[weez1959]

I was at my LFS yesterday for mysis and I decided to just check out his stock. Anyways, in one of his 6' dDT's he had 3 large (5") tangs, one hippo, one sailfin and I forget the other. The blue hippo was covered in ich so I asked why he didn't have him in the back QT's to treat him???
The answer: MOST of the time it goes away by itself!!!

Why would he say that? He knows I've been at this for over a year now. I didn't want to argue so I just changed the subject paid for the mysis and left.

[Poseidon]

I usually don't treat for a minor outbreak, but for a fish to be covered in it, and then to say it goes away by itself.... Sounds like a good store to ONLY buy from when you HAVE TO, and NOT listen too!

[leebca]

I thought I had posted a reply a few hours ago. It wouldn't be the first time I closed the window before clicking the SUBMIT REPLY button!

It could be that the LFS is thinking, 'If the fish sells, or it dies, then it does go away.'

Many LFSs nowadays put copper into their fish system. Your LFS could be doing this and not saying such. In this sense, it would 'go away.'

Otherwise, I couldn't explain their statement.

[weez1959]

Originally Posted by leebca

It could be that the LFS is thinking, 'If the fish sells, or it dies, then it does go away.'

He doesn't have copper in all his tanks and the tank with the ich is one of them. That's his display and it's full of coral. His copper tanks are in the back and he only keeps the new fish there until they start to eat. I'm going over there today for some DT's oyster eggs, I'll let you know how the fish are doing.

Also I remembered something after I posted. My mom has fresh water fish and years ago when neither one of us knew anything about fish diseases, she had bought 12 neon tetras all at once and popped them in her tank. She told me a couple had little white specs on them and they slowly died one by one until only two remained. She had the remaining 2 tetras for a year or two (can't really remember how long exactly) with no ich. Maybe that's what he meant by "goes away all by itself" He just forgot to mention that most of the fish die while it's going away
So why did 2 survive anyways?

[leebca]

When it comes to immunity, fish are between the invertebrates and the land vertebrates as far as complexity and effectiveness.

Two fish managed to survive from their ability to gear up their immune system fast enough before the parasite killed them. It's the 'luck of the draw' although technically, it is based upon energy reserve, physiology, genetics, and other stressors (real and perceived).

It is because of this trait that some marine hobbyists claim that the product they added to the tank 'cured' their fish. What really happened is that the disease killed those it could and the rest geared up their immunity fast enough to survive. Unfortunately the credit is given the false product. The second unfortunate is that the disease is still in the tank, waiting for the introduction of another fish that isn't able to resist. Then, the parasite blooms and may even kill the fish that was in the tank and/or the new one. Why you may ask? Being a 'little sick' weakens the fish over the long haul and given any opportunity, the parasite may get the upper-hand.

Even though a fish may have immunity, the fish immunity is poor and may hold the parasite at bay and not either kill the parasite nor allow the parasite to kill the fish. A 'stand-off' of sorts. But the fish is constantly being stressed. This is a 'surviving fish' rather than a 'thriving fish' even though it gives the appearance of being fit.

It's scenarios like the above that create much of my 'work on the Internet.'

[weez1959]

So I looked at his 3 tangs, (the third one is a Kole tang) and they are all lightly dusted at this point, I'm going to check back once in a while to see if they survive or if "it goes away" They are the only fish in this tank so it won't be hard to keep track of...

[weez1959]

update on the disapearing ich...
The kole tang's fins are sowly being eaten away by something, probably some sort of infection or whatever and nw looks blotchy, the other 2 strangely don't look too bad but then again, I'm not there everyday...