# Does every tank go through Ich?



## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

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?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

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.


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

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.


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## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

trashion said:


> 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?


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## Guest (Mar 14, 2008)

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.


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

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


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## Guest (Mar 14, 2008)

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.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

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.


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## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

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.


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

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.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

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.


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## Christine (Nov 4, 2005)

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.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

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


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## kay-bee (Dec 6, 2006)

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.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

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.


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## Guest (Mar 15, 2008)

emc7 said:


> 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


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## Guest (Mar 15, 2008)

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.


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## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

*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?*


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

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.


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## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

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.


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## maples5 (Mar 18, 2008)

*how do I chat on here?*

I have a question that is pressing about my two pregnant platys???


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## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

maples5 said:


> I have a question that is pressing about my two pregnant platys???


Then create a new topic in the right section! You will get a better answer to your question then if you randomly type a question in a topic that has nothing to do with pregnant platys.


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## oliesminis (May 7, 2007)

well said, you should never add threads which are totaly unrelated to someone elses thread. start new thread in the live bearers section and you will get an answer


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## IAN (Apr 14, 2008)

*No Ick!*

I have never had ick in 5 of my tanks.

100, 50, 10, 10, and 5, gallons.

They have been up for over a year each. 

Ick is a stress related disease. Good water quality, healthy fish, and great food keep ick away.


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## Good Wolf (Mar 5, 2008)

JustOneMore20 said:


> 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.


I've been wondering about this. If the tank water doesn't have bacteria why should you rince the filter media in old tank water?

Also, how long should you QT a new fish? I can set up my 5g to do this if need be.


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## Ricker (Nov 23, 2007)

I have had Ich one time sense I started the hobby again. What I did instead of buying that ich meds. I heard aquarium salt works great. I added some to my 10gallon and 2 days it was gone also raised temp in tank a tad to. Food that has Garlic in it to if some one else hasnt said that. I buy this flake food at LFS cause I cna get a refill. O.S.I marine Aquarium Flake Food. My fish love itr.


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## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

About a month ago I bought 6 cherry barbs from a petstore. They are in GREAT condition. I went back and I saw 2 left in the tank, one dead and the other 2 had ick. I hope mine will still be in good condition for awhile.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

You rinse your filter media in tank water because the idea is to cleanse the gunk off of it, not wipe out the bacteria on it. If you used tapwater, you'd wipe out your good-guy filter bacteria.


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## Good Wolf (Mar 5, 2008)

See, I still don't get it. According to Kristin the water itself has no bacteria. Tap water doesn't either so what is the difference. I'm not trying to hijack the thread. I'm sure Ryder would like to know as well.


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## Ricker (Nov 23, 2007)

Cherry barbs my favorite fish. Did yours school


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

When you rinse it in the tap water you put chlorinated water on it. That is chlorine (like bleach is) and that is what kills the bacteria. It is in small amounts, but it is enough to kill bacteria (which is the point of chlorinating it in the first place). I suppose you could make a bucket of dechlorinated water to rinse it in, but I really don't see why anyone would bother. All your doing is getting the large gunk off of it and you don't need pristine water to do that.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Oh, I think I get it. You think that rinsing with tank water is supposed to somehow PUT bacteria onto the filter media, and you don't see how that can happen since there's not much bacteria floating free in the water?
Well, that's not the point. The point is to not remove the bacteria already on the media.

Now, NEW media that is about to be used for the first time can certainly be pre-rinsed in the sink, since it has no bacteria on it anyway.


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## Good Wolf (Mar 5, 2008)

Obsidian said:


> When you rinse it in the tap water you put chlorinated water on it. That is chlorine (like bleach is) and that is what kills the bacteria. It is in small amounts, but it is enough to kill bacteria (which is the point of chlorinating it in the first place). I suppose you could make a bucket of dechlorinated water to rinse it in, but I really don't see why anyone would bother. All your doing is getting the large gunk off of it and you don't need pristine water to do that.


That makes sense. Sorry to beat a dead horse. I should have been able to figure that out myself. Thanks for elaborating. 

I have yet to get ich, but the tanks have only been going for a few months. 

I didn't even think about my LFS water being shared and bought my three lined cories from them even though the panda cory tank had ich. So far they are doing fine even with my nitrite being jacked up right now. *knock on wood*


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