Rocks Carry Ich?

SeaWeed89 · 07/17/2008, 01:46 PM

I bought 200+lbs. of DRY rock. it was in someones tank then taken down. its been dry for about 3mo and in the cold damp basement. well its been in my tank now for about 1mo. or so and now i notice my fish have ich. no new fish,coral,anything besides these rocks. 4mo ago was the last fish addition. that fish was in a friends tank that has never had ich. so all i can think of is the rock. and it went threw a bleaching process in a kiddie pool for like 2 weeks. is this possible?

aastretch64 · 07/17/2008, 02:01 PM

Some people beleive that ich is always present in an aquarium, but can lie dormant. I don't know if I believe that or not, however to answer your questions about your "dry" liverock. Once the liverock is completely dried, especially at lower tempertures all life will dies off including the ich.

IMO fish can get the ich several times before showing damaging signs, and sometimes we as hobbiest miss the small white dots. It could be that your fish have had a small infection for several months and only now did you get an outbreak.

Anyone else?

Alex

matthewscars · 07/17/2008, 02:08 PM

I would dry the rock out and broil it, then freeze it and leave it outside for awhile. Nothing can survive that. I wouldnt worry. Just make sure you get a turkey baster and blow water into the holes in the rock. You want to get as much dead sht out as possible.

Or blow torch it.

abulgin · 07/17/2008, 02:25 PM

I think you have a better chance of being eaten by the great white shark living in your 125 g than of your fish getting ich from live rock that's been sitting out of water in a basement for 3 months.

My guess is that one of your fish has had a dormant case of ich, and that some stresser (change in temperature, pH, aggression, etc.) tipped the scale in favor of the ich and against your fishes' immunity.

No need to boil any rock. But you do have a need to move all your fish into a hospital tank and treat them, all the while allowing your tank to go fishless for 6 weeks.

Ich is not always present in the system, unless you allowed that ich to get in the system in the first place.

coral diver · 07/17/2008, 02:30 PM

Most likely you stress out your fish when you where putting the rock in the display

greenbean36191 · 07/17/2008, 02:39 PM

The rocks definitely didn't bring ich into the tank. They didn't need to. The fish already had it. You cannot look at a fish and determine if it has ich. Ich is microscopic and normally lives in the gills. The gills make up at least 90% of the external surface area of the fish. The only time the parasite becomes apparent is when the infection becomes bad enough that the parasites settle in large numbers on the visible 10% of the fish and form nodules where they burrow into the skin.

They all need to be treated with hyposalinity or copper and the tank left fallow for at least 6 weeks.

Nereaga · 07/17/2008, 02:46 PM

Nice post Greenbean!

wargeneral · 07/17/2008, 03:11 PM

I think this is similar to my situation. I recently added live rock to my tank. The rock was totally cured. Problem is that I had fish already in the tank. Your tank goes through mini cycle when you add more live rock to it. If the fish's immune system and isnt good and the fish are not fat. The fish will get stressed and get ich. Because it can't handle the mini cycle. Sometimes it takes while for your tank to do the minicycle. It could even take up to a month. Depending how much volume you have.

07/17/2008, 01:46 PM	#1
SeaWeed89 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Pa. Posts: 275	Rocks Carry Ich? I bought 200+lbs. of DRY rock. it was in someones tank then taken down. its been dry for about 3mo and in the cold damp basement. well its been in my tank now for about 1mo. or so and now i notice my fish have ich. no new fish,coral,anything besides these rocks. 4mo ago was the last fish addition. that fish was in a friends tank that has never had ich. so all i can think of is the rock. and it went threw a bleaching process in a kiddie pool for like 2 weeks. is this possible? __________________ Chris Current Tank Info: 20g Long, LED Lit

07/17/2008, 02:08 PM	#3
matthewscars Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Astoria, NY Posts: 657	I would dry the rock out and broil it, then freeze it and leave it outside for awhile. Nothing can survive that. I wouldnt worry. Just make sure you get a turkey baster and blow water into the holes in the rock. You want to get as much dead sht out as possible. Or blow torch it. __________________ A plane passed silently overhead, the streetlights, and the buds on the trees and the night, were still. Current Tank Info: 90g Reef/35g Sump with Foam Rock Wall. 10g Propagation Reef. 55g Goldfish Tank.

07/17/2008, 02:30 PM	#5
coral diver Old & Wise Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: somewhat wet Posts: 213	Most likely you stress out your fish when you where putting the rock in the display __________________ Jojo All life matter Current Tank Info: 90 gallon

07/17/2008, 02:39 PM	#6
greenbean36191 Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Ft. Lauderdale Posts: 10,598	The rocks definitely didn't bring ich into the tank. They didn't need to. The fish already had it. You cannot look at a fish and determine if it has ich. Ich is microscopic and normally lives in the gills. The gills make up at least 90% of the external surface area of the fish. The only time the parasite becomes apparent is when the infection becomes bad enough that the parasites settle in large numbers on the visible 10% of the fish and form nodules where they burrow into the skin. They all need to be treated with hyposalinity or copper and the tank left fallow for at least 6 weeks. __________________ Some say the sun rises in the East. Some say it rises in the West. The truth must be somewhere in the middle. Current Tank Info: tore them down to move and haven't had the time or money to set them back up

07/17/2008, 02:01 PM	#2
aastretch64 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Franklin Park, IL Posts: 384	Some people beleive that ich is always present in an aquarium, but can lie dormant. I don't know if I believe that or not, however to answer your questions about your "dry" liverock. Once the liverock is completely dried, especially at lower tempertures all life will dies off including the ich. IMO fish can get the ich several times before showing damaging signs, and sometimes we as hobbiest miss the small white dots. It could be that your fish have had a small infection for several months and only now did you get an outbreak. Anyone else? Alex

07/17/2008, 02:25 PM	#4
abulgin Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Baltimore, MD Posts: 2,664	I think you have a better chance of being eaten by the great white shark living in your 125 g than of your fish getting ich from live rock that's been sitting out of water in a basement for 3 months. My guess is that one of your fish has had a dormant case of ich, and that some stresser (change in temperature, pH, aggression, etc.) tipped the scale in favor of the ich and against your fishes' immunity. No need to boil any rock. But you do have a need to move all your fish into a hospital tank and treat them, all the while allowing your tank to go fishless for 6 weeks. Ich is not always present in the system, unless you allowed that ich to get in the system in the first place.

07/17/2008, 02:46 PM	#7
Nereaga Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Oley, Pa 19547 Posts: 1,513	Nice post Greenbean!

07/17/2008, 03:11 PM	#8
wargeneral Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: NJ Posts: 129	I think this is similar to my situation. I recently added live rock to my tank. The rock was totally cured. Problem is that I had fish already in the tank. Your tank goes through mini cycle when you add more live rock to it. If the fish's immune system and isnt good and the fish are not fat. The fish will get stressed and get ich. Because it can't handle the mini cycle. Sometimes it takes while for your tank to do the minicycle. It could even take up to a month. Depending how much volume you have.