Where does ich come from?

[carolinareefguy]

Where does ich come from?

Some say live rock and live sand. So people have elected to qt fish and place them in tanks with bare bottoms and base rock to prevent Ich.

Some say it is a floating particle in water that would make it hard to defend against once introduced into a tank.

Many say the fish has it coming from the wild. I will go with this. But now here is my point.

The fish has the parasite in the wild. Doesn't show any signs. It is thriving in the wild. It is a healthy creature, no stress, in a comfortable environment. The fish doesn't have overwhelming white spots and fish don't consistently die because of ich in the wild, but ich is present. Every fish fights it and is surrounded by it.

So ich is not the end of the world. Fish we place in our tanks have been fighting this their entire lives. If the fish is in a healthy environment and not stressed, the fish will be fine with ich in the tank. It is ok for ich to be in your tank, but it is our job to ensure that the environment is healthy for the fish that are living in our tanks.

 

[ritter6788]

Free swimming ich has a much larger area to find a host in the ocean and chances are most of those parasites die in the water column due to lack of host. In a closed system every parasite has a much better chance of finding a host than in the ocean. That is why you see ich pop up in large infestations in aquariums. Fish health does play a role too but you can't compare a parasite in the ocean to an aquarium. Fish also have many "cleaning stations" on the reef to help keep these parasites down that we can't replicate in our little tanks.

 

[carolinareefguy]

Well fish in the wild have ich and the amount of parasites is much greater than in a fish tank. The fish have the parasites yet they are not visible. If they did not have ich then people would not have to qt. The ich is only visible once the fish become stressed.

 

[ritter6788]

Well fish in the wild have ich and the amount of parasites is much greater than in a fish tank.

Percentage wise, no way. Waves and currents will sweep most of the free swimming theronts out into nothing. If they don't find a host in a day or 2 they die. There will only be a lucky few that find a host and infect a fish. There are also many more cleaners in the ocean to help keep them parasite free. In a tank almost all the free swimming parasites will find a host and start the cycle again.

Environment is very important but not introducing parasites to begin with is part of providing a healthy environment.

 

[mtfish]

You are forgetting the chain of custody fish go through to get to your tank. Each level from the collector to trans-shipper to wholesale to retail to you would have to have "perfect" water like the ocean. But in each step the chance of infestation goes up, so by the time you buy the fish there could be a good chance you have some ich. QT fish will bring the levels back down to "perfect" level. Why would you not do this to protect each fish in your tank?

 

[Ballgame]

I have a QT. But I didn't before and lost all livestock to ich. Now I QT everything