Quote:
Originally Posted by Riteoff
^^^ that is impressive QT practices, i wish i was that disciplined.
I have been reefing now for 2 years and figured id ad my opinion to the millions already on the net. I have had more than my fair share of ich outbreaks and always with tangs.
My first outbreak was caused by a 2yr old Hippo tang i acquired from a local reefer who had a world known tank until he tore it down. The tang was in my tank for 1 day when the ich spots showed, within 1 day after that my Powder blue was covered. With only a 10 gallon on hand i put the PBT into QT. 2 weeks into that poor water quality killed him.
The next bad case i found was a very well sorted local store with the sexiest, largest(6.5")long black nose tang ive ever seen. So covered in spots i figured he would be dead in a week. After he was moved to a quieter tank in the store he has now been spot free for 1 month and has never looked better.
I also have a recent PBT come down with ich 2 days into the DT. I moved and dropped the salinity slowly to 1.011 hoping i could save him. Within 1 week he was spot free, still eating well and his colours started to really pop! I kept up with the low salinity, water checks and good diet only to wake up to a completely covered fish 2 days ago(roughly 2.5-3 weeks into treatment). I have decided i will start to slowly raise the salinity and bring him back into the DT.
Im seriously starting to believe that ich is a lot more complicated and misunderstood than i previously figured. Ive done so much reading on ich over the last month i swear i have it! But after all the readings and watching of fish contract, lose it, get it, lose it for months i truley believe every tank has ich to some degree or another, like the flu that kills thousands of people every "season" if i a fish has the will to live it will. I find it hard to believe that only certain fish have immunity and others will die on contact. More than likely every fish that dies or tank wiped out other factors are to blame or hinder the fishes natural defence. I also think that in small controlled doses healthy fish of all species will develop a tolerance and or immunity.
I will start to QT all new fish as i found it helps adjust them to feeding, noise and handling etc, but if ich can survive hidden in the gills, 6+ months in a QT tank aint saving my display babies.
I would also like to ask anyone with a tang stocked tank who has never had a case of ich please, chase a fish around the tank with a net, stir up your sand, drop your temp 5deg in 1hr and let me know what happens. I think that would be a great test and shouldnt put any thriving fish to harm
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Ich has life cycles its not that it hides in gills but in the water and sand it attaches to the fish then reproduces and then the cycle starts over the parasite is smart and will learn your light cycle and will actually jump off the fish before the lights come on and go back after they shut off. So you may not see it during the day.
It takes about 4 to 6 weeks in a fishless tank to totally die off. It serves no purpose really to QT a fish that is going into a tank with fish that have never been QTed. You either do it right or don't do it at all IMO