Ick Coming Back ?

[hwoarangtag]

Hi,
I have read in some site that once a fish had ick disease and recovered from it (with treatment). It is unlikely that ick will come back again? Their immune system seems to be able to prevent a second time ick situation; is that true?

 

[WILDER]

Never heard of that, ick can come back I doubt they build an immunity up to a parasite feeding on them.
Garlic helps as parasite don't like garlic.
Liike with fleas on cats they only have 5 weeks with frontline as it out of the cats system then and the fleas come back.
What can I kill with a UV sterilizer?
UV sterilizers will destroy parasites such as Ich during the new born, free swimming life cycle stage.
NOTE: They do not kill or remove the Ich parasites once attached to the fish. UV Sterilizers can be used with other methods to treat Ich. UV Sterilizers will kill free floating algae. It will not kill algae that is stuck to your glass or imbedded in your live rock. It needs to go through the UV sterilizer to be zapped.

 

[mikev]

Limited immunity to ich is possible, this has been studied.

But it is uncommon and should not be relied upon in any situation. In most cases second ich outbreak will be as bad as the first.

hth

 

[missy2]

i dont know if this works but i have heard of it working increase temp to 80f greatly speeds up the cycle and gives opportunity to kill parasites if fish can stand it and depends on the species but do it slowly about 2 degrees a day and watch to make sure fish are not stressing out as stress and harrasment from other fish is a main cause of ick. i keep african cichlids and was advised to keep a certain about of salt in my tank i have never had any problems as yet with my fish touch wood so there must be something about it.

 

[andywg]

If you effectively treat ich then it is no longer in the tank. If it is not in the tank it cannot come back. There is no dormant stage to ich, so make sure you treat for about 10-11 days after seeing the last spot and you are fine.

Increasing the temp increases the speed of the life cycle but if you aren't treating as well you are just accelerating the rate of death for the parasite.

The garlic is just a myth. Ages ago a woman found that using garlic had some anti bacterial properties on saltwater fish, and that some fish fed with it seemed less succeptible to marine ich (completely different pathogen to FW ich). From here the internet has turned garlic into a super food that kills all problems and heals everything.

Head over to the skeptical aquarist's page to find good solid info on ich:

http/www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/ich.shtml

 

[andywg]

If you effectively treat ich then it is no longer in the tank. If it is not in the tank it cannot come back. There is no dormant stage to ich, so make sure you treat for about 10-11 days after seeing the last spot and you are fine.

Increasing the temp increases the speed of the life cycle but if you aren't treating as well you are just accelerating the rate of death for the parasite.

The garlic is just a myth. Ages ago a woman found that using garlic had some anti bacterial properties on saltwater fish, and that some fish fed with it seemed less succeptible to marine ich (completely different pathogen to FW ich). From here the internet has turned garlic into a super food that kills all problems and heals everything.

Head over to the skeptical aquarist's page to find good solid info on ich:

http/www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/ich.shtml

 

[helterskelter]

I was at one Of Dr Peter Burgess where he was talking of this, some fish can build an immune to Ick, but as already stated with effective treatment you will not get Ick back as it physically has to be introduced via an infected fish or water source.

In tanks where you constantly get Ick returning this is usually the original infection has not been trested propley in the first place or it's being reintroduced.