ick prone fish??

[Lacy]

I am looking for reef safe fish that are not prone to ick. Can someone tell me which fish are more ick prone and which ones are less prone to it?
TIA

[cloak]

Don't think there is such a thing. I caught a cold, don't know where I caught it from though.

[Freed]

ANY fish can get ich. QT is the only way to prevent it from getting into your main tank.

[Lacy]

Yes, some people are more likely to catch colds than others, maybe its their health???

I heard that fish with larger scales were less ick prone. I am wondering if others are familiar with this?

[cloak]

Not sure, no cure for the common cold. Perameters can be the traffic in the room where the tank is at. The vibrations when a door closes, kids running all around the room. Maybe your hands in the tank. Some fish don't like that. FWIW

[idareefer]

check on RC forums, they have lists

[Saltwaterstart]

Fish will be prone to ick, no matter what you do or what goes on inside or out of your tank. Because you have a 130 gallon, you will probably be looking at a tang or something along the lines of a yellow/blue tang.

Tangs are very ick prone, and have been known on this forum as "ick magnets." They are also sensitive to copper treatment and should be treated with hypo. There are 2 reasons why I don't have a tang right now. First off, I have a 29 gallon tank. Secondly, I don't know what the heck a hypo treatment is.

Common clownfish are also ick prone,(not many know this) but not as bad as tangs. They are actually recommended as beginner fish because of hardiness. The truth is, they are hardy, but they can get ick if the water parameters of the tank are bad. I have had 4 clowns that have developed a case of ick for no apparent reason, but HT and copper fixed that.

Anything with softer scales/no scales or any harder to keep fish (that includes most expensive ones), are ick prone. There are exceptions to this rule though. I have a 6 line that I don't think has scales and is as disease resistant as my longnose hawk. Mandarins are very good examples because they have a slime coating that will repel ick most times.

Anything with harder scales, or a cheaper, hardier fish are disease resistant to the most part. They are also less hassle to bag fortunately.


For the most part, if your research is well conducted, you should be able to figure out which fish are disease resistant and disease prone. Also, ask around on information on a certain fish and people will tell you their stories on them. Just be polite and listen to what they have to say, and then make a purchase from there.

Also, buying from a reputable dealer really helps. My dealer actually QT's the fish in the store and will not sell a fish until after the store has had it for over 1 month (The fish also has to be eating for it to be sold). If your LFS manager is there and you ask him about quarantine procedures, you could tell whether or not they are a good LFS.

That's my $0.02.


Disclaimer- This is only my opinion and the opinion of others of whom have given out information on their experience. Criticism and corrections are welcome and recommended to this post.

[Freed]

As stated earlier, ANY fish can get ich.

[Aquarist007]

quarantine everything you buy for 4-6 weeks prior to introducing to your main tank--this will minimize the chances of introducing ich to your main tank.
Feed your fish food soaked in garlic--it helps build up the immunity systems in fish---as with the cold example(except ich is an invertebrate not a virus or germ) your fish can still get the disease but are more apt to cope with it better.

[mg426]

Tangs seem to be pretty prone to Ich to me, Could be just me though.

[Sk8r]

don't use the advice to skip quarantine: for one thing, store water often comes in with the parasite, even if your fish isn't that susceptible: it can survive in the sandbed or travel in the water, and strike your NEXT fish, so do quarantine...

HOWEVER...if you stick to blennies and gobies for the most part [more gobies than blennies, since blennies are a tad more argumentative with each other and don't observe as small a 'territory']....you will not tend to have ich. They, with the dragonets, are my favorite fish, and because my population as a whole [look at my sig] is non-susceptible, the few fish I have that are slightly more likely to get it [the chromis and the dartfish] don't.

Fish that DO get it more frequently than others: tangs, angels, clowns [who also have their very own disease: brook], and rabbits---rabbitfish get it so often I swear they're carriers. I've seen bad infestations in triggers and puffers.

The garlic thing does help fish stave it off. Fish will actually eat fresh garlic chips, so they apparently like the taste.

My advice to everybody in the hobby is, first, use your quarantine tank. Secondly, don't overcrowd your tank. Third, especially when first starting out, if gobies are going to be compatible with your tank [no big carnivores like eels, triggers, lions, etc] they're a real good start. If everybody's ideal first fish was the yellow watchman instead of clowns, and if they also quarantined religiously, we'd see very little incidence of ich in these pages.

Secondly---do your stocking in large stages: don't run a revolving door of...gee, this fish died...*I'll get ANOTHER...* [what killed the first fish is probably still there, be it disease or inappropriate tank conditions]. Get all the fish you properly ought to have and let the situation ride for a year without getting any more. Every new fish you bring in is a possible carrier for some plague from somebody else's systems, be it the jobber, the dealer, the store, etc. Don't string out your fish-buying. Do it, be done, and stop importing fish store ailments.

Note: These fish should live for years. Decades, in many cases. My clam, I'm informed, should be good for several hundred years. Corals ditto. Treat them that way!

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by Sk8r
don't use the advice to skip quarantine: for one thing, store water often comes in with the parasite, even if your fish isn't that susceptible: it can survive in the sandbed or travel in the water, and strike your NEXT fish, so do quarantine...

HOWEVER...if you stick to blennies and gobies for the most part [more gobies than blennies, since blennies are a tad more argumentative with each other and don't observe as small a 'territory']....you will not tend to have ich. They, with the dragonets, are my favorite fish, and because my population as a whole [look at my sig] is non-susceptible, the few fish I have that are slightly more likely to get it [the chromis and the dartfish] don't.

Fish that DO get it more frequently than others: tangs, angels, clowns [who also have their very own disease: brook], and rabbits---rabbitfish get it so often I swear they're carriers. I've seen bad infestations in triggers and puffers.

The garlic thing does help fish stave it off. Fish will actually eat fresh garlic chips, so they apparently like the taste.

My advice to everybody in the hobby is, first, use your quarantine tank. Secondly, don't overcrowd your tank. Third, especially when first starting out, if gobies are going to be compatible with your tank [no big carnivores like eels, triggers, lions, etc] they're a real good start. If everybody's ideal first fish was the yellow watchman instead of clowns, and if they also quarantined religiously, we'd see very little incidence of ich in these pages.

Secondly---do your stocking in large stages: don't run a revolving door of...gee, this fish died...*I'll get ANOTHER...* [what killed the first fish is probably still there, be it disease or inappropriate tank conditions]. Get all the fish you properly ought to have and let the situation ride for a year without getting any more. Every new fish you bring in is a possible carrier for some plague from somebody else's systems, be it the jobber, the dealer, the store, etc. Don't string out your fish-buying. Do it, be done, and stop importing fish store ailments.

Note: These fish should live for years. Decades, in many cases. My clam, I'm informed, should be good for several hundred years. Corals ditto. Treat them that way!

excellent advice--should be a sticky

I think these are steps that alot of us are following but its good to see it in print so clearly.