After opinions on marine ICH

[Lesely]

Hi all,
Just after some opinions here. We recently added a baby blue hippo tang (no we don't have a quarantine tank). I know we should so I am not after people telling me how wrong I was because I know !
What I want to know is that the lfs we bought it from wanted us to spend a lot of money on a product called Medic, supposed to be reef safe etc.
We spoke to an old timer in reefing and he said that we should not worry about it too much and if we had a good system and a strong fish we would be fine.
We went with the old timer, over the next 2 weeks 3 other established fish also showed signs of ich, we didn't panic and spoke to him again. Again he said it was to be expected and to not worry, unless you had an unstable system and stressed fish they would do fine.
Well it is now 3 months on and none of the fish have any signs of spots, are eating well, seem incredibly healthy and we lost none of our fish at all. All symptoms are gone
What are peoples thoughts on this old timers way, he said they didn't used to quarantine or have reef safe medication 30 yrs ago and that's just what everyone did.
I have to say I think he is right ??
Very interested in other peoples thoughts on this ?
He did say that the ich will still be present in the tank but should only ever flair its ugly head when fish are stressed or not well in the first place. And if you keep a steady happy tank it would be unlikely to show up again.
He also said that the 4 fish that had ich may now have some type of immunity to it and if they were to get it again they would not get it so badly if at all ?
thoughts please ?

 

[bjohanson1234]

I personally don't QT my fish. I don't have the resources or space to run one. If you keep the tank a bit understocked, and the fish compatible with the others, the ich *should* not be an issue.
From my experience, Reef Safe ich meds don't work as advertised. If you need to treat, you should set up a separate hospital tank.

 

[emmett0122]

+1 to bjohnson and the old timer is right once you get ich in your tank it will always be in your tank unless you remove all the fish from your tank for 8 week. if you have not read it here is a very good write up on ich https://www.livingreefs.com/threads/oh-no-i-have-ich-what-do-i-do.30950/

 

[Lesely]

So why then does everyone tell you that it will kill your whole tank, if not TREATED. Is it just the lfs wanting to make tons of dollars on medications. There always seems to be such a panic about it, and as I have said we now have no fish infected although i understand it is still in the tank ?

 

[emmett0122]

pretty much its all about the lfs wanting the to make a buck a healthy and happy tank and healthy and happy fish its all good. i have found the less i do with and the more i let it just do its own thing the better it does. but im glade you were able to to beat the ich with out any lose. and you have a good looking tank as well

 

[Lesely]

Thank you, There is still so much to learn, I am just trying to keep parameters stable and good and all creatures happy. We are very lucky we had no crashes after the move and everything has been stable since.
thanks

 

[emmett0122]

this is a hobby that i dont think you will ever stop learning and glad to hear everything went well with your move.

 

[kbuser92]

I've never had ich in fresh or saltwater. I even have 2 overstocked fresh water tanks right now. But I feed a high quality diet that meets the needs of each type of fish (i don't do that whole mixed food for the whole tank crap) and its almost all frozen. I also make sure everything is compatible and watch for aggression. I drip acclimate everything, even clowns and tetras. I'm not saying I'm magic, but by taking every step short of qt, I've successfully avoided ich.

 

[emmett0122]

i have never qt'ed anything and KNOCK ON WOOD i have never had ich either. but it can happen at anytime and as far as fresh water fish fish dont stress as easy as saltwater fish. the best thing i can say is know where you buy your fish and know how they take care of there tanks. but ich is one of those things that you may never know when it got in your tank and how but it can happen to anyone at anytime and it doesnt matter what you do unless you qt everything you get and even then there is no guarantee. i just feel lucky that i havent got it yet.

 

[Lesely]

Thanks all for you input, much appreciated. I am wondering if ich was living in the tank before we moved it because he had a powder blue tang that had a severe case of it before we bought the tank ? Never thought of that before. Can it live in the sand etc and survive a move i wonder ?

 

[emmett0122]

i would say yes once it is in the tank it stays unless you remove all the fish for 8 weeks

 

[kbuser92]

O realize freshwater fish are hardier, however I've seen it happen many times before. And yes, there are a few weeks of the lire cycle that it can live without a host. I don't remember the specifics, but read that article. The consensus is if you want to get rid of it, you HAVE to remove all fish for 8-12 weeks and treat them and any new additions or it will come back at some point.