question aboot quarantine

[aanthony]

ok, i was just wondering, in my tank im pretty sure it has ich, however, the only fish that seems to have it is my blue hippo tang, and i only see it about once a month, if that, all it is is about 5-10 white dots on him (keep in mind hes about 6 inches) i have quite a few cleaner shrimp in my tank, but i dont know, ill look at my hippo, get mad that it has ich, prepare my qt tank, and the next day itll be gone, and the fish will be perfectly fine, ive had no fish deaths, and none of the other fish have the white spots on them, does ich really do anything to the fish? the last time i had it was about 4 months ago, and i put all my fish into a qt tank, and im pretty sure it wasnt fully cycled because my flame angel died, i had them in the qt for a month at a salinity of 1.09, and had my tank run fishless for 5 weeks, but i dont know how it came back, but it did, anyways, is it really something i should be concerced about? 2 months, 5-10 little dots on my fish a month, and only on one fish, is it really worth taking down my whole tank again,

 

[beth]

Ich can conceivably be introduced on corals, etc., that are attached to rocks, or hard shelled inerts. Is the feather duster attached to a rock?

 

[aanthony]

no it is not, but i decided to change my post.

 

[aanthony]

sorry i kind of changed the question on you. but i had no clue hard shelled inverts could bring it in, does this include snails, hermits, crabs, lobsters. etc

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by AAnthony
sorry i kind of changed the question on you. but i had no clue hard shelled inverts could bring it in, does this include snails, hermits, crabs, lobsters. etc
Yes sir. If your fish get ich now and again then it would be in their best interest to void your tank of ich. Have you read the FAQ about hyposalinity?

 

[aanthony]

im the type that will take good advice and follow it, so dont think just because i am questioning you, it dosent mean im not listening to your advice. but the reason i ask is because i love the way my tank looks right now, with the rockwork and everything, and im a bit weary of doing hypo because last time i did it i lost a 45 dollar fish (remember, im only 17, and dont make that much), so in order for me to hypo my fish it would cause tons of stress on them (having to live in such a small tank) and tons on me (taking down my rock, catching the fish, etc) but im just asking, is 5-10 spots a month really something that needs immediate action, is it really that bad on the fish?

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by AAnthony
im the type that will take good advice and follow it, so dont think just because i am questioning you, it dosent mean im not listening to your advice. but the reason i ask is because i love the way my tank looks right now, with the rockwork and everything, and im a bit weary of doing hypo because last time i did it i lost a 45 dollar fish (remember, im only 17, and dont make that much), so in order for me to hypo my fish it would cause tons of stress on them (having to live in such a small tank) and tons on me (taking down my rock, catching the fish, etc) but im just asking, is 5-10 spots a month really something that needs immediate action, is it really that bad on the fish?
Your fish may live, but you have disease in the tank. If this fish ever gets stressed for any reason, and fish do, the fish will be taken by the ich. Ich is a parasite. Fish can fight, but for how long? It is your choice of course, but you are playing Russian Roulet. It is your tank, but it is so much easier to rid the tank of disease and qt new fish than to fight against the disease all of the time. If the fish has lived with the parasite all of this time then set up a suitable qt tank, cycle it and then treat.

 

[aanthony]

alright, im going to have to do that then, i was just confused on what the disease really was, i know i had it, i know i treated for it, it was almost an out of sight, out of mind type of thing, u know? dont worry, ill put the fish in my qt tank, and may get a few grey hairs doing it, from all the stress.
thanks for the advice

 

[aanthony]

but now you have me paranoid, ich can be brought by snails, and hermits, etc? how do you rid ich of these inverts, if you lower the salinity they will die, if you use copper they will die, what do you do?

 

[beth]

It should be wait and see for now, AA. Chances are, you won't have a problem. Was the feather duster in a tank with other fish?