OK, I'm confused again ....

[OhNoNemo]

The common cold is unavoidable,unless you live in a bubble.Our fish in a sense do live in a bubble.Why not provide them with the a nice ich free bubble,it is avoidable.Thats my whole point.I've had an ich free tank 3+ years,and well you know the story by now.To me its like playing russian roulette.To each his own.There is far too much info on this out there to just listen to a select few people on a forum.I'm just trying to share this info.Thanks to those who gave helpful info aswell, Later.......

 

[Reefrookie]

Your correct, there is far more info out there, but the bottom line is the same.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1775314

Like you said. to each his own. Good luck with your tank

 

[Bifferwine]

A good point was brought up in that thread:

every time you put any water from an infected aquarium in your display tank, you may be introducing the host-free stage of the parasite. This water could be on your new corals, chaeto, live rock, or the sand you use to "seed" a new sandbed.

Most people don't QT their fish. More than most people don't QT their corals, or their chaeto, or their snails. So it stands to reason, in my opinion, that it should be assumed that just about anything we buy could be a vector for the parasite.

If you wanted to be 100% safe you would quarantine everything wet, but just taking care of the fish should prevent probably 90% of introductions.

about 95% of tomonts (that's a real percentage) excyst within 10 days, so if you can get a week and a half of isolation from fish, there's only about a 5% chance of introducing ich from rock, inverts, or algae

Good luck completely eradicating ich! Even quarantining fish is no guarantee; there's still a chance it can get introduced into your tank from everything else -- and you cannot treat inverts, corals, sand, or live rock with hypo salinity or copper.

 

[Navarchus]

Im my experience healthy fish don't get ich. The only time I had a fish die of ich was when I put a powder blue tang in my 55 gallon 10 days after it cycled. That was my first tank, my first fish, and the fist day I decided to read "The Contientious Aquarist" and learn how to keep fish healthy.

I have since had fish purchased from the LFS that present ich-like spots, but they always go away and never come back (knock on wood). In my opinion, getting a cleaner shrimp to counter ich is not as effective as figuring out why that fish is so stressed out in the first place.

 

[dcantucson]

I can understand your frustration OhNoNemo. I have felt the same way when I lost fish I loved to ick too. I would eradicate all signs of it in my system too if I thought it was a possibility, but I believe it would almost be impossible as others have pointed out.

 

[cthegame]

ich = stress and stress = ich, avoid stress, and you will not have a problem.

Tank maturity, water changes (no tap ever), skimmer, quality foods, plenty of swimming space and territories, proper lighting, testing the water and good fish selection are way of avoiding stress. Keep the fish happy and ich will have no chance. :Cheers:

 

[OhNoNemo]

There are other reasons to QT other than ich prevention(not impossible).There are 2 sides to this coin and good points on both sides.In the end, you will never convince me not to QT and i will never convince you to QT.Its been fun,i'm throwing in the towel,i can't say anymore than whats already been said.Later.....

 

[OhNoNemo]

I'm sorry but one more thing.I feel some of you are assuming i do not have good water or only feed my fish flake,or stress my tank out somehow.Trurh is i have done 2 tank transfers(stressful,yes),put new fish in(after QT),and no outbreak,because it was never there to begin with.As someone said early,you can chase your fish with a net and stress him out,he won't get ich if its not present.

 

[Navarchus]

I agree with ohnonemo that there are ups and downs to both QT and non QT, and that people tend to have strong beliefs one way or the other. Like I have said before, this hobby is 60% science, 20%luck and 20% superstition.

If QT works for you, then by all means keep doing it. To be quite honest, I have no idea why my fish don't have ich. I just assume it is because they are happy. That said, I would not be at all surprised if there was suddenly an outbreak. But, I wouldn't be surprised if I got an oubreak even after religiously QTing everything. It is like algae, diatoms, and copepods. Where they hell does this stuff come from? It just seems omnipresent.

 

[Reefrookie]

I agree with ohnonemo that there are ups and downs to both QT and non QT, and that people tend to have strong beliefs one way or the other. Like I have said before, this hobby is 60% science, 20%luck and 20% superstition.

So does everyone else. The point is if you choose to QT everything great, if you choose to not QT everything great again. Some would rather supplement the fish diet with vitamins and garlic to strengthen the fish immune systems and some would rather try to eradicate ick from their tank completely. Bottom line is healthy fish are happy fish. How you choose to get there is up to you

No insinuated he had bad water quality or misfeed the tank, or has bad fish keeping habits

I like your breakdown on our hobby. I would say it's 60% science, 30%research and 10%common sense

I'm done with this thread, like I said befor good luck with your tank OhNoNemo