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Ich question


Sunar357

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I had ich in my tank about 6 months ago and lost all the fish except for a damsel. He never showed any signs of being sick at all. He's been the only fish in the tank since that time. Should he be ich free? Or is it maybe dormant on him somehow?

 

Reason i'm asking is i'm considering putting him in my new tank but I don't want to take a chance with moving/spreading ich to it.

 

Thanks!

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No don't put him in new tank? All the rock in old tank is 'infected' as well?

 

Exactly. He has it so does EVERTHING you had in your tank. The tank must be completely fallow for 3 months. No fish. Crabs, snails and shrimp are fine because it cant reproduce on them but it has been reproducing on the damsel.

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So the parasite (cryptocarion irritans) is an obligate parasite - meaning it must have a fish host to reproduce.

 

If your tank had the parasite at one time and there has been a fish in the tank continually since the outbreak then there is a chance that the parasite is still in your tank and possibly attached to the fish.

 

Over time fish can develop a form of immunity to the parasite. It's not permanent immunity though, and additionally an "immune" fish could potentially be a carrier of the parasite and cause a breakout in another system if it's added...

 

Hope that makes sense...

 

The safe course of action would be to treat the fish with a period of hyposalinity or another treatment method known to be effective (not kick ich or melafix but copper based meds). This should be simple enough if it's the only fish. You can complete a treatment in a bucket if needed.

 

The tomont (cyst) stage can last for several weeks so to be 100% free of the parasite in your non display tank you should leave it fishless for 2 average life cycles of the parasite.

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How about ich on corals like LPS? Will ich be stuck to my hammers? If so can I dip them or something to get it killed off so I can move it to new tank?

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How about ich on corals like LPS? Will ich be stuck to my hammers? If so can I dip them or something to get it killed off so I can move it to new tank?

 

It could be on the skeleton. I don't know of any dips that would kill ich without harming the coral but dipping coral for ich isn't something readily talked about either. Can you QT them?

 

Otherwise, if theres no fish in the new tank, you could move all the corals and just not add fish for 3 months to be safe.

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Of course it could be on the skeleton cause that is the most inconvenient thing! :D

 

I may have to slap the corals in a 5G bucket as this big tank needs to go. :mellow:

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I guess I can move them over and just go without fish for three months...that'll suck though.

 

Or I can just move over my BTA's, mushroom n Palys (after I remove them from rock) and add fish. Then the corals i'll have to QT.

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