Beating the ich questions to death

[newatthis]

Yellow tang is rubbing every now and then and letting the cleaner shrimp clean him. I see no ich spots nor have I ever, but the hippo tang died of it. I removed the hippo tangf before it died and put it in hospital tank. I am contemplating treating the fish but I dont know if I should wait and see what happens. What do ya'll think???

[leebca]

The most prevalent place that the Marine Ich parasite (Cryptocaryon irritans) first attacks the fish is in its gills. This makes both reasonable and actual sense. The free swimming stage of this parasite is looking to attach itself to a fish. What area of the fish is most exposed to the water that carries the infecting parasite? The gills. Water is passed over the gills much more than water 'touches' the surface of the fish. So the gills are usually the first infected target.

Before the disease becomes visible to us humans, the fish shows signs of irritation and trouble from the infection. I'd say your tang has a very high probability of being infected. It is tortuous for the fish to have to suffer with the disease.

In general, when one fish shows signs of a Marine Ich infection, the aquarist should believe that the fish in that tank are either carrying the parasite or are infected with it.

Before more deaths occur, the best procedure is to move all fish to a hospital tank and treat them as if they were infected. Let the tank go fishless for at least 8 weeks before moving the cured fish back in.

[charlesr1958]

I agree, far to often I see it suggested that this parasite is just something we should allow the fish to live with and just ignore it. And as with everything involving our pets and their life support sysems, we will always do better by them knowing the facts and not relying upon rumors and just flat out myths. Hopefully this link will allow you to "know thy enemy".

Marine Ich

Chuck