Marine Ich immunity ?

hi guys ! my diagnosis about my maroon clownfish's marine ich was correct , thank god! he's in his third day of hyposalinity now ( 12ppt salinity ) and recovering well =)
he had a blue fiji damsel tankmate before when he first started showing signs of marine ich. after he starting flashing but no white spots yet, i bought a new tank and moved the damsel to that tank, and the old tank became a QT tank. right now i'm worried that the damsel has the parasites on him too! tho he's showing no signs yet. Is the clownfish going to be immune to the ich after i move him to the main tank? ( assuming the main tank has ich )

i can't afford another QT tank for the damsel
i'm afraid all my efforts to keep the clownfish healthy will be for nothing!

 

Ick is not CHICKEN POX where you get it and then forget about it. Fish can somewhat be resistant to it, for a variety of reasons but I have never heard/seen or otherwise a fish that was immune.
Many fish are naturally resistant, fish that are really slimey, many gobies, hawkfish, royal grammas, mandarins and a few others. Not saying that they can't or won't get them it means they are more resistant to it esp milder cases. Obviously there is an opposite side, fish that are predisposed to it, tangs, angelfish and butterflies can get it just by you looking at them wrong.

Fish can also be resistant if they are REALLY healthy. Lets say you have a community and one fish is just always eating, fat and happy. He is most likely going to avoid the ick if you tank gets it than that one fish that never quite eats enough or gets picked on.

Also, some fish in their course from ocean to your house get ick SO MANY times that they get resistant to it, not immune but resistant. AND NO I am not talking about getting it once, I mean gettin ick and getting cured at just about every stop. Granted the fish needs to be in good health and feed well but I have seen it happen.

If you think you have ick in the main tank, putting the fish in the DT they will most likely get it again, ick will not just go away as once commonly thought.... another marine misconception, ick WILL go DORMANT and potentially infect the tank again once the fish are added. I would recommend some course of treatment on the DT or do many AGGRESIVE water changes on the tank, both in frequency and volume!!!

Good luck!

 

+1

Also consider leaving you fish in the QT in hypo for a period of six weeks. After such time any ich in your DT will have died off from starvation. No ich in the DT and no ich in your QT = permanent ich removal! How big is your QT tank by the way? You mentioned you couldn't get another, so I was curious as to why you didn't just treat both fish at the same time in hypo. As even for a few weeks, a small aquarium wont hurt the fish logn term, you just need to focus on the water chemistry a little more for the period of treatment.

Good Luck,
Gavin

 

After such time any ich in your DT will have died off from starvation

So, Gopherboy, not to bust your chops but you didn't read what I wrote huh?

If you think you have ick in the main tank, putting the fish in the DT they will most likely get it again, ick will not just go away as once commonly thought.... another marine misconception, ick WILL go DORMANT and potentially infect the tank again once the fish are added. I would recommend some course of treatment on the DT or do many AGGRESIVE water changes on the tank, both in frequency and volume!!!

 

Ohh I read it.... but alas read it the wrong way and henforth got the wrong interpretation. My bad. Wouldn't have given you a +1 if I didn't agree though

 

I know, just messing with you.... I have seen way too many ick infested fish over the last few years.... Between working a LFS and reading every new article on parasites you start to dream about them!!

No, in all reality, the consensus amongst the "big" names in the industry is, ick WILL go dormant if no fish is present, it will NOT DIE on its own. There is a way to fake the ick into thinking there is fish in the tank causing them to stay out of dormancy and essentially starving them.
You would need to add a cup or more of water from a tank that HAS fish into the fishless DT. The pheremones and proteins the fish give off will trick the ick into thinking that fish are still in the tank causing them to look for the host, after a while of no fish the ick will THEN die off.

Good luck all!

 

Maybe they should bottle that stuff and call it "Trick Ick" LOL

 

Hey, I have that patent pending!!

 

I have naming rights!!!!!

 

That's a GOOD idea! That probably explains why after just letting my tank sit for 6 weeks I still had ich when i decided to add a new fish..