All fish have ich?
- Thread starter Ollie_Fowler
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ritter6788
Coral Fraud Private Eye
townjas
Active Member
Do we know for certain that a tank with no fish will starve the parasite? Do you know for certain that ich will only feed on fish? Where did you get that information? Did you read the results of a scientific study or did someone in the hobby or at a pet store tell you that?
Maybe you read it on wikipedia because everything there is 100% true!
I do believe that stress is a major factor of a fish's ability to fight off an infection, just like with humans, we get sick more often when we are stressed and run down. As far as whether ich is in every tank or not, I really don't care as long as our fish are happy and healthy. My local pet store quarantines and treats all tanks that are invert free with low doses of copper (all their tangs are in these tanks). I just added a yellow eye kole tang to my tank about 2 weeks ago and no signs of ich and he is eating well and active. I have no idea if that means my tank is ich free or if he is just a healthy fish. This is my 1st tang, as I have stayed away from them because of the ich problems. I am hoping to add an Naso, hippo, and/or a sailfin in the future.
Maybe you read it on wikipedia because everything there is 100% true!
I do believe that stress is a major factor of a fish's ability to fight off an infection, just like with humans, we get sick more often when we are stressed and run down. As far as whether ich is in every tank or not, I really don't care as long as our fish are happy and healthy. My local pet store quarantines and treats all tanks that are invert free with low doses of copper (all their tangs are in these tanks). I just added a yellow eye kole tang to my tank about 2 weeks ago and no signs of ich and he is eating well and active. I have no idea if that means my tank is ich free or if he is just a healthy fish. This is my 1st tang, as I have stayed away from them because of the ich problems. I am hoping to add an Naso, hippo, and/or a sailfin in the future.
Ich is the most studied fish parasite, because of food fish farming not ornamentals. The life cycle is very well understood. I promise you ich is not in my system because I treat every fish in a QT tank with a full hyposalinity treatment and quarantine all non-fish for 8 weeks.
I don't have ich in my tank. No amount of stress will bring it on in my tank because it just isn't there.
I don't have ich in my tank. No amount of stress will bring it on in my tank because it just isn't there.
Ok, I was not going to weigh in on this one but we need to get some facts straight. One, as everyone know, ich is a single cell parasite that requires a host to survive. If no host, than no parasite. What this means is that keeping your tank fishless WILL work in elminating ich from your tank. The amount of time you need to keep your tank fallow has been up for debate. Actual scientific research has noted that the ich cycle is NORMALLY 4 weeks long but can be longer and ich has been KNOWN to lay dormant for extended periods of time. I would recommend 12 weeks of fallow to make sure ich is not present (after this long you can probably be about 99% sure there is no ich).
As far as treating fish in QT, the ONLY compounds PROVEN to kill ich effectively are copper and chloroquine phosphate (the later much more gentle on fish). Even with these you will only kill ich in the free floating stage which means you need to have the correct dose and hold it there for the right amount of time. Hypo-salinity is very subject and usually does not work to completely kill every ich parasite, it is just simply unreliable (again, noted by scientific research). Tank transfer is on the same line as hypo, it is difficult to get right but in theory should work...but 99% of people don't go it correctly and it only takes one parasite....
Another consideration is anything wet can bring in ich, period. If you do not QT all coral and inverts for an extended period of time than there is the risk of bringing ich in.
Also, lets be clear: Just because your fish don't show signs of ich for a long time (even years) DOES NOT mean you do not have ich in your system. It means you have healthy fish that can fight it off a major infestation. It is NOT 100% proof there is no ich.
So back to the original question: Can a tank be ich free? The answer is most assuredly YES.....but it takes work to make it that way.
Can your tank have ich even if your fish don't show signs? YES
Can you take all the precautions and still get ich? YES...one little slip up can make it that way
Can anyone say for 100% certainty their tank does not have ich? With all the variables, I would have to say no.
What are my qualifications? I am a chemical engineer with a minor in microbiology (wanted to be a researcher for a while but decided against it)....so basically no qualifications
I have not done my own hands on research on this but have read many articles on the subject.
As far as treating fish in QT, the ONLY compounds PROVEN to kill ich effectively are copper and chloroquine phosphate (the later much more gentle on fish). Even with these you will only kill ich in the free floating stage which means you need to have the correct dose and hold it there for the right amount of time. Hypo-salinity is very subject and usually does not work to completely kill every ich parasite, it is just simply unreliable (again, noted by scientific research). Tank transfer is on the same line as hypo, it is difficult to get right but in theory should work...but 99% of people don't go it correctly and it only takes one parasite....
Another consideration is anything wet can bring in ich, period. If you do not QT all coral and inverts for an extended period of time than there is the risk of bringing ich in.
Also, lets be clear: Just because your fish don't show signs of ich for a long time (even years) DOES NOT mean you do not have ich in your system. It means you have healthy fish that can fight it off a major infestation. It is NOT 100% proof there is no ich.
So back to the original question: Can a tank be ich free? The answer is most assuredly YES.....but it takes work to make it that way.
Can your tank have ich even if your fish don't show signs? YES
Can you take all the precautions and still get ich? YES...one little slip up can make it that way
Can anyone say for 100% certainty their tank does not have ich? With all the variables, I would have to say no.
What are my qualifications? I am a chemical engineer with a minor in microbiology (wanted to be a researcher for a while but decided against it)....so basically no qualifications
I have not done my own hands on research on this but have read many articles on the subject.
Last edited:
ritter6788
Coral Fraud Private Eye
See below...This isn't new groundbreaking research. The life cycle of of ich is very well understood and documented. If you don't trust Wikipedia, Google it and read the other 1000's of sources on the same topic.
+1 to these 2 posts.
For those still getting ich in your tanks your either not getting rid of it properly to begin with or you are re-introducing it from another source. Fish can be parasite free and it's not that hard to accomplish.
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