Why does the ick keep coming back???

[aredmon]

I am so

. I learned my lesson the first time about not having a Qt tank. So I have one up and running now. I had a run of the ick about 2-3 months ago. After taken care of it and putting what fish survived back in the display I have not had any sign of the suff. I bought another clown fish and a orangemarked gody (LFS called it a dragon goby). I kept them in Qt for about a week and a half. Everything looked good. Eating no strange behavior no weird spots or discoloration. I put them in the display. Wed the two new fish are covered in white spots.

The other two are fine with no sign of anything. All the fish are getting along just great. No fighting or any stess that I can see and I watch them all the time. Why is the ick always hitting my new additions and were did it come from???? Thank you for your help!!

 

[dme]

Sorry for your frustrations, for just how long or you QT the fish for? For I suggest not less then six weeks and a long as eight weeks and if the fish that you are QT gets ich or so, the QT should take much longer.
Also I suggest that if your main tank had or has ich, that you wait few months before ever trying to add any new arrivals and only if you see then that you have no more fish that are in which have ich, then you should think about if you would want any new fish.
I did read where you said you only QT the fish for 1.5 weeks? This is not long enough to ensure that your main tank will remain ich free.

Why is the ick always hitting my new additions and were did it come from????
Ich can hit any new arrival due from it being under stress and as well, how long are you taking to acclimate the fish before placing in your tanks? For a sudden shock of different water or PH etc, so one must take it slow while preparing any new arrivals for I take not less then two hours at most for many fish and longer if that fish is costing me much $$$$
Hopefully you will take it slow and have much patients.

 

[stanlalee]

Have you read the FAQ in the Disease and treament section? It has a really good explanation on the three stages of ich and why it comes back ect.

 

[aredmon]

Thank you for your responses. When I got ick the first time it was about 3mo ago. I took all my fish out of the main tank and QTed them in hypo for about 6weeks. After adding them back into the tank I added no fish to the tank till now. It has been over 3mo with no sign of ick so I figured it to be safe to add fish. I bought the new fish and QTed them for 1.5 weeks just so I could watch them. They were perfectly fine so I added them to the main tank(no ick of 3mo.). 2 days later the 2 new fish are covered in ick. The 2 fish that have been there first are fine. I acclimate them for 1.5 to 2 hrs.

 

[dme]

That is the way it happens for one thing I not seen why you removed the fish from the tank and only placed on them more stress as well it is either in few days or a little longer at most fish do get ich. I suggest you read that follow Stanlalee and that you read the FAQ in the Disease and treatment section.
I personally had not view it, but nevertheless I am sure that it should prove helpful to you to better understand what you are doing and to gain a better method to what you done up till this point.

 

[dme]

I suggest you read that follow Stanlalee and that you read the FAQ in the Disease and treatment section.
Gosh, my typing.... Where is a secretary when one needs them?

I was trying to type that you do folow up on Stanlalee suggestion and read the FAQ in the Disease and treatment section.

 

[aredmon]

The only time I took the new fish out of a tank was to take them out of QT and place them into the main tank. The fish in the main tank I did not take out. I have read the Disease treatment section and that is how I learned to cure the ick 3mo ago when I had it. I just can't figure out why It just all of a sudden came back and only on the new fish?

 

[aredmon]

The disease and treatment section tells you to remove the fish and put them in Qt when ick is present to perform hypo on them.

 

[ophiura]

It is important that you start with basics of the tank:
Age
Set up
SPECIFIC WATER PARAMETERS
fish involved
Clearly, you have something stressing these fish out. We need to review your stocking list, etc, to try and identify what is going on. And to do that we need to really start with basics.
It is true that if you want to RID your tank of this parasite, you must remove your fish to a QT systems, do a full course of hypo for 5-6 weeks, then do this on all new fish going into the tank or you will constantly reintroduce this parasite.

 

[dme]

ophiura is right, I not as well done that in asking you of better details on your tanks history but nevertheless from much you had explained, you are doing things a bit in a hurry in QT as well as possibly buying a new arrival too quickly after you had a ich situation for no matter how this came about, if you just one fish in your main tank, you need to wait few months to check if any further outbreaks of ich before thinking of buying a new fish.

 

[kainex]

Have you thought of adding a cleaner shrimp? I had a large hipo tang that would go through small bouts of ich, while the rest of the tank remained fine, I added a cleaner and It made a huge differance...They also became best bud's....just a idea

 

[joshradio]

temperature is another overlooked key to stress... what's your temp hang at when lights have been out a while... and when they've been on a while... what's your lighting schedule?
pH also changes with temp... have you checked it at highest point of darkness? (usually middle of the night) and highest part of light?
ick doesn't necessarily leave either... it's like bacteria in the world during flu season... if our immunity isn't up, we get sick.... well fish get ick (that could be why you others aren't showing signs of it... their immunity is a bit stronger to ward it off!)

 

[aredmon]

I did wait 3mo after I cured the ick before adding anymore fish. I wanted to make sure the ick was gone. My last outbreak was in the begining of December. This is the first time I have tried to add fish. In December I QTed the fish for 6weeks and treated with hypo. Ick disapeared. I put them back in the main tank. I have put no more fish in the tank till last Mon. Before I added them they were in Qt for 1.5weeks. I read that new fish just needed to be QTed for 1.5 to 2 weeks for observation. They looked fine after 1.5 weeks so last Mon. I added them to the display and boom ick.
I have a 75gal. FOWLR
1 false perc clown
1 4 stripe damsel
1 cleaner shrimp
1 emerald crab
snails
hermits
star fish
Just added Mon. Dragon goby and another False perc. clown
Water is:
Amm. 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 0
Salt 1.025
PH 8.2
Tank has been up for 6mo.

 

[aredmon]

I gave them supplements when they were in Qt to try and boost their imune system. My temp ranges from 73-75. I haven't checked the ph late at night but have at 2 dif. points in a day and it goes from 8.2 - 8.4. My lights are on from about 7:30am to about 3pm now because of an algea problem. i am bringing the lighting schedual up little by little but haven't changes it since the new arivals.

 

[aredmon]

Should I hypo all new arrivals? I thought you only had to do this if they were sick?

 

[ophiura]

You need to hypo all arrivals IF you want to ensure that you have completely eliminated the parasite from your system. In this case, as you had already done full hypo on your original fish, it would have been a good plan. The new fish, even if not obviously "ill" were still almost certainly carrying the parasite to some extent. It would only be killed by the hypo or copper treatment.
Your temperature is 73-75?? IMO, that is quite low, and that might explain why new fish have problems and those "used to it" do not. What was the temp in your QT?
Are you sure there is no aggression between the clowns?
How much LR and structure do you have in the tank?

 

[aredmon]

I was very surprized. The clowns are getting along great. My first clown has never realy been aggressive but this is realy the first time I have seen it get along this well with a fish. The one I bought was smaller and he just follows my original fish around everywere. I keep my Qt at the same range of temp as my main tank. When I do water changes I take water out of my QT and replace it with the water from the main tank so the water is almost the same in both tanks. I beleive it may have been Beth in the disease and treatment area (I may be wrong) told me or told someone in that thread (I read it somewhere) that it was not nessisary to hypo everyfish but just to watch them for any signs of illness before adding them to your main tank. I was just unsure as to how long to watch them for. I know ick has a life cycle of about 2 weeks so I figured by a week and a half the ick should have showed its ugly head because it had to have found a host by then. In my tank I only have about 13lbs of LR but I do have other decor that make for great hiding places. I will bunp up the temp a little. Where should it be? Thank you for your help.

 

[aredmon]

????

 

[ophiura]

Personally, if you are going to QT fish then you need to at least use a copper treatment thought hypo is much better. Fish can be symptom free and still be carrying the parasite, IMO. I had fish that had no signs of ick for a year, put a new fish in (that had also been in someone's tank free from ick for at least a year) and they didn't like each other. Bam. Ick outbreak. So if they didn't show any signs of ick for a year, how could I still have the parasite?
Well, IMO a healthy non-stressed fish can keep this parasite at a very background level. It takes advantage of a weakened fish when a stress arises.
I can't ever say my tank is ick free...and the only way, IMO, to say that is if you QT everything (including new rock, etc)...but definitely put fish through a full hypo treatment. Its not something that is always done, which is why I also think it is critical to identify what could be stressing the fish out.

 

[aredmon]

Well I have been putting some ick meds in my main tank and it cleared the ick from my tank. I know it has not been long enough to know if it is gone or just waiting but so for it is gone. We had a death in the family and we had to leave state for a few days. I had an animal feeder coming over to feed the fish and he said the ick was still not back but the next day that I got home my new clown fish had disapeered and my cc star was REALY fat. So I am pretty sure that is what happened to him. The other goby is doing great now. He is coming out alot more from hididng and acting wonderfuly. Thank you all for your help and I will be sure to treat every new fish in QT just in case. Thank you.