ok so I'm fairly new to the diesease thing, I got a blue ram though that now has ich (very minor but ich none the less) so I see the spots on her, my question is since she's in a quarantine tank, will removing her the second I see no more spots on her keep the ich out of her and in the q/t tank, therefore eliminating her of ich? When I move her she'll be going back into my nicely stocked 20g so if there's any chance of her moving ich over there I don't want to take it, I was just wondering if I saw no spots it'd be ok to move her, then keep treating the q/t tank empty to kill the ich parasites... make sense? can I do it?
ANOTHER Ich question
- Thread starter MXPX4318
- Start date
canarsie11
Fish Gatherer
Just because spots goes away does not mean Ich is gone.
Secondly, what tank was the ram in when it contracted ich?
If the ram was in 20 gallon, you cannot just move to quaruntine tank, because ich will still be in 20 gallon.
Secondly, what tank was the ram in when it contracted ich?
If the ram was in 20 gallon, you cannot just move to quaruntine tank, because ich will still be in 20 gallon.
I believe she had it in the 10g (because I saw spots but lighting isn't to hot on my q/t (only room lighting) and took them to be the spots that reflect blue that she has on her fins) so I moved her and her mate to the 20g last night because the 10 was having parameter problems, I woke up at 10am this morning (fish were moved in at 12 30am) and turned on the aquarium light in the 20g and noticed the spots were quite white on her (just like 6 or 7 spots at the moment) so I immeditely removed her from the tank and put her back in the 10g q/t tank. I inspected all of my other fish very closely (gosh with 15 small quick never stopping fish that's hard but I did) and did not see any spots on any of the other fish. So I'll just leave her in the 10g q/t tank for a week or so I guess, should I treat the 20g anyway? I don't really want to have to deal with medicating it as I have cories and a male ram who if are healthy I don't want to expose to formalin. UGH I HATE DISEASES!
canarsie11
Fish Gatherer
You should not move fish to new tank after you find out about ich, cause you will then have 2 tanks, that will contract disease.
Oringinal tank may still have ich, even though ram is not in there anymore
Oringinal tank may still have ich, even though ram is not in there anymore
well I moved her because she was the only one showing any signs of ich and she'd only been in there maybe 10 hours so I figured any ich would still be on her and wouldn't have come off yet.... So should I be treating the 20g too or wait a few days (3 or 4 isn't that the life cycle of ich?) and see if anything shows up? I heard if nothing shows up in the span of a life cycle then the ich is dead as it can't live without a host...
The problem is that there may be only one fish with external spots, but the parasite also loves the gills of fish. If any fish are scratching or flashing -- they probably have it. Even then, when the cyst falls off, it will lie dormant, reproducing on its stored energy and then releasing hundreds to thousands of free swimmers. You cannot see these things without a microscope. And the parasite is only vulnerable to medications in this free swimming stage. You most likely have some time bombs sitting on the bottom of your tank.
If you catch this early (now), you can treat early (now), and probably save the fish some extra stress. Better to medicate them now, when the are 99% healthy than when half of them are suffering from ich -- the extra stress then may be just too much.
If you catch this early (now), you can treat early (now), and probably save the fish some extra stress. Better to medicate them now, when the are 99% healthy than when half of them are suffering from ich -- the extra stress then may be just too much.
ok well I'll start medicating the 20g as well I guess, better start turning the temperature up in there too I guess. wish me luck, but the question is... should I just move the female ram back into the 20g as I'll be treating the tank anyways... or should I just leave her as to not cause her anymore stress at the moment? since she's been moved 3 times in 3 days.... god I hate this ich crap.
I should rename this thread "I love my LFS" I went up there today to get some stuff, and told them about my predicament and they just said "bring her back" I said "what?" and they said "bring her back" even though my fish wasn't dead they took her back, and gave me my money back, I love this place, they know what they're talking about (all have their own tanks at home the owner has a huge tank from what I understand like 8x3 or something to that extent.) and I've gotten nothing but good fish from them until this one case of ich and they took that one back , so I'll still treat the 20g since she was in there for a bit (though no fish show any signs) so I'll treat it for a while and keep an eye out, but I defiently consider myself lucky
, so I'll still treat the 20g since she was in there for a bit (though no fish show any signs) so I'll treat it for a while and keep an eye out, but I defiently consider myself lucky CathyG
Fishaholic
Sounds like a good LFS!
Just a point, though, in my experience it *is* possible to see the free swimming parasite without a microscope
Just a point, though, in my experience it *is* possible to see the free swimming parasite without a microscope
astroboy
Fishaholic
I Highly doubt it was ick you saw. They are far too small to see with the naked eye. You probably saw something else (debris, dirt, poo)
CathyG
Fishaholic
You may be right But it was only when treating for Ick did I see what seemed like thousands of white dots coating my glass, and even more suspended in the water. My sister had the same when she was treating too. Maybe it was the lighting?
But it was only when treating for Ick did I see what seemed like thousands of white dots coating my glass, and even more suspended in the water. My sister had the same when she was treating too. Maybe it was the lighting?well I haven't seen any white dots in or on any of my fish in the 20g yet (still crossing fingers until next week) the normal life cycle for ich is like 72 hours right? (three days?) if I don't see any by then it's safe to assume there is none because it can't live without a host...right?
MXPX, the life cycle is very highly temperature dependent, so 3 days is not a constant. Also, in the low concentration, the parasite could be primarily in the gills of the fish, rather than on their bodies. The spots may not show up externally for weeks. You know you had some of the parasite in there, medicate now and take care of this problem earlier rather than later.
Secondly, this article abstract indicates that after 1 hour, an attached trophont had a volume of about 1,0000 microns cubed. I could not find a size of the free swimming theront, but if we take that small trophont to be approximately the same size at the theront.
The cube root of 1,000 microns cubed divided by four thirds times pi (I assumed a spherical shape) gives the free swimmer a size of about 6 microns.
CUBR(1000/((4/3)*pi)) =6.204 ~ 6 microns.
That is on the order of the width on a single hair.
CathyG, you have very very good eyes if you can notice swimmers, that would be essentially dots or just points, less than or equal to 6 microns in radius.
Secondly, this article abstract indicates that after 1 hour, an attached trophont had a volume of about 1,0000 microns cubed. I could not find a size of the free swimming theront, but if we take that small trophont to be approximately the same size at the theront.
The cube root of 1,000 microns cubed divided by four thirds times pi (I assumed a spherical shape) gives the free swimmer a size of about 6 microns.
CUBR(1000/((4/3)*pi)) =6.204 ~ 6 microns.
That is on the order of the width on a single hair.
CathyG, you have very very good eyes if you can notice swimmers, that would be essentially dots or just points, less than or equal to 6 microns in radius.
sorry if I made it sound like I wasn't treating the tank, I started treating th 20g yesterday, my question just is how long should I treat it, as I don't see any parasites to begin with, the temperature will be 82 tomorrow (was 78 moved it to 80 today and 82 tomorrow) so just don't want to be constantly treating a tank, so when should I stop?
I would be satisifed after about 5-7 more days after all signs of the parasite have disappeared. No scratching, no spots -- all ich symptoms gone. At around 82ish, the total life cycle should be 3-4 days or so. So long as the fish are not completely stressing out, better to go an extra life cycle of treatment than treat too shortly and be back with this in 2 months or so.
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