You will never kill ICK its always there.......in the sand, in the rocks....

[cowbuoy]

You will never kill ICK its always there.......in the sand, in the rocks....
is this true??????
This is a quote from someone else
I thought that if I QTed my fish in hypo for a month to make sure they were healthy that I would never have to deal with ick---or for that matter any parasitic disease since I eliminated it from possibly being introduced
after all - any disease must come from somewhere - it can't simply magically appear

 

[buzz]

To my knowledge, that statement is not true. It sounds like someone had some re-occurrences that got them a little frustrated.

 

[gollus]

acctually this is belived by a lot of people in the freshwater side of things. I have heard that the freshwater ick you can never get rid of and if you have signs of it it is almost always a sign of other problems. I dont know if it is true or not but that is what i heard.

 

[beth]

Yes, a hobby myth. It is obviously perpetuated by people who use the "always there" concept as an excuse not to QT or treat ich.
If ich was always present, keeping fish in this hobby will would near impossible.

 

[krowleey]

actually in FW Ich is always present but the fish only get it when stressed, anyone who has had them would know that if you did a water change and used to cold of water no matter how long you had the fish in the tank some can stress and become weak and get Ich. i hear ppl saying let your tank run with nothing in it so the Ich dies off, lol i wish that worked. i guess everyone has a opinion, mine is it's always present in the water. for FW that is sw COULD BE Diff

 

[beth]

FW or SW regardless, we're dealing with a parasite. The parasite is introduced to the tank by an infected fish. If you place fish in a QT and treat them for ich, ensuring that they are clear of the infection before they go into the tank, then you will not have ich. No living organism is invinsible, and, particually a PARASITE. In my FW days, I found copper to be quite effective on ich. I don't know if the FW hobby now has an alternative to copper, but, regardless, a parsite will die if exposed to the right treatment.

 

[cincyreefer]

Freshwater- I have heard many arguements back and forth about ich being present in all fish, and not really sure what to believe. The idea is that ich lives in the fish and can be kept under control by the immune system. Then as soon as a fish becomes stressed, the immune system can no longer control the ich and it spreads to the scales and can then fall off and reproduce in the substrate. A medication, normally copper based, is then used to kill all the eggs, preventing any further spread and hoping the fish will survive until the ich dies from its short life cycle. I have many questions regarded this theory, and still havn't seen it proven to be true.
Saltwater- I havn't heard of any theory similar to freshwater, although I have seen some odd things. I knew a guy who had the same fish in his tank for over a year without adding anything new, but still got an outbreak of ich (he quarantined all fish prior to introduction). He had major temperature fluctuations after his heater broke, but I still have no explanation as to how the ich got in the tank. It's hard for me to believe that a parasite can magically appear in a closed system just because of stress.

 

[polarpooch]

I just added a coral beauty to my established tank. I had her in Q for a little more than a month...she showed NO ICK in the Q...three days after I added her to the display--I see a small outbreak of ick on her.
Obviously she was a bit stressed by my other fish, but if I had no ick in my display and no ick in my Q, how did my coral beauty get ick?
This frustrating little mystery is why I use UV.

 

[daniel411]

I've heard before that Ick can go "dormant" and reside in substate, live rocks, etc... not sure how true that is. I've also heard that a fish can carry a small amount of ick that its immune system can self regulate... so you never think it has ick, until a major stress reduces the fish's immune system causing the ick to grow.... no idea if thats true either...
.... wheres Terry B???

 

[daniel411]

In addition, I just had an uncle who's been into saltwater for over a decade have an outbreak of ick and nothings been added to his tank for ages. ???