Fishies going back to LFS QT.

fishkiller

Active Member
So I'm taking my prized Coral Beauty to the lfs to go in the QT. He is covered in ich- he's showing signs he's feeling like crap. Now, I heard that some gobies and others alike sometimes will not get the ich on them when others in the same tank get it. I have a Yellow Watchman and Purple Pseudochromis, they both LOOK fine, but I am hesitant to keep them in the tank. I need yalls' opinions PLEASE!! Thank you!
 

jpawson

Member
You need to quarantine ALL your fish for at least 30 days. The ICH requires a host to survive. Your fish are the host. Take no chances...leave your tank fishless for at least 30 days. Make sure your LFS will provide treatment- either hyposalinity or copper. Make sure your fish are treated before their return. The life cycle of ICH is roughly 30 days. Hope that helps...Been there. Be patient.
 

hairtrigger

Active Member
Good decision.
Jpdawson is technically right though. best case senario is to quarantine them all. If you can't, raise the heat slowly. ich does not reproduce in higher heat. that is an old trick that has worked in many reefs I've seen since chemicals are baaaaad.
You are also right. Some fish are more succeptible to ich than others. It is also a stress-thriving problem. When a fish is more stressed, it is more succeptible, etc.
Eels don't get ich. That is because they have the "slime" coating that also hardens and lets them survive for extended periods of time out of water.
Ich's not cool.
:cool:
 

slick

Active Member
I agree with the above suggestions. You need to remove all fish from your tank. Let the ick in your tank die off before returning any fish to the tank.
 
S

sebae0

Guest
if removing the fish is not an option try to boost their immune sys tem by feeding food soaked in garlic. when i had a power outage in winter my temp dropped and my fish got ich, fed food soak in garlic and in about a week the signs and ich disspappered. no ich since and its been almost been another year.
 

fishkiller

Active Member
Thanx A LOT yall! I will take the other 2 to the store. Seeing that I will most likely be working there in a few days. HT- I'll tell you all about it. They are firing this new kid, so I'm just gonna slide right in.
jpawson- Yeah, I know that the ich hosts the fish, and that it is usually brought on by a weakened immune system due to stress. Or rather, the weak immune system more easily allows a parasite like ich to "attack". Thanx a lot though!
HT- I have read a little on heating the tank up. What is a safe but effective temp to do this? Does this kill the adults or does it just make it harder for them to reproduce? I guess if it doesn't kill them, I would have to keep that temp for at least a month, right?
Good stuff! MORE INPUT!! -Johnny 5
Seriously, thanx yall!!
 
I think ich still reproduces in warmer water, but it increases the life cycle substantially. So you can put your fish back in sooner, but read up on it first to make sure that it will be void of all ich if you put them in before 30 days. I know of freshwater aquarists that put their fish in a QT and crank the heat up above 90 and put their fish back in in a week or less without relapse of the outbreak. Good luck.
:D
Edit: If you do choose the raise temp. method do it slowly. Don't jack it up 10 degrees in one day.
 

rover3190

Member
Ich is pretty tough to treat while it's on the fish (freshwater dips work because th osmotic pressure diff explodes them). Part of the life cycle invloves the parasite falling of the fish and reproducing in the gravel. That's when you can zap it (usually with copper). The problem though is that increased temps also increases the metabolism and the respiration rate of the fish. This means that they "breathe" more and require higher oxygen levels (and since the parasite usually affect their gills first this is important), and they need more food to maintain their immune system to be able to fight off the parasite. Garlic soaked food works wonders as well.
 
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