How Long can a Fish Live with Ich?

[that Reef Guy]

How Long can a Fish Live with Ich?

I ask because in the past whenever a Fish of Mine got Ich it Died the Very Next Day.

Then I read to get a UV Sterilizer and to Kill the Ich when it fell of the Fish.

Since getting the UV Sterilizer I have never lost a Fish to Ich.

Sometimes a New Fish would get chased around and Bullied by at least one other Fish and get Ich the Next Day but once the Ich Dropped off them it never re-appeared.

I recently got 2 Fish and they were fine for 2 Weeks.

Nobody in the Tank Bullied them and everyone was Happy and Eating Well.

Then I cleaned the Power Heads because they were covered in Algae and the Flow was severly Diminished.

The very next day one fish got Ich (I guess it was not used to that much Flow).

Then the other new fish got Ich the day after the first one got it.

No big deal I thought.

They will drop the Ich and it will get sucked up into the UV Sterilizer and never come back just like before right.

No.

I check on the Tank around 6 times a day and the Ich has never left these two new fish (All my old Fish are Ich Free by the way).

It has been over 6 Weeks now and they still have Ich.

They both eat well and no fish pick on them either.

Why do they still have Ich?

If it would only drop off them once the UV Sterilizer would kill the Free Floating Ich and this would be over with.

But that has not happened.

Is this like Super Ich or something?

Are there different Strains of Ich?

Will they just live with Ich forever or will they die?

What should I do?

 

[that Reef Guy]

Anybody?

 

[reef_lover24881]

My purple tang has lived with ich for years. He tends to go through phases but always comes out on a positive note. Ich is in everyone's system and there's nothing anyone can do about it other than make sure you fish are well fed and staying on top of your water changes.

 

[Waters]

Unfortuantely you will always have Ich in you tank unless you remove all of the fish and leave the tank empty for 8+ weeks. As long as there are fish in the tank, the parasite will continue to feed and multiply. A lot of fish will build up an immunity to the parasite, but the parasite is still there. It is a myth that Ich is in everyone's system....people that properly quarantine often have Ich free tanks (that being said, even people that do quarantine, can still end up with Ich). Your UV is only killing the parasite in the free swimming stage of its life cycle (and that is only the parasites that happen to get sucked through your UV). Do a quick google search on the life cycle of the Ich parasite and you will get a better understanding of why Ich is still in your tank. It is possible that your fish will build up an immunity and you won't see the parasite again (unless something stresses them out, which you already figured out).

 

[Grissino]

Actually, from the research I've read, ice will die out at around the 11 month mark if no new strain is added. The problem is for most of us we are continuously adding new coral that could carry. The previous mentioned QT and 8-months fallow is a much better method.

 

[that Reef Guy]

So how long can a Fish Live with Ich before it dies?

Months
Years

 

[reeffirstaid]

No, Ich is not in everyone's systems, that's very incorrect. I would say that ich is in many aquarists' systems, especially if they do not implement QT, but we are more than capable of preventing parasites from entering our systems. How long fish can live, with an ich infestation, depends on a variety of factors. Ich, on a fishes' body, is basically akin to fleas on a dog. It is an inerrant, leeching some nutrients from the animal, but not really enough to kill it. Ich kills fish, by infection their gill tissue and making it impossible for them to properly breathe. There is no magic way of determining when this will be, although if a fish is infected with ich, and left untreated, sooner or later, ich will get into the gill tissue. Fish can have repeated ich outbreaks, build immunity, outbreak again, recover again - and be just fine. Though, if the ich parasite infiltrates the gills, the fish will die. This can realistically happen at any time, if ich is present in your system.

UV sterilizers don't cause ich to fall off a fish. UV units kill free floating parasites, and bacteria for that matter, that pass over them. Ich can bind to live rock, sand, basically any surface in your tank, never passing over the UV light, thus never being eradicated. Ich falls off fish, after the parasite multiples while inside the white cyst on the animal's tissue. When the cyst breaks off, many more parasites enter the water. Some will pass over a UV light, if one is present, some won't. If ich is in your system, it's a revolving cycle, until it is dealt with.

 

[Grissino]

I meant 8-weeks. And the above comment is the best answer!

 

[shred5]

Once ich is in your tank it is in your tank as long as you have finsh in it...
Ich attacks stressed fish... Keeping a fish healthy and stress free is the best way to prevent it and rid fish of it. Fish also seem to build up somewhat of a resistance to it.. New fish get it because they are stressed because of the moved...