Do we really know anything about ich?!

Again, those are forums facts and what leads to everyone's confusion. The part about the immunity is wrong. Some fish can have 100% immunity. Some just partial. Some develop lifetime immunity, some just for a period of time. I will try to find you the exact references.

No, they don't lay dormant persa, the tomont stage can just be extended if they are not in their optimal environmental conditions. Some of the strains have optimal parameters outside of our ideal tank conditions. I know they had one go for over 70 days in a lab, but I'm not sure what the longest length of time is or if there was anything longer.

Those things I guarantee you to be correct. These are not my grand revelations, but from research..... and not "hobbyist with a microscope" type research...haha.

One of my problems is I have over 400 uncatalogued loose articles, besides my journal subscriptions and books. I read things, write them in my notebooks without reference and then have a hard time finding them. But I will find it so you can give some academic references when the topic comes up in the future and maybe we can all help with "False Forum Facts".


Probably something else that doesn't help is our use of the common word Ich and people mix up the FW and SW variety. Even though the last article I read was about "Crypto", their references were all about freshwater ich without them even knowing it.

 

Maybe this will help. It's from Aquaculture Journal "A technique for the preservation of Cryptocaryon irritans at low temperature". 297 (2009) 112-115.

A paragraph from that journal "The excystation rate of preserved parasites and the infectivity of the theronts produced by the preserved parasites where then determined every other month for 6 months. The results revealed that trophonts and tomonts of C. irritans could survive at 12 degrees celcius for 5 months".

 

Wow, that's quite a bit longer than previously thought...

 

That's at 12 degrees. There is also a "cold water ich" that cycles normal at almost that temperature. So, that temp would hinder some.... and accelerate others.

 

True, but that's proof that keeping your tank in the low 70s does not help prevent the spread of ich, yet another myth I've heard repeated by newbies.

 

This stuff is not just repeated by newbies, though. It's the oldies that are feeding it to them.

We should start a "myth" thread and see if we can't find research support or dismissal on each submitted statement. Like the show "Myth Busters", but armed with academic journals.... not cool exploding toys.

 

MHayes, have we answered your questions? I know we got a little offtrack.

 

Lower temperatures will just slow the life cycle of Ich compared to higher temps IIRC. However, lower temperature water contains more dissolved oxygen, which may contribute to a lower stress level for fish (and therefore increasing their immune system). This is totally speculation on my part, so feel free to treat it is a myth

 

The pb died yesterday. It seemed to go really fast in just 2 days. So here's my plan. I'm wanting to buy a 30g just for quarantine for all my fish. So here are some questions. Will my fish be ok in this size tank for as long as they need to be treated? I have a hoevens wrasse, 2 small clowns, yw goby, cardinal, and firefish. How EXACTLY do they need to be treated to make sure they are disease free? What's best, hypo or copper? And then, what about the dt? How long does it need to sit fallow?

 

They best part of a QT tank is you can bleach it and fill it right back up afterwards. As for your system. Heck, my fist had ick in December 2011, then when I added my black tang in April of 2012 he got ick pretty bad. Nothing since. Healthy happy fish will not get ick, and most fish have the parasite somewhere on them anyway.

A QT will help you acclimate your fish to captivity and your method of husbandry. I think removing all your fish from the DT for QT will cause alot of undue stress on your stock.