Do we really know anything about ich?!

I've read up on this a LOT. Supposedly, if your dt does not have ich AND your new fish was properly quarantined and treated, then there is no way ich can be present. Right? If your new fish gets ich in the dt, then the dt had ich. Right. Supposedly no fish is immune to ich. So if the fish in dt did not show ich, then how did the new fish get ich if said fish was in quarantine with copper treatment for 6 weeks? Here's the whole deal. In my dt I have two clowns, a banghaii cardinal, purple firefish, yellow watchman goby, and hoevens wrasse. None of which have ever shown signs of ich. The clowns and cardinal I've had for over a year, wrasse and ywg for 9 months and firefish for 3 months. I work at a fish store and had my eye on a powder blue tang. I watched one for over a week and never saw a spot on it. Took it home and put it in quarantine with copper just to be safe. Kept the copper at optimal levels with a test kit. It did wonderful and ate great. Never saw one spot on it. After 5 weeks I put it in dt. Now after about a month it has white spots. So my question now is. HOW?! If everything I've been told is true, then this fish pulled off a miracle and got ich from the air. I don't want to hear about ich magnets, because if all the facts are true, then ich has to be present to get it. Any ideas? I think we as a hobby just don't really know jack s$!t about this nuisance.

 

I think its a product of "Knowing" too much, with much of it begin false information and wives tales.

 

We know very little about the ocean so the fact that we may be lacking knowledge about Ich and other parasites/diseases is understandable.The problem we face is trying to recreate a complex system. Add to that the fact that we don't even completely understand how the system actually works. K.I.S.S.


http://www.3reef.com/forums/new-hob...general-rules-successful-aquarium-126326.html

http://www.3reef.com/forums/general-reef-topics/minimum-tank-sizes-selection-animals-137158.html
Just because Ich is not visible does not mean it is not present. Ich normally likes to attach to the gills of fish and can remain dormant in the system for long periods. Ich can be attached to any substrate so any coral frag,LR, can bring it into the system.

 

Do you have any corals in your tank? Did you keep them in a fallow tank for 6 weeks before going into the DT? If a coral was put in the DT that had a cyst on it, it will find a fish when it "hatches" and start the cycle.

At least that's the theory...

 

But according to experienced hobbyists, it will not live on coral. Vinny, are you calling me stupid?! Lol. I did begin a sentence with "but", so you may be on to something. Seriously though, I would think with marine biology and scientists and labs and huge public aquariums and all, that we would know a Lil more about this stupid parasite.

 

LOL! It will not actually live on the coral but could attach to its skeleton or in most cases the LR/frag plug its attached to.
Mother Nature is a formidable adversary.;D

- Keep It Simple Smarty.LOL
p.s. You are right public aquariums and science have taught us a great deal but we are still finding things we have never seen before. Hard to put together a puzzle with missing pieces.

 

I don't worry about ich. The only time you have ich is stress mostly due to bad water quality which should never happen.

 

Depending on the species 60% of wild caught fish can carry ick in their mouth/gills/base of fins where you can't or won't see it. As a carrier you will not see symptoms until stress damages their immune system's ability to fight it off.

Ick is no big deal in a healthy system. Get your levels, make sure your introduce fish properly, feed them a healthy varried diet with vitamin supplements and you should be fine.

 

holy grammar batman^^ Anyways, you get the point.

 

Actually, nearly all wild-caught fish do carry dormant ich parasites in their gills, but you are otherwise correct, and that is how it gets into an "ich-free" system when nothing new has been introduced. Cryptocaryon irritans cannot live without a fish host, so all the myths about it being in the water, sand, or rocks, save for the very short periods of it's active life cycle, are just that- myths.