So My Hippo has Ich...Who Cares!

[Badfish83]

There's much worse things than ich

Like aids? Lol, no I agree totally. I think this is a ridiculous argument that happens too often. Almost always when someone posts a pic of their ich infested fish and asks for help I would bet money that the person is somewhat new to the hobby, probably shouldn't be qting anyways, and water params would be to blame in the first place.

 

[Captain Billy]

That's great your fish are doing awesome, I'm glad to hear they don't display signs of ich.

However if you are judging the fact that your tank is ich free solely because you quarantined your fish and you have never seen ich on them, be careful. In my experience, just because the fish aren't displaying visible trophonts doesn't mean your system is ich free, whether you quarantined or not. I know of many instances where thoroughly quarantined tanks had something stressful happens like a failed heater, and resident fish of years suddenly were covered in trophonts, much to the dismay of their bewildered owners.

 

[Aquaph8]

That's the thing, QT is a whole different lesson. It takes practice, patience and knowledge to properly run a QT. You gotta expect to lose a few fish along the way cause diagnosing, treating and learning which fish tolerate what takes time to learn.

I'd imagine most people against QT tried it on a whim with multiple sick fish an uncycled QT and not a lot of knowledge on the subject. These threads full of zero factual info don't help anyone though. There's lots of factual info on ich out there, it's not a mystery it's been studied. But like I said there's far worse things than ich, stay in this hobby long enough and you'll most likely encounter them all.

 

[Badfish83]

That's the thing, QT is a whole different lesson. It takes practice, patience and knowledge to properly run a QT. You gotta expect to lose a few fish along the way cause diagnosing, treating and learning which fish tolerate what takes time to learn.

I'd imagine most people against QT tried it on a whim with multiple sick fish an uncycled QT and not a lot of knowledge on the subject. These threads full of zero factual info don't help anyone though. There's lots of factual info on ich out there, it's not a mystery it's been studied. But like I said there's far worse things than ich, stay in this hobby long enough and you'll most likely encounter them all.

Well said

 

[Captain Billy]

I have a 125 gallon quarantine system, don't get me wrong, it has it's applications. There's a huge difference between cautiously adding new fish and being reckless with you aquarium, because as you said there are much worse things than ich, and I've had the displeasure of dealing with many if them both professionally in the past and privately in with my own fish.

I also share the desire for a new, current, aquarium based study on ich to address some of the "mysteries" about ich many experienced aquarist have dealt with that go against the general consensus about ich.

I still fall back on the problem that it's nearly impossible to completely prevent all instances of introduction. If you have a large enough tank, with enough fish, enough clean up crew and enough coral additions, eventually something as tiny and prevalent as a protozoan will find it's way in.

What about built immunity? Many people, myself included, have experienced fish building immunity to ich after repeated exposure. I experienced this with a powder blue tang, but I've read about this with clownfish, I believe the study was on tomato clowns, that documented this as well. So, is it better to have fish totally unprepared for a possible infection with ich? Just like we are exposed to the flu daily, yet tribes of uncontacted people's in remote location die in mass from the same disease.

As I reach the point I'm at in this hobby, doing it professionally and privately for many years, and now personally keeping the harder to keep and more expensive fish, I find my perspective on quarantine is changing.

I do think it has a place some times, but many times a fish that would have done just fine in a display died in a futile attempt to prevent the inevitable.

 

[makingbubbles]

I believe ich kills healthy fish. If you have a full on outbreak you could watch all your fish die. It starts with one unhealthy fish possibly but you can watch it reach plague like status and take the tank. But that's just how I feel about what happened to me.

 

[Aquaph8]

I just can't handle watching fish scratch themselves on rocks, it's like letting your dog be full of ticks and not taking care of it. It's just not fun to watch. Yes sometimes they may build an immunity but it always comes back.

 

[Irod72002]

My Achilles went 3 months without ich (followed Badfish's method), during my ich free time. I QT with TT every fish before adding to my new system 250dd, new rock, new sand, new equipment. One day Leopard wrasse went belly up in QT. Freaking out I tossed into DT. Now regretting it. Wrasse had ich, next week Achilles has ich. Fast forward 3-4 months, Achilles has ich, Purple tang, yellow tang, foxface, Chevron (killed in battle) get a speckle here and there. I used Marine Max, didn't help, feed garlic and vit C for 4 months, nothing. Trying Dr. G's to see what happens if anything it can help. Ordered a second UV which prob won't help either.

 

[specvjeff]

I had a Hippo Tang awhile back. I got it from a friend. I quarantined it and added it to the tank after 30 days. It was treated with Cupramine and Prazi Pro. All of my fish are quarantined that way. After a few weeks, I noticed he had ich. I was basically baffled. Considering none of my fish had ever had it and they had all be quarantined. I know that it can come in in various ways and that healthy fish are likely to never show symptoms of it even if it's present. After a few months, I started to notice a pattern. The ich would appear a day or two after changing the carbon in my reactor. It would show up, last a few days, then go away. I've heard that carbon can reduce the slime coat on fish so my guess is that is what was going on. After a few days, the slime coat must have returned and away it went. I certainly don't believe that every fish should be treated with the oh well mentality. We've seen hobbyists lose hundreds of dollars in fish due to it. Some fish are just able to get through it more than others.

 

[Pninja24]

I've had a hippo tang for 14 years now and I'm a firm beliver that ick has to be introduced because the only time any of my fish would get if I didn't quaratine something and bam they get it