Possible Ich?

[hanzo26]

Can your fish get ich without adding any new fish to the aquarium? I have a small powder blue tang that looks as if he all of a sudden has ich. I have had him for a few months now along with a hippo tang, two perculas, 1 maroon and a couple chromis. I haven't added anything really at all, just a couple corals from a 'coral only' tank but that was a couple weeks ago as well. Does anyone have any input on this?

 

[nemo1234]

yes, I believe that they can get ich, its stress related... could be water perameters or any stress that the fish has had, IMO

 

[renogaw]

Ich could have been in your tank all along if you ever had it and did not treat your system correctly. while stress helps reduce the immune system allowing ich to get a better hold, stress does NOT cause ich.
what type of corals did you add? can you add a picture?

 

[al mc]

Hippos are notorious (as are many tangs) for being the first fish in a tank to 'show' ich. As mentioned by other posters...many times it is stress induced..(how are you water parameters? )and can actually come into your tank attached to the rock that your coral came in on......There are many people who have battled ich here.....post more iunfo and ask questions..there are many people here who can help

 

[squirreloso]

tangs have less of a mucus coating compared to other fish which makes them more susceptible to ich
after several years in the hobby i still never had a tang, im a little afraid of those ich magnets

 

[renogaw]

yes, but the fish has been in there for a few months. ich would have been present before.
i'm going to lean towards one of three things: 1) ich came from the rock/corals or 2) ich was already in the system or 3) some other tidbit of info isn't being told.

 

[nycbob]

my tank had an ick infection 2 months gao after getting a sailfin tang. i regreat not qt the fish. but i went the natural route, and it seems to hv helped the problem. i bought more 4 skunk cleaner shrimps and 2 neon gobies. all my fish now show no signs of icks. i hope it stays that way.

 

[jamparty]

Originally Posted by nycbob
my tank had an ick infection 2 months gao after getting a sailfin tang. i regreat not qt the fish. but i went the natural route, and it seems to hv helped the problem. i bought more 4 skunk cleaner shrimps and 2 neon gobies. all my fish now show no signs of icks. i hope it stays that way.
how big is your tank?
i have a 125 and can't keep two neons
a buddy runs a 220 and can't keep 2 either

 

[garychef1]

ich is stress related. Ich is a parasite that can be found in any aquarium, but it can only latch on to a weak immuned fish. Weak immunity is caused by stress. To completely eliminate getting ick, you need to have a well established tank with a correct amount of livestock and if you add water or other creatures into your tank ich may possibly be with the creature. So not to many fish, fish that fit the tank, well established tank, and a UV sterilizer (helps) are how you prevent ich.

 

[nycbob]

i hv a 72 gallon. i hv 2 neon gobies. they dont really bother each other. i see my shrimps climbing on my tangs to clean them. i also see my gobies latching onto them when they had icks. its pretty cool when it happens. sometimes i want to my fish to hv icks so my shrimps and gobies would go after the,.

 

[pco1988]

Ich is in every aquarium it is introduced to and will never go away. One parasite of ich will make many others and is always in the tank, it is only when the fish is stressed is when this becomes a problem, the ich reproduce where your fish sleep and this is because that is where they came off.

 

[al mc]

You can eliminate Ich from an aquarium, BUT, it takes much work and patience. In a FOWLR you can follow hyposalinity protocols for the DT followed by QTing all new arrivals. In a reef tank, the fish need to be moved to a QT/hospital tank and kept there for (ugh!) 6 weeks while you leave the DT fallow for 6 weeks. No host fish...parasites die.
There have been many debates on this site, and others, about adjunct therapies that may help remove ICH from fish temporaly in an acute infection.
While I read these debates with great interest I do not wish to start another one.
Stress...overpopulation, poor water quality, poor water movement, over or under feeding and aggressive fish...all can lead to an outbreak of visible Ich
in an aquarium that has Ich present. But..there are some aquariums that are free of ICH if proper treatment and prevention practices are followed

 

[renogaw]

Originally Posted by Al Mc
Stress...overpopulation, poor water quality, poor water movement, over or under feeding and aggressive fish...all can lead to an outbreak of visible Ich
in an aquarium that has Ich present. But..there are some aquariums that are free of ICH if proper treatment and prevention practices are followed

absolutely correct.
contrary to previous posts in this thread, and elsewhere, ich is not in every system, and some research says that systems with ich in them can eventually have all the ich die as the fish gain immunity to it as long as new fish are not introduced for upwards of a year.
in short, ich has to be introduced to the system in order for fish to get infected by them.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by Hanzo26
Can your fish get ich without adding any new fish to the aquarium? I have a small powder blue tang that looks as if he all of a sudden has ich. I have had him for a few months now along with a hippo tang, two perculas, 1 maroon and a couple chromis. I haven't added anything really at all, just a couple corals from a 'coral only' tank but that was a couple weeks ago as well. Does anyone have any input on this?
Ich can come in on corals. Corals cannot host ich but ich that have dropped off to reproduce can be transferred on any hard surface. Did the guy have one or two fish hanging out in the coral tank? Corals should be qt'd for 3 weeks before going into the display. Anythng with a hard surface should be qt'd. Within the three weeks all ich will have hatched and died from lack of host. I am so sorry that you have it. Do you have a qt to put your fish into?

 

[9g]

Also lighting should be added to the list that causes stress.
My lights on my QT died and left my hippo tang in the dark for a few hours. When i got my spare light, he had a billion ick on him.
I fed greens and meats with garlic and some vitamins supplements and now it has no ick in him.
I also have a clown fish in there but he never had ick.

 

[renogaw]

so you never turn off the lights? bright lights cause more stress when the fish is added to a tank, which is why it is suggested to turn them off when you first add them.

 

[9g]

They are never in dark now. I switch the timing to daytime lights off and nighttime lights on.
Leaving the lights on will cause an algea growth. Duh.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by 9g
Also lighting should be added to the list that causes stress.
My lights on my QT died and left my hippo tang in the dark for a few hours. When i got my spare light, he had a billion ick on him.
I fed greens and meats with garlic and some vitamins supplements and now it has no ick in him.
I also have a clown fish in there but he never had ick.
Your lights had nothing to do with ich. Your fish already had it. Lights off are usualy less stressful to the fish.

 

[9g]

I'd like to hear what other hippo tang owners have to say.
Im not saying you are right or wrong but from my experience, Dark=bad.
So when the fishes lose color when left in the dark, thats not stress?

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by 9g
I'd like to hear what other hippo tang owners have to say.
Im not saying you are right or wrong but from my experience, Dark=bad.
So when the fishes lose color when left in the dark, thats not stress?
9g, fish can loose color when it is dark but that is camouflage. They color right up again within half an hour of the lights being on. My hawkfish turns mostly white when the lights are off and it takes him five to ten minutes to "wake up" when the lights come on, then he is back to his usual self. With new or sick fish, the light in the room is more than enough for them to see. They do not want bright overhead lights on them.