Yet another Ich Question!

For those of you who didn't see my previous thread on my lionfish with possible ich..I had an outbreak..let my tank sit fallow for 6 weeks then got a small volitan lionfish..a week and a half after adding him i noticed a few ich spots..I began soaking his food in garlic and have not seen any other signs since then (about 2.5 weeks) so i'm guessing he developed some sort of an immunity (knocking on wood hard!).

My question is:

If I ever wanted to get anything in the future would they be guaranteed ich?Can the parasites still feed on him and reproduce? or will they slowly die off?

Thanks,
Ivan

 

ich is caused by stress no store can guarentee a fish not to get ich in your tank. as i understand it ich is always there lil parasites. just keep your fish happy and healthy the best u can

 

Ich can be there even if you don't see it. There's lots of articles out there, but basically parasite goes on fish, digs itself and feeds, drops off (so you can't see it), festers for a little while making couple hundreds babies, then releases them baby swimmers to find yet another host. So, to answer your questions:

1) Not guaranteed, but good chance, especially if other fishes in the tank at the LFS show signs. That's why you should QT for couple weeks (ich cycle is like 4wks or something).

2) Once there on him, they're eating! They'll reproduce once they're nice and full and decided to drop off the fish.

3) Only way they'll die off is if they can't find a host, like your lionfish. You can take matters into you own hands and treat with meds like copper or Hyposalinity (both will kill inverts) in a QT tank.

 

+1

The best way to prevent ich in your display tank is to QT your new animals for a period of 6 weeks. If nothing else is in the tank use hypo salinity for a natural method, and then introduce them. Doing this will interrupt the life cycle of the ich so that they die off (will cause the free floating newborns to burst). Keep in mind you can have your fish in there for six weeks, and they show no signs, so you need to treat it. It would be quite bad to introduce your new fish after quarantine, to your display and then all of a sudden you've got the parasite. It’s an invisible (to our naked eyes) insidious parasite, don't risk it. For the record I've never been at a LFS that didn't show signs of ich. So if you buy anything from a store like that (unless they are the exception to the rule), QT them first.

This is an expensive hobby and to be quite frank, the risk of harming your other fish isn't worth it. Quarantine! A few days worth of prevention is better than a cure

-G

P.S. Check out http://www.chucksaddiction.com/ich.html for some good info on ich and the dispelling of a few myths about it.

 

that's all great info..but i don't think i asked my question right..or didn't include enough information...i'll go back in time a little bit..my tank had a major ich outbreak..took all my fish..let tank sit fallow for 6 week..on week 3 of fallowness i got the lionfish..qt'd him for remaining 3 weeks...no signs of ich..put him in the tank..and he got ich..BUT..it wasn't too bad and I think he fought it off himself..he's been spot free for around 3 weeks and has been very lively and happy (from what i can tell...his face always looks grumpy!).

So..if my lionfish DID build up some sort of immunity..would this mean that the parasites can no longer feed off him? or that he just doesn't really care anymore..if he just doesn't care that they're feeding on him..then any newly introduced fish would be infected..but if they can no longer feed off of him..then they will starve after 6-7 weeks..so i guess my overall question is..what is the definition of "ich immunity"??

I apologize if this makes no sense at all lol

 

I read this article on another forum which basically says that a fish can be immune, but can lose the immunity over time or if the fish is stressed making them vulnerable. Not sure what the rules are about posting links from other forums, but the info is really good as this person has written many forum articles which I've found to be very intersting and informative. PM me and I'll fwd you the link unless a moderator tells me it's all right to post.

Also, there still might be ich which you can't see, like in his gills and what not. I guess just monitor and hopefully they won't attach to him and will die off. Good luck!