Ich & velvet will only hitchhike on fish?

[ssunthar]

Hi Experts,

I am going through a velvet disaster and as i was reading multiple forums and articles.. I kept seeing that Ich & velvet parasites will ONLY hosts and hitchhikes on fish and NOT on other organisms like CUC, LR, dead fishes, macro algae, etc? Would like to know why is it so?

Thanks.

 

[MnFish1]

Its not so. And you're mixing up terms - Parasites do not host 'things'. Things host parasites. If you google/read about the life cycle of velvet and CI - you will see that certain forms attach to 'dead things' - shells, gravel, rock, etc. So - thats why

 

[MnFish1]

Its not so. And you're mixing up terms - Parasites do not host 'things'. Things host parasites. If you google/read about the life cycle of velvet and CI - you will see that certain forms attach to 'dead things' - shells, gravel, rock, etc. So - thats why

I see you're from Singapore - I hope you can solve your problem. Velvet is always a significant thing. OH - and AFAIK - velvet does not live on dead fish. So - thats correct - and - hopefully - any dead fish are removed from your tank

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

Hi Experts,

I am going through a velvet disaster and as i was reading multiple forums and articles.. I kept seeing that Ich & velvet parasites will ONLY hosts and hitchhikes on fish and NOT on other organisms like CUC, LR, dead fishes, macro algae, etc? Would like to know why is it so?

Thanks.

Anything wet that is added to your tank can introduce parasites to your tank. I strictly qt everything that goes into my tank, if you want to know how just let me know!

 

[4FordFamily]

Anything wet that is added to your tank can introduce parasites to your tank. I strictly qt everything that goes into my tank, if you want to know how just let me know!

This precisely. Velvet/ich can and often does come on rock/coral or other things we put in our tank.

 

[ssunthar]

Anything wet that is added to your tank can introduce parasites to your tank. I strictly qt everything that goes into my tank, if you want to know how just let me know!

Yes, love to learn from the best practices.

 

[ssunthar]

I see you're from Singapore - I hope you can solve your problem. Velvet is always a significant thing. OH - and AFAIK - velvet does not live on dead fish. So - thats correct - and - hopefully - any dead fish are removed from your tank

Thanks, what about on other living things like CUC, corals and plants?

 

[ssunthar]

This precisely. Velvet/ich can and often does come on rock/coral or other things we put in our tank.

Thanks, that was what i thought too.

 

[Tamberav]

Thanks, what about on other living things like CUC, corals and plants?

Part of the life cycle of ich is to attach to substrate. This can include CUC, rock, corals, frag plugs etc. It can not attach to plant matter but could attach to a amphipod on the plant or be present in even minuscule amounts of water.

 

[ssunthar]

Part of the life cycle of ich is to attach to substrate. This can include CUC, rock, corals, frag plugs etc. It can not attach to plant matter but could attach to a amphipod on the plant or be present in even minuscule amounts of water.

Thanks, you just confirmed my theory.

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

Yes, love to learn from the best practices.

I had a 55 and a 75 gallon tank, I would always lose my fish to disease and parasites, ich management just wasn't working for me. I set up a 180 gallon tank and switched to prevention and it's been working great for me. Before I put any fish in my 180, I took all the coral out of my 75 gallon tank and put it in my 180, my 180 ran with just my corals and inverts for 90 days which was my fallow period, I chose to go longer than 76 days which is the minimum fallow period recommended. I used my old 75 gallon tank to quarantine the fish I had left from the crash, I used to quarantine my own fish but work takes too much of my time nowadays so I switched to buying my fish from trusted websites. Dr reefs quarantined fish and tsm aquatics are the websites I reccomend, tsm also sells quarantined coral!! Anything wet needs to be quarantined, the way you do that is by placing it in a system with no fish in it for a minimum of 76 days. I have a frag tank with no fish in it, all my coral and inverts go into that for 90 days prior to going into my display tank. Ich needs to come off a host which is a fish and encyst, the eggs are what you have to watch out for when introducing anything wet that's not a fish into the tank, it will hatch in your tank and find your fish and will continue its life cycle in your tank. The fish can be quarantined and cleared of ich and velvet with medications but you can't treat coral, snails, rocks, etc with medication so it needs to be in a fishless system for 76 days minimum. Sorry for the long response but if you have more questions I'll be more than happy to help.

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

This precisely. Velvet/ich can and often does come on rock/coral or other things we put in our tank.

When my 75 Gallon tank had a horrible outbreak and I lost most of my fish, you were one of the many people that answered my questions when I got into quarantining my livestock. Thanks for the knowledge, now I'm able to pass it on to reefers that are facing what I faced a year ago!

 

[jaganshi066]

I had a 55 and a 75 gallon tank, I would always lose my fish to disease and parasites, ich management just wasn't working for me. I set up a 180 gallon tank and switched to prevention and it's been working great for me. Before I put any fish in my 180, I took all the coral out of my 75 gallon tank and put it in my 180, my 180 ran with just my corals and inverts for 90 days which was my fallow period, I chose to go longer than 76 days which is the minimum fallow period recommended. I used my old 75 gallon tank to quarantine the fish I had left from the crash, I used to quarantine my own fish but work takes too much of my time nowadays so I switched to buying my fish from trusted websites. Dr reefs quarantined fish and tsm aquatics are the websites I reccomend, tsm also sells quarantined coral!! Anything wet needs to be quarantined, the way you do that is by placing it in a system with no fish in it for a minimum of 76 days. I have a frag tank with no fish in it, all my coral and inverts go into that for 90 days prior to going into my display tank. Ich needs to come off a host which is a fish and encyst, the eggs are what you have to watch out for when introducing anything wet that's not a fish into the tank, it will hatch in your tank and find your fish and will continue its life cycle in your tank. The fish can be quarantined and cleared of ich and velvet with medications but you can't treat coral, snails, rocks, etc with medication so it needs to be in a fishless system for 76 days minimum. Sorry for the long response but if you have more questions I'll be more than happy to help.

Hi I just had a question, so when buying snails and crabs it is best to quarantine for 76 days before introducing them into the display tank?

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

Hi I just had a question, so when buying snails and crabs it is best to quarantine for 76 days before introducing them into the display tank?

Yes to prevent parasites from getting into your display tank they need to spend a minimum of 76 days in qt, I always do 90 days to be safe. There are websites that sell quarantined fish that also sells quarantined inverts.

 

[4FordFamily]

When my 75 Gallon tank had a horrible outbreak and I lost most of my fish, you were one of the many people that answered my questions when I got into quarantining my livestock. Thanks for the knowledge, now I'm able to pass it on to reefers that are facing what I faced a year ago!

You’re more than welcome, I am very glad you can continue to help people. At this stage of my life I am busier than I would like to be but thankful for people like you who pick up the torch!

Thank YOU for helping others.

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

You’re more than welcome, I am very glad you can continue to help people. At this stage of my life I am busier than I would like to be but thankful for people like you who pick up the torch!

Thank YOU for helping others.

The more successful we are at keeping our inhabitants alive the better it is for the hobby, with all the politics going around about how our hobby is sucking the oceans dry, we have to share the knowledge and progress or else just like how Hawaii shut down, everyone will be forced to stop collecting. At least if we can prove that we in fact do not lose 90% of the fish that are collected, we can have a fighting chance!

 

[4FordFamily]

The more successful we are at keeping our inhabitants alive the better it is for the hobby, with all the politics going around about how our hobby is sucking the oceans dry, we have to share the knowledge and progress or else just like how Hawaii shut down, everyone will be forced to stop collecting. At least if we can prove that we in fact do not lose 90% of the fish that are collected, we can have a fighting chance!

I could not agree more!

 

[MnFish1]

Thanks, what about on other living things like CUC, corals and plants?

The various life cycles of velvet and Ich can attach onto shells, sand, dead parts of coral. I do not think they travel/encyst on living coral. No one has ever discussed 'plants' before that I recall.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi Experts,

I am going through a velvet disaster and as i was reading multiple forums and articles.. I kept seeing that Ich & velvet parasites will ONLY hosts and hitchhikes on fish and NOT on other organisms like CUC, LR, dead fishes, macro algae, etc? Would like to know why is it so?

Thanks.

Here is a link to an article I posted here recently that talks about biosecurity, and how diseases can transfer:

Biosecurity

A short introduction to aquarium biosecurity

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[Sharkbait19]

In my experience, yes parasites can hitchhike on any surface that has come into contact with an infected tank. Velvet can only kill fish, but anything can carry it.