How long does ick last?

[mwlude]

I just got a powder brown tang. Very healthy looking(thick good fins, ect) After 2 days in my tank got ick pretty bad. It was breathing heavy and I was sure it was doomed. It also hadnt started eating in my tank yet. I added garlic to its food and still nothing. The next day most of the ick was gone and today it is all gone and the tang has started eating. Does ick usually go away so quick(2 days) on its own or is the fish healthy enough that it has fIght it off. Breathing is back to normal. I have read that ick will disappear then reappear much worse. what do you all suggest?

[JediReefer]

Nope, now its going to spread to all of your other fish. Its part of its life cycle.

There is an illustration on this page showing the stages and time cycle of ich.

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/tr...marineich.html

Basically you will have to leave your main tank fishless for a period of weeks and let the ich starve off. And treat the fish with hypo in a QT tank. You really should have QT'd the tang anyways.

[Bruce]

Is it not pretty safe to say, that for the majority of the tanks there is ich?

I was under the impression that ich is almost always present in tanks and that usually the fish can fend them off, execpt when they are stressed ie...new addition etc.

If you do not have a QT tank then I suggest you keep adding the garlic and maybe check for some other non copper meds.

Good Luck

[JediReefer]

Ehh..ive never had good luck with meds that are reef safe ( also make sure its ok for inverts). hypo is the only thing that has ever worked, and it works well IMO.

Ich NEEDS a host ( fish ) to survive, so it cannot be present at all times ( unless you see it on your fish of course ). This is why you QT fish BEFORE you put them in your main tank, to rid them of any infections they may have ( in this case the fish had ich ).

So now that the fish introduced transfered the ich, it would be a very wise decision to set up a QT and treat all the fish. Inverts and corals can remain in the tank.

It is very possible to keep an ich free aquarium if you QT all new additions.

[Bruce]

Yup a QT tank is definatley a good idea. Back when I had the ich, I did not have the cash for a QT tank. Not the best of times. I found that STOP ICH...although it does not kill the ich, it does get it off the fish. Once the ich is off the fish there is a chance that its second attack will be repelled.

[geekdafied]

Ich will last as long as it has a host. Remove the host, ich will depart.

Im am starting to quarantine EVERYTHING for 1 month before it touches my display tank. Im pulling my fish out as soon as my new meds get here, and putting all of my fish in quarantine. I finally got ich off of my fish only to find they have "black ich" now. It probally came in from the livesand I bought. I let it set for about a week before I used it hoping that would kill off anything that was bad in it. It never had an odor to it so there was minimal die off from letting it set(in a 60qrt cooler).

[mwlude]

Thanks the diagram helps. I have no QT so wish me luck. My fish didnt look half as bad a that pict. The spots on the body were gone in one day and fins 2 days. That is shorter then they say it should last?

[Bruce]

Good Luck mwlude. I hope your fish are able to thwart the ich assault.

[mwlude]

Thanks

[geekdafied]

by the time you notice it, it has more then likely started producing eggs (cyst) that is what you see as a white dot on the body. when it disappears, it has dropped into the substrate and is producing more. within a week they will hatch and become free swimming and attach to your fish again, and in a week you will see more on them, and it will keep continueing untill it kills the fish. They cannot survive without a host, so aslong as there is fish in there, they will continue to reproduce. It can take up to weeks for them to clear up in your tank with no fish in it. But I would reccommend no less then 3 weeks fishless to insure they are gone, most people will tell you a month. It is a lot easier to setup a QT and it doesnt even have to be a tank, you can use a 20 quart plastic tub you can pick up almost anywhere for like $5. all you need is a small air pump , air stone, heater and meds to cure your fish. Follow the instructions on the meds, treat them twice in the 3 week period to insure you have killed off the ich, while your tank is ran fishless. Then it should be safe to add your fish back.