Will adding more sand to established tank produce ick?

Hi there. This is my frist fish forum and I'm glad to be here. I currentlyt have a 90 gallon fish tank up and running for about 7 months. I decided to replace the sand i had before for Carib Sea black and white sand for aesthetic purposes. I checked my water parameters and it was fine. the 3 tangs that i recently bought got ick within 24 hours. i was wondering if adding 40 pounds of live sand could have stressed them out or if i added too much at the same time? thanks for all your help

Paula

 

Welcome to 3Reef Paula!!!

Adding sand will not cause ich. You might have stressed them a bit making them more suceptible to ich but it cannot cause it. Ich is a parasite that goes through various phases. It is either in one of those phases in your tank or it isn't.



More info is here. http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/marineich.html

 

The sand might cause a small spike in ammonia, which may cause some stress which could lead to ich. I wouldn't worry though if you have an established system.

 

cool good info!