Does every tank go through Ich?

[Knight~Ryder]

By all the posts I have been reading, it would seem to me that many fishkeepers have to go through this Ich disease. Is it possible to have a tank that never goes through any diseases at all, and if so, how?

[emc7]

For a disease-free tank always quarantine everything new-fish, snails, plants. Most diseases come in with new fish. And don't cycle with fish.

[trashion]

I think I'm the only person here who never dealt with ich ?

I didn't take very good care of my fish back in the day, but I think they mostly died from ammonia poisoning...oops. I used to break down the tank and clean it ALL out once every 5 months or so. Ouch. But yeah, magically, I never had any ich.

[Knight~Ryder]

Originally Posted by trashion

I think I'm the only person here who never dealt with ich ?

I didn't take very good care of my fish back in the day, but I think they mostly died from ammonia poisoning...oops. I used to break down the tank and clean it ALL out once every 5 months or so. Ouch. But yeah, magically, I never had any ich.

So breaking down the tank is not a good thing?

[JustOneMore20]

Ich usually is seen in stressed fish, which is why you see it in new tanks and with new fish. Plus, a stressed fish with ich will spread it to other fish, which is why QT is good for new fish. I've read that the ich parasite is in every tank, but fish aren't susceptible to it unless they are stressed. I'm not sure how much truth is in that though, but I know some people have fish that get ich without introducing new fish.

I've dealt with ich during my fish keeping years, but I have had tanks that didn't have ich......so yes, its possible to have a tank without ich. I think I've dealt with it maybe twice in almost 5 years.......and those were the result of introducing new fish who soon developed ich....and probably brought it with them, but I didn't notice.


Quarantining is a good thing with new fish. That way, if the new fish has something, it won't spread. Also, be careful when buying fish. If a fish in one tank has ich, then any fish you buy from there is likely to have it, since they have central water systems (or whatever they are called). Look at the fish you want as well as other fish in the store.

[trashion]

No!! Never break down a tank and clean everything unless you're putting it into storage or there was a very serious disease outbreak.

[JustOneMore20]

I agree ^^. To clean a tank, you just do water changes weekly, gravel vac, and either rinse sponge filter media monthly in old tank water or replace part of the filter media (carbon, or sponges that need to be replaced) once a month. Never wash out the filter, decorations (unless you are getting rid of algae), or replace all of the filter media at the same time.

[emc7]

I've dealt with ich about 3-4 times in twenty years. Once in an unheated ender's tank, so temp. is important. I've never had it in the same tank/fish twice, so if you treat it right, you can wipe it out (TOS said so). Every noob on the board seem to have it lately, so I think a nasty strain is going through the pet-store systems.

[Knight~Ryder]

Hmmm, I am keeping a close eye on my oto. I see one white spot on the top of him. It could be that he rubbed up against something too?

So far it isn't spreading on himself or others for over a week now.

[mousey]

It depends on how warm the tank is as to whether that possible ich will spread to others in short order. Sometimes fish get a spot and it goes nowhere. other times every fish will be covered in days. And of course it may be a small air bubble on the fish at the moment you looked or an abrasion.
However if other fish get spots you are likely dealing with ick. Raise your temperature up to 84 degrees to speed up the process. be aware that all fish and plants may not tolerate the increased heat. There are many good articles about the problem. One thing I recently learned is that some treatments kill the fish faster than the disease-- altho i believe if the disease is in the tank long enough it will kill the fish too. They suffocate.

[emc7]

High temp does speed up the ich life cycle. It helps you shorten the time you need to treat. But don't raise the temp. without treating (salt is one treatment) or you will just make more ich.

[Christine]

I've always thought a drop in temperature could bring on ich. The heater goes out or something like that and wham... but, I suppose that could be simply stress from the temperature as well hmmm.

[emc7]

Yes, low temperatures tend to trigger ich outbreaks. Its wierd since that ich lives faster at high temp.

[kay-bee]

I'm up to 11 tanks now and only had a bout of ich in my very first tank.

If the ich organism is non-existent in the tank temperature dips won't summon it.

[Obsidian]

So far no ich for me, but I do have a case of columnaris in one of my tanks. Its refusing to go away as well. And I just added new fish to my 100 gallon so I am hoping that they handle the move well. I don't have a QT tank so I have to have some amount of faith that things will work out, or I would never bring new fish into the house.

[GoodMike]

Originally Posted by emc7

Yes, low temperatures tend to trigger ich outbreaks. Its wierd since that ich lives faster at high temp.

thats where stress levels kick in. big drop in temp for some fish stress them enough that ich can more easily attach

[Scuba Kid]

Keep in mind though that ich is not some mysterious parasite that magically appears in a system when fish are stressed. Ich is present in most systems, but in a dorment state. When a fish becomes stressed, the ich comes out of that state and is able to "latch" onto the fish. The white bumps are the irritated spots where the ich is making itself comfortable.

[Knight~Ryder]

Okay so it's winter right now (well almost spring) So the heater was on quite a but keeping my tempurature steady at around 26. So what happens when it's not -30 outside anymore and it's +33. How do I keep my tank from over heating?

[emc7]

There were some posts on this last summer. You can lower the water level (evaporation cools), leave the lid open, add a fan across the water surface, leave the lights off, even put ice cubes in a bag and float them. Of course, the long-term solution is to buy a chiller. Its a heater's opposite and cools when the temp is too high.

[Knight~Ryder]

I don't think the oto affinis had ich. The spot is slowly going away, maybe it was a small wound or something to that affect anyway.

So that's all I have to report for now.