ICK...where does it come from/incubation period???

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redrf900

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Dec 28, 2002
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Hey Guys/Gals...
After 10 months of fish keeping I finally have ick in my big tank. I assume it's from adding new fish and/or plants from the LFS. EVERYONE was quarantined before that. The fish seemed healthy BEFORE I put them in..So here's the question...Can fish have ick w/o any visible signs???What's the incubation period???Can it come in on infected plants????It's starting to clear up...Almost didn't catch it in time as my loaches have been very reclusive lately. (even BEFORE I added new tankmates and plants).
THANKS in advance for any and all replies..........Jimmy G
 

ChilDawg

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Dec 26, 2002
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Yes, they can have it without visible signs...

Ich is often dormant in fish from LFSs...

The incubation period and life cycle of ich is dependent on temperature.
 

OrionGirl

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Aug 14, 2001
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Sorry, but ich is never dormant. Fish may have a sub-clinical infection, in which they appear healthy but still have the parasite, just not in significant numbers. The healthy immune system of the fish can easily cope with 2-3 parasites without impacting overall health of the fish. These parasites are living their normal life cycle--they have no choice. If the fish becomes stressed, this low level of infection suddenly ballons into a full blown infection. In a show tank, this usually means additional fish are infected.

The life cycle of the parasite is fairly simple. In the infectious stage, the parasite is a free-swimming tomite which burrows into the flesh or gills of the fish. It feeds of of the fish, and then forms a cyst (that white salt-like crystal) which drops off. The cyst transforms into the tomite within a few days, depending on the temperature of the water.

The free swimming stage is the only one medications are effective against. When the parasite is embedded within the fish, medications will not kill it, and the cysts are nearly indestructible. Cysts can be imported on plants/decorations or substrate from an infected tank.

Best treatment--salt and elevated temperatures. Continue with treatment until AT LEAST 4 weeks after the fish show no signs of infection. There are several threads outlining the details here and in FWN.
 

mogurnda

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Ok, here's something that's bugged me for years. The last time I saw freshwater ich was in a colony of buffalohead cichlids that I inherited. There had been no additions of fish to the group, except through births, for a long time. I set them up in their own tank (that had been fallow for years), but made the mistake of leaving the heater off (Heck, it was Tucson in the summer). Imagine months going by, all's well. Then the landlord came in and did some work, and did me the "favor" of turning on the AC full blast. Cold house, cold tank. Ich outbreak within a few days.

I have always assumed that there were a few little parasites going through their life cycle, not bothering anybody while all was well. Then they get a big thermal shock and all heck breaks loose. So, from my point of view, ich can get you at any time, even if you quarantine and keep everything just right. So, whether it's based on a misunderstanding of the parasite's life cycle or not, the idea that ich is "always present" may not be completely inaccurate.
 

ChilDawg

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It may be possible to find a group of fish without Ich, period...but I'm not sure where or how to do that.

I certainly would not advocate stressing them so that the little vampires make themselves known, even though that seems to be one of the best ways to rid a tank of ich (b/c you can actually treat for it at that point...)

I'll be interested to see if the current hoopla over garlic as an antiparasitic "medication" is justifiable.
 

redrf900

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How much salt should I introduce to the tank??? Will it hurt my loaches and my rainbow shark???I don't think it would hurt the tiger barbs ..They're almost indestructable as long as they're in the water.. j/k ;-)
 

RTR

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I am not mainstream on communicable disease/parasites in fish, so I may not fit the standard profiles. But I am extremely neurotic about QT (you get that way with central systems).

While Ich-sensitive fish (this does include both Tiger Barbs and Clown loaches) are in QT, they get prophylactic heat and salt treatment exactly as though they had clinical Ich. I have had temperature stress in my central system, but I have not had Ich outbreaks from it. So I will confidently say that I do know one selection of fish free of the parasite - mine.

I have no experience with garlic as anti-parasite prophylaxis or treatment, but isn't that aimed at gut parasites rather than gill/external?

On the dormant/subclinical bit, for direct observation you certainly cannot tell the difference short of stressing or sacrificing the fish and doing pathology on their gills (not the best idea either - especially for the fish). But it does matter a lot on parasite awareness for hobbyists. It is one of those nasty "what you don't know and can't see can hurt you" things.
 
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