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marrone · 02-26-2008, 08:32 AM

Do fish gain immunity to ich over time or do they just live with it, as they do in the ocean with all other kind of parasites, which they're usually infected with? Well some fish are immune to ich but almost all fish can and do get it, even eels. What is happening is that the fish is kept in a very stable system, well feed and for the most part not being harassed or beaten up by the other fish eventually are healthily enough to live with the ich. What you will notice is with the same fish, that seem to be immune to ich, when the conditions all of a sudden change for the worst, big temperature swings or bad water condition, you could see an outbreak of ich ehappening. If the conditions are corrected some healthy fish can fight off the ich others succumb to it. Newly introduced fish are usually either not healthy enough, or stressed out, to be able to fight off the ich right away. If the conditions are good enough, water quality and fish being fed very well, they maybe able to fight off the ich, most don't and usually die from it without treatment.

And don't fool yourselves, many more fish dying from not treating ich than do from leaving it untreated. Not to mention that there are variation of ich, that even treating using high levels of copper, that can't be killed and result in wiping out your whole tank. Also when you're treating, whether it's copper, Hypo or something else you need to make sure you start right away and treat correct, which is the correct dosage and right amount of time. Failures usually are from people not treating right away or thinking that the fish is cured and stopping the treatment.

And yes Warren is correct a secondary bacterial infection, which can come about from scratching, is very hard to cure and usually leads to fish dying fairly quickly as opposed to ich which most of the time can take a while.

QT is to protect the fish in your main tank and not just the fish that you're QTing. And yes most QT are usually too small but there is no reason for a small one not work, unless you over feed or don't watch the water quality. As for being overly stress in a QT, well every fish in our tanks are stressed out to some extent, even in the largest tank.

I QT all my fish and the last time I had ich in one of my tanks was about 5 years ago. I placed a fish, which I got from someone tank right, straight into one of my tanks. All the fish in the tank broke out with ich, which I cured using copper resulting in no loses.

02-26-2008, 08:32 AM	#12
marrone Big Tank Bigger Fish Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: The BIG City Posts: 5,324 Reefer Ratings: (37)	Do fish gain immunity to ich over time or do they just live with it, as they do in the ocean with all other kind of parasites, which they're usually infected with? Well some fish are immune to ich but almost all fish can and do get it, even eels. What is happening is that the fish is kept in a very stable system, well feed and for the most part not being harassed or beaten up by the other fish eventually are healthily enough to live with the ich. What you will notice is with the same fish, that seem to be immune to ich, when the conditions all of a sudden change for the worst, big temperature swings or bad water condition, you could see an outbreak of ich ehappening. If the conditions are corrected some healthy fish can fight off the ich others succumb to it. Newly introduced fish are usually either not healthy enough, or stressed out, to be able to fight off the ich right away. If the conditions are good enough, water quality and fish being fed very well, they maybe able to fight off the ich, most don't and usually die from it without treatment. And don't fool yourselves, many more fish dying from not treating ich than do from leaving it untreated. Not to mention that there are variation of ich, that even treating using high levels of copper, that can't be killed and result in wiping out your whole tank. Also when you're treating, whether it's copper, Hypo or something else you need to make sure you start right away and treat correct, which is the correct dosage and right amount of time. Failures usually are from people not treating right away or thinking that the fish is cured and stopping the treatment. And yes Warren is correct a secondary bacterial infection, which can come about from scratching, is very hard to cure and usually leads to fish dying fairly quickly as opposed to ich which most of the time can take a while. QT is to protect the fish in your main tank and not just the fish that you're QTing. And yes most QT are usually too small but there is no reason for a small one not work, unless you over feed or don't watch the water quality. As for being overly stress in a QT, well every fish in our tanks are stressed out to some extent, even in the largest tank. I QT all my fish and the last time I had ich in one of my tanks was about 5 years ago. I placed a fish, which I got from someone tank right, straight into one of my tanks. All the fish in the tank broke out with ich, which I cured using copper resulting in no loses.