Ich / Ick

[DinoBeasty]

i have a 10 gal. tank with a 2in. african bichair and a 2in. african black knife fish who do not have ich. i have a feeder fish tank that has been infected with ich. Also within this tank there is a little red ramshorn snail that i would prefer in the 10 gallon tank with the african fish.... My Question is can snails act as a pathogen for the ich parasite i know that ich is a natural parasite found on every fish, but are they on snails too?

 

[Boxermom]

A pathogen, no. A carrier, yes.

 

[Bignose]

i know that ich is a natural parasite found on every fish

This is an oft-repeated myth that just is not true. It is certainly possible to have a tank and by continuation, fish that are completely, 100% free of ich. This myth comes about in particular when fish are introduced as carriers, that is they may have a very light infection, and then when stressed they break out. It appears the ich came from no where. Live plants may bring in ich. Or, if you do have an outbreak of ich, and do not treat the tank long enough, it will come back.

But, if you treat long enough, through all the phases of ich's life cycle, you can completely rid your tank of the parasite. And, if you quarantine long enough (I say at the barest minimum 3 weeks, and 4-5 weeks is better), you can make sure ich does not get into your tank.

I like to refer people to http/www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/ich.shtml as a collection of an awful lot of great info on ich, with several ich myths debunked.

Oh, and yes, snails can be carriers. But ich needs fish to continue its life cycle, not snails. If you quarantine any new snail for a week at tropical temperatures any ich that may have come along with the snail will be dead (ich's tropical temp life cycle is 3-5 days, so 7 days guarantees ich's death).