Any advice for ich? Letting the tank lie fallow did not work.

[mcl88]

Hello, I have:
1 Lemon Butterflyfish
2 (very small) Ocellaris Clownfish
1 Purple Firefish
1 Bicolor Blenny
1 Lawnmower Blenny
1 Coral Beauty Angel
6 (very small) Blue-Green Chromis
2 Cleaner Shrimp
Various crabs and snails

75 gallon FOWLR tank with 30 gallon sump

My Butterflyfish keeps displaying what appears to be ich. Following the advice I found online, I tore apart my live rocks, caught all the fish, and quarantined them with copper. I let the tank lie fallow for five and a half weeks. I know the copper levels were right, because I had a test kit, and because the fish did not display signs of ich for their duration in quarantine. I returned them to the display several days ago. Is this a secondary infection? Or am I so unlucky that the ich did not hatch until after I returned the fish? This all makes me very tired. I feel tempted to just use garlic and leave it to survival of the fittest...

[leebca]

From the information provided, there are two things that are questionable or just not recommended.

1. The fallow time is a full 8 weeks. Marine Ich can live easily in the aquarium, without fish, for up to 6 weeks, without a problem.

2. After treatment (all copper is removed to where none is detectable by the test kit and water changes continue every other day), all fish need to be held in quarantine for at least 4 more weeks to verify the treatment worked.

The above works more than 99.9% of the time.

[mcl88]

It is dismaying to know that so many websites insisted 4 weeks were sufficient. I cannot fathom removing the fish and rocks again, just to possibly fail again. I read that there have been some cases of ich that last up to a year - where will it end? I am tempted to remove the rocks and invertibrae and create a fish only (and much more easily treatable) tank.

[Carissa]

Does heat kill marine ich?

[Trickster]

no heat dose not kill it.

The Marine Ich Epidemic « Joe Jaworski’s Weblog

[leebca]

Like most micro organisms there is an upper limit to how much heat they can stand. In the case of Marine Ich, some have been found to survive at 85F. It is believed that most will die at 95F. However, this would be after most of the fish have died, too.

Heat is one area where Marine Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans) and freshwater ich (Ichthyophthirius multifilis) get the hobbyists confused. Freshwater ich can be 'killed' by raising the temperature high enough and yet those temperatures are not dangerous to many of the freshwater fishes. Heat also accelerates the life cycle of freshwater ich, quite a bit. Heat also accelerates the life cycle of Marine Ich, but not by very much. At least, not enough to really help in its treatment. However, it is important to keep the display system at its normal tropical temperature while the system goes fishless.

[Carissa]

I found a source that says that freshwater ich will die at 86 degrees. However it didn't work in my case, I ended up quarantining and treating the affected fish with formalin which did the trick and I never did have to treat the whole tank. Apparently the other fish were immune to it.

That above link is very informative.

Something was confusing though. If a tank has fish in it and none of them show any signs of ich for 30 days, does that mean the tank is most likely ich free? Or can the fish be hosting it with no symptoms? Also, how long does a fish have to be symptom free before you can be sure it no longer has any parasites attached? In other words how long do they live on the fish? I know with freshwater ich it's usually a matter of a week or less, once they drop off, if the fish isn't reinfected with free swimming parasites, it's over with.

[leebca]

Please read and study this post: Marine Ich - Myths and Facts

I seem to keep getting questions posted that are answered in that post.

Apparently the other fish were immune to it.

Not likely. Fish immunity is not what you think.

If a tank has fish in it and none of them show any signs of ich for 30 days, does that mean the tank is most likely ich free?

No.

Or can the fish be hosting it with no symptoms?

Symptoms are usually there, but the hobbyist doesn't recognize them. Sometimes (very rarely) the symptoms are so subtle they seem to be totally absent.

Also, how long does a fish have to be symptom free before you can be sure it no longer has any parasites attached?

About 6 weeks -- IF you know what to look for.This is not 'in other words.' Two different questions. The parasite can live on the fish for as long as the parasite is able to reinfect or about 1 year if no new parasites are introduced.

I know with freshwater ich. . .

Stop comparing the two. They are very different and just share a mis-name and the white spot. Get the facts on Marine Ich and stick with just that information.

[Carissa]

Ok so ich can be going through it's cycle continuously without any noticeable white spots on any of the fish? Kind of scary.

[leebca]

Humans, with the unaided eye, can only see one (sometimes very) brief part of the life cycle and that is when they make the white spot. That is when they are getting 'pregnant' sort of and ready to move on to another stage. BUT this part can occur in the gills, hidden from the eye.

The only way to be sure is to perform: skin scrapings, fin clips, and gill clips and look at them under a microscope.

EVERY SINGLE TIME someone tells me they had Marine Ich in their tank but now it's 'gone away' because they see no spots, AND I examine skin scrapings, fin clips, and gill clips, I can find the parasite still on the fish. It just doesn't go away on its own.

Hobbyists with fishes plagued by this disease are very willing to bury their heads rather than do the work to cure their fishes.