How fast does ich infect a tank

[hails]

So I rushed things 86 days ago with a pbt and it got ich in my display. So I removed all fish and qt’d them in copper (with a few losses) and then made a mistake by squeezing out too many sponge filters at once and the nitrite levels rose and I freaked so took all the remaining fish back to my lfs while I sorted it out. Then I picked a few back up - pbt, fox face and 2 small clowns. I had the ff and pbt in a 100L qt, and the clowns in a smaller 60L. The clowns have been in cupramine for 17 days at around 3ppm and the other two I was observing for a start and then noticed a few spots 2 days ago so started cupramine. The pbt started to struggle yesterday and had been getting steadily worse so I raised the copper up tonight and then tested with seachem test kit and it said it was 7ppm!!! So I freaked out and took the clowns out of their qt and chucked them in the display and put the two larger fish into the smaller qt. (As I had no water ready for a change). Then I went to the display and swear I could see 2 small dots on one of the clowns!! so I quickly got them back out and put them back in the qt.

sooo my question is whether 5 mins max in the display could have re infected it? Do I have to start over and do another 76 days fallow?

I realise it was a series of stupid mistakes and I’m kicking myself but after all this time I still want to do things right; and if that means another 76 days then I will do it!

thanks in advance

 

[Hugh Mann]

I doubt it. From what I recall, the life cycle of ich is roughly 82 hours and free swimmers starve out after 48 without a fish host. In theory, you should be fine by the time your QT ends. The Free swimming stage can be transferred via water as well, depending on how you moved the clowns and cross contamination with the various QTs.

However, by your description, your fish have a while yet to go in QT. If you want to be particularly paranoid, especially with the powder blue, Bump up the temperature in your display to 81f and leave it for 45 days. The study that causes everyone to say 76 days was very poorly done, never replicated, and sketchy at best. 45 days at 81f and you're golden.

I'd tag some folks, but for whatever reason, it doesn't like to do that on mobile.

 

[hails]

I doubt it. From what I recall, the life cycle of ich is roughly 82 hours and free swimmers starve out after 48 without a fish host. In theory, you should be fine by the time your QT ends. The Free swimming stage can be transferred via water as well, depending on how you moved the clowns and cross contamination with the various QTs.

However, by your description, your fish have a while yet to go in QT. If you want to be particularly paranoid, especially with the powder blue, Bump up the temperature in your display to 81f and leave it for 45 days. The study that causes everyone to say 76 days was very poorly done, never replicated, and sketchy at best. 45 days at 81f and you're golden.

I'd tag some folks, but for whatever reason, it doesn't like to do that on mobile.

The pbt wasn’t looking good at all this morning so I put him out of his misery which is a shame, he went south really quick as soon as I added the copper. Think I was a bit ambitious with him. Guess the other 3 are going to stay in the small qt for another 30 days now, argh one mistake is so costly! Ok will consider raising the temp in the dt, just a bit dubious my corals may not like that ? I transferred the clowns with a seperate net but a few drops probably went in. Almost ready to try ich management lol but will persevere another month Thanks for your reply

 

[Hugh Mann]

The pbt wasn’t looking good at all this morning so I put him out of his misery which is a shame, he went south really quick as soon as I added the copper. Think I was a bit ambitious with him. Guess the other 3 are going to stay in the small qt for another 30 days now, argh one mistake is so costly! Ok will consider raising the temp in the dt, just a bit dubious my corals may not like that ? I transferred the clowns with a seperate net but a few drops probably went in. Almost ready to try ich management lol but will persevere another month Thanks for your reply

Sorry to hear about the powder blue. Most unfortunate. Some fish can be pretty sensitive to copper. Going forward, I would highly recommend a Hanna Checker. Gives you a digital readout, no mucking about with colour charts. Also look into the tank transfer method for the particularly sensitive fish.

As for temperature, as I understand it, most if not all corals can easily tolerate 81f. Again, you should be okay and not worry about it, but never hurts to be paranoid if your surviving livestock can cope with the smaller QT.

In regards to ich management, as long as you stay away from Hippos, powder blues/browns and other ich sensitive species, it's really not that hard. I was doing it for months and didn't even know until I got a Hippo Tang. Still currently managing it relatively well.