So let's say you start off with brand new rock from BRS. Then you buy brand new sand from your LFS. You filter your water through a good ro/di device. You get the tank to cycle and everything is looking good. You have a good UV sterilizer and skimmer. You add a tang from a reputable LFS. In a week he has ick. This is not my scenerio but can it happen? Does the tang carry the disease with him and shows up if the conditions are right? Where does it come from? Just curious.
Where does Ick come from?
- Thread starter holabird
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In this scenario, the tang had the disease before you got him at the LFS and was likely just waiting for the right amount of stress before getting a full blown infection.
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Dante wrote about it in the 7th circle of Hell...
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Not necessarily, but the fish from the store had already been exposed/infected with it prior to capture or from exposure to other fish during the collection/warehousing/shipping/display process. Once it makes its way to your tank I dont know if its EVER gone. So many debates on the topic its not even funny. Some say its always present... others disagree.
In my case I had a hippo tang for 3 years and had never had ich for any of my 5 years in the hobby... moved him from my old tank to the new one and had to put him in a small holding area for the time being... he developed ich without any new additions to the tank livestock-wise. Same rock, new livesand from caribsea.
There's just no telling.
I have found that when the sand is significantly disturbed my fish (especially may Tang) picks up Ich. I think it gets air borne in the water column, therefore that would explain the fish with Ich in a new Tank.
i added new sand to my Tank and again, my Tang picked up a bit of Ich. Kept feeding and running the UV and it went away after about a week. I don't know if I would attribute it to stress, but the addition/disturbance of the sand bed seems to do it every time.
i added new sand to my Tank and again, my Tang picked up a bit of Ich. Kept feeding and running the UV and it went away after about a week. I don't know if I would attribute it to stress, but the addition/disturbance of the sand bed seems to do it every time.
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Educate me Dave!!
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You will hear that it is always present from hobbyist that did not quaratine everything or introduced it with a frag substrate or water from the bag or in some way that was not controlled. You will not hear that it is always present from the researchers who have studied the life cycle of the parasite. They will tell you that the system must lay dormant (without a host) for at least 4 weeks and more. You will have to figure out the most credible source.
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One of the books I actually DID read in my senior year of high school.... Fantastic read - I highly recommend it!
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http://atj.net.au/marineaquaria/marineich.html">http://atj.net.au/marineaquaria/marineich.html</a>
4 generalized scenarios:
1) never have ich through systems or luck.....never get it....
2) your fish get ich and it destroys inhabitants
3) get ich and some may die, but most fish are kept at a very healthy level that they fight it off and build immunity
4) get ich, but you completly get rid of it completely....
that's why some people say you always have it, beacuse some actually do.....
4 generalized scenarios:
1) never have ich through systems or luck.....never get it....
2) your fish get ich and it destroys inhabitants
3) get ich and some may die, but most fish are kept at a very healthy level that they fight it off and build immunity
4) get ich, but you completly get rid of it completely....
that's why some people say you always have it, beacuse some actually do.....
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The fallow tank is only useful if the reintroduced livestock is free of the parasite. I guess it all depends on whether we are saying a FISH is free of ich or a TANK is free of ich.
This is a parasite we are talking about, and it's a parasite that doesn't always have physical symptoms. So, people who state they "always present" and it just flares up typically have infected, non symptomatic fish.
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