# Question About All Diseases



## fishn00b (Jun 10, 2005)

I was wondering what causes some of these diseases, if anyone knows. I hear of a lot of people have Ick and some other forms of diseases but thankfully (knock on wood) I have not had any yet. Is there a special reason why this occurs? Is buying new fish that have the disease one of the only reasons it happens? I keep thinking that if my tank is healthy and everything is running fine that nothing should happen to the tank. How could a disease just happen if the aquarium is basically quarentined from any outside forces (besides water changes)? Thanks for you help in advance.


----------



## shev (Jan 18, 2005)

stress plays a large part, it weakens their immune system making them susceptible to many things like ich or worms. I think ich is usually in the aquarium, but the fish have a slime coat to help protect against them. just like humans people carry diseases witht hem but arent affceted untilt hey are weakened. some "diseases" are not an actual thing attacking the fish, but something happens to the fish because they didnt have what they needed, like nutritional deficiencies which can cause turburcleosis (that is one hard word to spell) in guppies. poor water conditions can culture bacteria that can infect fish wounds cause things like finrot. fungus, bacteria, viruses, deficiencies can all cause diseases.


----------



## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Diseases can be caused by environmental factors, or they can be caused by disease-causing organisms. Quite often, outbreaks of diseases can be triggered by changes in the environment.

Dis - ease. Think about that word and what it really means. Something that causes the fish to experience a loss of ease is a disease, be it from a nasty parasite or pathogen or genetic defect, but we don't normally call things diseases unless they're caused by these things, leaving other things like poisoning or pH shock off the list of diseases.

If a tank is running well and free from introductions of new fish, then thngs may well stay just fine. However, disease-causing organisms may still be in the tank. The reason these organisms cause disease is that they get a chance to on account of something being wrong in the tank, thereby reducing the fish's ability to resist. Some diseases are airborne, though, and there is nothing you can do about those except keep your fish as healthy as possible so that airborne viruses, bacteria, dinoflagellates, and fungi don't affect them.

Ick (there are several kinds ) is caused by microscopic protozoans. These are transferred from tank to tank by fish, plants, inverts, NETS & other equipment, and water. Ick can be really nasty stuff. Just 1 (one) ickie can become anywhere from 256 to over 1000 new ones when it reproduces, depending on species, and in the confines of an aquarium where the fish have nowhere to hide, this will quickly overwhelm your fish.
It's important that you try to kill them ALL.

Keeping your tank clean and running fine WILL NOT keep your tank Ick-free. The population will rise very slowly under such conditions, but it will rise nonetheless, and once it reaches a level too high for the fish to handle, BAM! A fish gets sick, allowing an all-out population explosion of Ick that can wipe out your tank. This can take years to happen, by the way, when conditions in the tank are very good. However, if just one thing causes the fish to get weak for a short time, the Ick will sense this and attack. Ick knows what kinds of things make fish weak, you see, and when those things happen, it knows the time to strike has arrived.

Infections from bacteria and fungus work in a similar way, but the immune system of the fish plays a bigger part in keeping them at bay. Infected fish may be able to stave off the infections completely, or they might only keep it knocked down to a safe level until they get weakened and the bacteria/fungus are able to grow faster.
As for bacteria and fungi in the tank itself instead of in the fish, if the tank is clean these pathogens won't be a problem since they'll grow very slowly if at all, and the fish will be strong. If things get dirty, though, the fish will get weak and the pathogens will grow like crazy to the point where their attack on the fish cannot be resisted.

I hope this is answering your questions.
Diseases don't just happen. They are caused. if you don't properly cleanse your fish of all parasites and pathogens before putting them in your tank, then your tank has a risk of being stricken someday. If the disease-causing organsms are NOT in your tank, though, then no matter what happens to weaken your fish, they can't catch the diseases. For example, sometimes you'll hear that some fish got ick when the temperature dropped. That does not mean that the temperature drop caused the ick. All it means is that the temp drop allowed the ick already in the tank to overwhelm the fish. A tank free of Ick can have temp swings aplenty and never have to worry about an Ick outbreak.
Proper cleansing is a long process, and almost no one ever does it right except professionals who have no choice. One of these days I'm going to post an article detailing just how to do it. Until then, and even well afterward, the use of SOME quarantine is certainly much better than none, and Ultraviolet Sterilizers are VERY handy for taking up the slack.

I'm glad to hear that thing have been going well for you so far, and I hope your luck continues. Get a UV to help stay lucky.


----------



## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

We need to sticky T.O.S's post. Very informative.


----------



## fishn00b (Jun 10, 2005)

Thanks a lot for your post, Old Salt, and Shev. I appreciate the time you took to write it, and now I feel more knowledgable on the subject on how it occurs. I'll be looking forward to your post on how to cleanse an aquarium, I would really like to do that to make sure that my tank is perfect. I want my fish to be as healthy as possible. Until then I will look for a UV sterilizer. Thanks again.


----------



## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

I said it before and I'll say it again. The Old Salt for president!!!!!


----------



## shev (Jan 18, 2005)

got my vote.


----------



## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

mine too! oddsalt covered it all!


----------



## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

No I didn't. That hardly scratched the surface.

Thanks for your kind words, but, aw, shucks, 'tweren't nuthin.

I got sacked from my job today due to cutbacks, so now I'll at least have a lot more spare time to write stuff that's really good.


----------



## fishn00b (Jun 10, 2005)

I'm sorry to hear that OldSalt. I hope you find a better job soon, hell maybe with the more spare time you can use it to campaign for president.


----------

