Quote:
Originally Posted by THEDLO
what other parasites manifest similarly to cyrpt? you've said this several times can we get a comparison pic showing the difference. thanks
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It just seems, to many hobbyists, like every white speck is ich. Other, (non-lethal) parasites, small wounds, infections, even tiny bits of substrate, have been mistaken for ich. I really don't know what the answer is; but IMO & IME, there are just way too many posts of very unusual ich appearances on this forum recently. The recent post, involving a supposedly ich infested Copperband into a tank containing tangs (If i read it properly) with no consequences is just hard to imagine. Although I don't keep a scorecard, it seems most of the ich being diagnosed is just based on a few short-lived white spots. The usual flashing, scratching, etc., just isn't mentioned. In short, again IME & IMO, I just don't think the stories of ich magically coming and going is possible. I do believe that many of the hobbyists making the ich assumptions either lack the experience or have not done the research to support these claims. However, I think their claims are sincere, just usually wrong. Again: the published and other scientific evidence just doesn't support these wild claims. The people like Fenner & Goemans have just studied this parasite too long and too thoroughly to be considered wrong; especially lacking credible studies proving them wrong---and there aren't any. However, this is far from 100% proof; I imagine there are a few cases of ich just going away (perhaps a pool of the parasites with a gene deficiency---an admitted shot in the dark, but it works as an example of the "possible"); but not in the number and the manner described by the folks on this thread. It's odd, that nobody has reported a tank wipe-out from ich. I know that is much more common than a sudden, unexplained, recovery.