Ick cycle???

[SLAYCHILD]

My fish have ick but I no longer have the fish in the tank. How long should I wait tell I add new fish to the tank?

[Reef69]

You got PM..

[hobogato]

your tank is really never free of ick. best bet is to get a cleaner shrimp and make sure to keep control of watet perameters. keep the infected fish eating even if you have to use garlic to stimulate the feeding response. an ick outbreak is usually a result of stress of some kind.

[Grace]

Are you treating the tank with anything? is it a reef tank? If not, put it through a copper cycle and that'll help kill them off. Unfortunately though Ich will always be in the tank, think of it as the common cold for fish. If they get stressed out, they'll get it easily. I'd personally look at your fish to see who's picking on whom. Did the ich break out when you added a fish? Perhaps that fish was so stressed out in the new environment they got ich first and stressed the other fish.

[Reef69]

Uh..that "Ich is always present in the tank" is a fairy tale..*If fish that are free from ich are added to an aquarium that is free from ich, the aquarium will stay free from ich and be an exception to ich always being present. (Ich must be introduced to a tank.. Ich is NOT always present in the tank.)

[Grace]

as soon as you present fish, you have possibilities to the ich, right? So wouldn't that make my statement true, given you always have fish in the tank?

[Reef69]

If fish that are free from ich are added to an aquarium that is free from ich, the aquarium will stay free from ich and be an exception to ich always being present. (Ich must be introduced to a tank.. Ich is NOT always present in the tank.)

:mellow

[hobogato]

well, diego if you can assume that the fish you introduce dont have ich at all - visible or just carriers. the only way to do that is to quarantine them for a couple of weeks, which most people dont do - i know we all should. it is possible tho, for someone to buy a fish that looks like it does not have ich and introduce it to a tank where the other fish dont appear to have ich, and then some of the fish or all get an outbreak. remember, our tanks have live rock and lots of other living things. you could buy a coral from a fish store that has fish in another tank on the same system and introduce ich inderectly from the water in or on the coral. obviously, it has to come from somewhere, but the fact is, in a tank where it is impossible to quarantine every thing out, it is just smarter to prepare for the problem than to say it wont ever happen - no matter how carefull you are.

[SLAYCHILD]

No guys. What im saying is the fish I have in my tank all died from Ick. There are no more fish in my tank so I guess the ick are just swimming around trying to find a host, But there is no host to be found. How long do i have to wait tell all the ick dies, so I can add new fish?

[hobogato]

my point exactly - your tank will always have the possibility of infecting fish you add. fish you add may already have it as well. most fish can overcome it an do fine if you keep your water perameters good and keep them eating. cleaner shrimp will help the fish fight off the ich on their own without medication.

EDIT: I have been doing freshwater and saltwater for many years now and tried all kinds of remedies for ich from kick ich in a reef tank to copper and hyposalinity in a QT tank and even if the fish got better, there was ALWAYS reinfection if new fish were added or other parameters fluctuated too much. the most success i have had bar none is letting the fish fight it off with the help of cleaner shrimp.

[Reef69]

What im saying is that ich is not a free swimming parasite who lives in our tanks like one more inhabitant..LOL..

[hobogato]

actually, it is a free swimming parasite at some stages of its life cycle and can stay dormant (not visible in fish) for quite a long time. some sources reccommend a QT of even healthy fish for at least a month to ensure they dont have it and even then some fish can carry it without showing symptoms.

[Reef69]

Ich 101- C. irritans has a four stage life cycle..The parasitic stage (theronts) is the one that results in the appearance of white spots all over the fish. The theronts burrow under the skin where they feed on body fluids and tissue debris. When the theronts first infect the fish they are small but grow as they feed and so the white spots are initially small but get larger as they mature. Once mature, they drop off the fish and sink/swim down to the substrate where they encyst and begin to reproduce. In this stage they are called tomonts. After a number of days in which the tomonts divide, the cyst ruptures, releasing the tomites. Tomites may differentiate into theronts, the infective stage, which actively seek a host to reinfect...See how it works??..

SLAY-As far as how long your tank needs to be free of fish..I have NO clue..theres tons of myths flying around..im sure someone will pop in and tell you "6 weeks.." , "feed garlic!"..lol

[SLAYCHILD]

We all know that Ick leave there host and falls in the sand, right? Then leaves the sand to host another fish, right? Now, if there is no more fish in the tank to host the ick float around. Ive heard that they float around untill they die. How long does this take? See even if you take out all the fish in your tank and treat them with copper and all is good with them. The tank you tok them out of still has free floating ick in it. How long do you wait tell you put your fish back in?

[SLAYCHILD]

I dont have fish to feed garlic to, lol

[SLAYCHILD]

I heard 30 days, im not to sure. Thanks guys

[hobogato]

i know. the tomites are free swimming.

the garlic thing - supposed to help stimulate a fishes appetite - never tried it.

going on past success, make sure your water quality is good and if your fish get ich when you add them, make sure they are eating - sometimes feed small ammounts 2-3 times a day and a cleaner shrimp or fire shrimp is helpfull.

you can get cleaner wrasses and some other fish that will clean like candy hogfish and coris wrasse, but they tend to end up in overflows and die. also, if you dont have enough fish for them, cleaner wrasses can starve bc they usually dont eat other food.

as already stated, ich can appear in fish or tanks that didnt previously show signs because of some stress to the fish which lowers their immune response.

[hobogato]

yep. a thick white mucus that covers the spot where the tomites burrow into fishes skin.

[SLAYCHILD]

Well I plain on gettin gmy new fish from CB pets cause they QT all there fish. Thanks Ace. So you think all this is funny Mr Jackson. Love your tank man!!!

[Reef69]

Nah, i more of a liability than anything else..LMAO!!.I dont know anything..

My response for future ich cases is gonna be .."Feed it and hope for the best..IMO, you are fcuked"..LOL

SLAY- I guess leave it alone for a long time..

[Reef69]

Just 1 last note...

Cleaner wrasses..*feed mainly on the larvae of gnatid isopods throughout its life, and C. irritans theronts were never found in it's diet. Fish remain infected with theronts despite the presence of cleaner wrasse, and even the cleaner wrasse may become infected . :shades ..PEACE!

[hobogato]

found this in the article linked below.


The tank must be fully through the Break-In Period and be of sufficient size to accommodate all the fish from the main tank for a month or longer. This is important because even a fish that appears to be uninfected might well harbor the parasites, allowing them to continue their life cycle. The cured fish will almost certainly become re-infected once they are put back into the original tank if the parasites are still present in quantity. The only way to be certain that an uncoppered tank is ich-free is if it has also been fish-free long enough for all the parasites to have become swarmers and starved before finding a host. In theory, this should be about 14 days, but this has not always been sufficient, so I'd recommend at least 28 days.


article (http://www.bestfish.com/copper.html)

[hobogato]

Just 1 last note...

Cleaner wrasses..*feed mainly on the larvae of gnatid isopods throughout its life, and C. irritans theronts were never found in it's diet. Fish remain infected with theronts despite the presence of cleaner wrasse, and even the cleaner wrasse may become infected . :shades ..PEACE!

thanks ;) never tried one myself, just heard they were an option if you couldnt have cleaner shrimp. :)

[SLAYCHILD]

Thank you Ace!!

[Reef69]

Ah there it is...28 days Slay..i knew the magical amount of days would pop up..So, in "theory", you need to leave your tank fish free for 28 days..

[fishcrazy]

4 to 6 weeks! That should be enough time for all the parasite to die from being hostless.

[Reef69]

Speaking of which..How is your tank doing after that ich meltdown Sean??