Ick Always Present - Even After Fallow & Copper

triton

Member
My LFS told me that Ick is always in a system. Even if you run a tank fallow, and copper treat the fish in a quarantine. The stress of moving them from the quarantine to the display tank can cause them to get Ick again. This lady has been in business selling marine fish for around 10 years. She thinks it is because the fish carry the eggs, or something similar. She admits she does not actually understand why, but has seen it happen.
She normally gives good advice, and has lots of experience. This comment concerns me, and suggests that it is not possible to truly clean a system of Ick.
Thoughts?
 

old_salt

Member
There was an article written in one of the "Fish" magazines that said something similar to this. Supposedly they had left the tank empty for over 5 weeks and when the fish were reintroduced the ick came back. The author said they did something (can't recall now exactly what that was) to make the ick think that fish had been reintroduced after several weeks and this time no ick returned. I have 5 display tanks and only one that has had any fish in it that showed any signs of ick. I now have that tank void of all fish and will try reintroducing fish to this tank after 6 weeks. If ick reappears after this amount of time I am going to tear this tank down and start it over as there is nothing in this tank now except for some snails, live rock, live sand, a bristle starfish, some various types of crabs and an anemone.
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
All of that is a bunch of bull. Ich must "eat" to survive, and its food source is fish tissues. Without fish, it will not survive. In a tank without fish, it will die.
Few people, even knowledgeable hobbyists, have much know-how when it comes to fish diseases, so the fact that a knowledgeable hobbyist doesn't know about a fish disease is common.
 

scsinet

Active Member
Parasites can't just materialize out of nowhere from poor environment.
That's like saying that a kid can get the chicken pox from his/her house being too cold. The chicken pox has to come from somewhere; conversely, if you have chicken pox in the house from an infected kid, and you eliminate all of the hosts that it can infect (people who haven't had it in this case), the pox will not survive in the house.
In the above fish magazine article, they probably brought the ich back in on the fish. It's amazing what authors with one hand in an ich-miracle-cure-manufacturer's-pocket can write... :thinking:
I will say however that ich is *usually* present in a system, but it's kept in check by good water quality and fish with strong healthy immune systems. That's why it seems to come out of nowhere.
But fallowing a system for long enough WILL eradicate it, just like Beth said. It's not bringing it back in that's difficult, as killing an attached parasite off a fish is not terribly easy. Even copper has a tough time doing that.
 

drea

Active Member
no way, if that was true, i would not b in this hobby, i hypo'd two diff tanks and qt'd all my fish there on, i have never seen ich come again, even when fish are stressed, all a myth!
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
A lot of people think ich is actually a water borne pathogen. Lack of understanding this simple parasite, is where all the misguided advise comes from.
 

scsinet

Active Member
Originally Posted by 1journeyman
I really thought scientists had disproven the "spontaneous generation" theory years ago...
I think they prefer to call it the "Intelligent Infection" theory.
 

jasonmarc

Member
Ok - have a related question - I've seen/read people talk about the "dormant" ick possibility - the reason to QT all corals, etc - in case a "dormant" ick is on the base rock.
Does anyone have information on how long it could remain dormant? Is that just within the 4-5-6 weeks that is the standard recommendation for leaving a tank fallow? Or is it possible to have a hibernation-type scenario?
Inquiring minds and all.....
 

scsinet

Active Member
Crypt (Ich) goes through a life cycle where it attaches to the fish, grows and matures off the fish's tissue, drops off, then eventually bursts into new parasites to re-attach.
The drop off period is about 4 days or so, and that's the dormant ich stage you are talking about.
Ergo, a 5 week fallow period will wipe that out as well.
It's a fools paraise to assume that you can effectively prevent ich from entering your system. It's going to come in on your fish, your corals, etc. It's virtually impossible to keep it out forever. The best way to battle ich is to understand the inevitability and maintain a good environment and healthy fish, which keeps it in check.
 
N

nicolekarisny

Guest
i have 215 gallon fallow took all fish out in transfer method . ich hibernates for how long . i know people say 72 days max but i have heard of records past that. what is everyones thoughts ? i have taken all inverts and corals out and added to my 40 gallon . i have temp at 95 degrees on 215 now should that kill it or should i try hydrogen peroxide too w heat? also how often should i take water out . thinking about just added sink water to take for the 90 days will that kill my bacteria also? so many questions ? any intelligent responses welcome!
 
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