich breaks out. They haven't added new fish for 6 mos., so how can ich suddenly appear? Well, it came in on the live rock, sand, etc., that was in a tank that shared filtration with other tanks where fish were infected with ich.
Its just the lack of knowledge about this disease that results in these scenarios, not dormancy.

 

[ifirefight]

Lets say I have ich, and take all fish out of the tank for 6 weeks (thats the magic number,right?) Leave in the inverts (because they cant host). So ,the way I understand it if ich has no fish to live on....it will die in 6 weeks. Does that mean ALL of it will die,including the "dormant stuff" ?????????

:notsure:

 

[beth]

Actually 3 weeks, and a month for good measure.

 

[ifirefight]

Originally Posted by Beth
Actually 3 weeks, and a month for good measure.
OK 7 weeks,that will kill all ich.....even dormant??

 

[beth]

Originally Posted by ifirefight
OK 7 weeks,that will kill all ich.....even dormant??
?
Did you read the posts I made above?

 

[ifirefight]

Originally Posted by Beth
Then suddenly ich breaks out. They haven't added new fish for 6 mos., so how can ich suddenly appear? Well, it came in on the live rock, sand, etc., that was in a tank that shared filtration with other tanks where fish were infected with ich.
Its just the lack of knowledge about this disease that results in these scenarios, not dormancy.
Beth,yes I read what you posted above. I am trying very hard to understand what you are saying. You are by far more knowledgeable than I ever hope to be. Like I said ,I do not have ich nor do I desire to get it,but from my research it seems the easiest way to rid it from your tank is to remove the fish (and treat them in qt for 7 weeks) and the remaining ich in the DT is ALL gone???? Even the dormant??? Yes or No? If this is true (and I am understanding this correctly)I dont see why there are so many posts on treatment for ich. It seems pretty straight forward.

 

[beth]

Yes, you are correct, except the dormant part (because ich does not go dormant).
I'm guessing that the reason there are so many posts on ich is because members haven't yet found my info-posts on the subject in the FAQ Thread. There was a time that all I did was answer questions about ich...so now I have a the information in one place for all to see, and reference.