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My tank was or may still be inffected and was wondering has any luck restocking a tank with the survivors of Ich.

or is it best to assume that the survivors will always carry Ich




Last edited by ehart at 08-Oct-2004 12:28

Ich is always present in the tank.
When fish are under stress they become susceptible to the parasite.. If you've compleatly treated for ich following the directions exactly on the medications you used, and it's been a few weeks with no signs of ich and the tank is in balance (nitrItes and ammonia zero, nitrAte present) then you should be able to start stocking slowly again.

^_^
*Proud member of the Committee for Sig Line Restoration*

What worked for me was treating the main tank with some rock salt. I placed a bowl full of rock salt in the corner of the tank and kept the filter on continously for a few days.

In the past, I have also tried Rid Ich and it has worked very well for me.

thanks for the quick reply, sucks you can't get rid of ich completely but i'll give it a couple of weeks, thanks again

Dr. Peter Burgess, who took Ichthyophthirius multifiliis as his Ph.D. subject at Plymouth University, mentioned among Ich "old wives' tales" that "It's present in all aquariums." "What utter rubbish" noted Dr. Burgess (in the Nov 2001 Practical Fishkeeping).

You certainly CAN completely remove Ich. What occurs is that most people do not carry out the treatment for nearly long enough (once the spots are gone, many people stop medicating). And secondly, newly intorduced fish from the LFS can be carriers, so the ich can break out maybe even weeks after introduction to the tank. Everything has looked fine, so it makes ya think that that ich that was lying in wait struck back. Makes a good case for quarantining eh?

But, I do have some good news. It has been long known that after a fish survives an outbreak of ich, it becomes a little bit resistant to later cases. Not immune, but at least a little hardier in the face of outbreaks.

I got almost all this information from the Skeptical Aquarist's page on Ich. It has more info that you ever wanted to know, but lots of info on the life-cycle so that you know why is it imperative that you treat for weeks not just days.

Last edited by Bignose at 09-Oct-2004 17:58

The question was...

"...or is it best to assume that the survivors will always carry Ich??"

First of all let me say I'm not in favor of salt baths.

The meds we have today for treating ich work great if applied long enough with increased heat.

And that's the key to replacing previously infected trops back into the tank. They will be ich-less if that process is followed.

Scientist/authors always have a ball trying to determine where the ich parasite(s) comes from. So far, it's all been guesswork.

After sitting dry for a month and being sterilized, a tank newly refilled and stocked produced the parasite on trops kept in 68-70 degree water.

Where was the origin of the ich parasite in this particular instance?? Good question. Any takers??

--garyroland.

Vero Beach, Florida.


Last edited by garyroland at 10-Oct-2004 10:38

The ongoing argument (LOL). OK ich has a lifecycle , anywhere from 5days to weeks depending on temp. 3(sum say 4) stages. 1 the one you see on the fish scales or in the gills,2 dormant stage as a "hardened cyst" in the gravel, 3 free swimming form (the only time the parasite can be killed). I do not beleive ich is present in all tanks. If this were to be true 1 or 2 things would HAVE to happen. Either fish would be carriers all the time or the ich would lay dormant (cyst form) in your tank. ICH cannot stay in the dormant stage forever(not possible= it would break the lifecycle). Also fish cannot "carry" the disease without showing signs(unless in the gills which would eventually kill the fish). It cannot stay in free swimming form , it would die if it does not get on a fish(ie fish=food). Now how to break the lifecycle and kill the parasite. I prefer salt and high temps. No need to throw nasty meds in the tank when "most" fish can stand and even prefer aqua salt in the H2O.Start by adding salt slowly when doing 10-20% H2O changes every other day(with gravel vacuuming to get the "cysts". Get the salt level to about 1-1.5 large tablespoons of aqua salt per 5gals of H2O and temp to 80-82 by the 4th H2o change. Maintain that level for bout a week still doing H2O changes (gravel vac) every other day. Then continue with H2O changes to bring salt level back down and bring your temp back down.You will have treated your tank for 3-4 weeks and with the high temps that should be plenty of ICH cycles to wipe it out. It works great(saved my syno multis ). Good luck!

Well goodness stallion81 your method must be for the stay @home fishkeeper!

Lets consider daily waterchanges for a week combined with a temp raise that's not enough to kill the cycst and adding salt which can harm fish and plants to "nasty meds"

Dose tank with meds according to directions. Run carbon.

I know which method has worked with no deaths for me and it doesn't involve salt. Amputatation used to be a popular way of dealing with cancer....it's not always done today because well..we have better methods.

^_^
*Proud member of the Committee for Sig Line Restoration*

Yeah I know Babel its alot of work ,but it works great.1st you cannot kill the "cysts" therefore the gravel vacs. Ich can only be killed in freeswim form and the salt does that. The high temps speed the cycle to 4-5 days. 2nd malcite green is not healthy stuff and taints everything in your tank and will KILL scaleless fish (ie Clown loaches, catfish and so on). I dont do live plants so therefore I use salt. If you know of good meds with no GREEN in it go for it. I'm not saying meds do not work. I just think the more "natural" approach is safer. And as most lakes in the world contain salt , alot of fish benefit from aqua salt in their water. Of coarse I keep c******s and figure 8 puffers so 2 of my 3 tanks already have salt. But anyhoo I bet we both agree ICH sucks, and i'm glad to have not had to battle it for over 9 months now.