Question About Ich And Water Changes

[YellowYoshi398]

Hey... I've only been keeping freshwater tropical community fish for a couple months, so I'm really still kind of a noob. Anyway, just recently my tank came down with a case of ich, and unfortunately I lost a good majority of my fish. My dad and I figured a kind of lethargic-looking platy we got from a Complete Petmart might have been the cause, because he was the first to go. When I went to Jack's Aquarium to get some medicine and ask for help, though, the lady there told me the problem was too many water changes - According to her, changing the water every week is too often and will interrupt the nitrogen cycle, damaging the fishes' immune systems and leading them to develop ich. (I don't know a lot about the disease, so I really can't say whether any of this is right or not.) My dad and I had been replacing 5 gallons in my 29 gallon tank every week ever since I first started keeping goldfish years ago, and while I know goldfish are a lot dirtier than tropical fish, we never had any problems with ich until now and have passed quite a few water tests since switching to tropical fish. By now all of my surviving fish seem to have recovered, but I'm faced with a dilemma... Should I keep doing water changes as I always have, or start replacing less water/doing them less often? (The lady at Jack's recommended once a month; apparently that's how often they change the water in their store tanks.) Is this really what caused my fish to get ich, or am I being led astray?

 

[Caprichoso]

It has always been my experience that fish get sick because of poor water conditions. Poor water conditions are usually from lack of water changes. There is a chance that your tank may not be cycled yet. You may have some ammonia present in the tank which would lower your fish's immunity=sick fish. You should purchase a test kit and test the water every 2 days for the next couple of weeks. Are you making sure that the new water is the same temperature as the tank water and that it is de-chorinated? What is the tank temp? Some fish are more prone to ich when the temp is too cool. I personally wouldn't bother with meds, you are far better off just keeping the water in good condition. Also make sure you are not overfeeding. The fish should always zoom to the surface and devour the food, if not, feed less. Doing water changes every week is good maintenance. That lady that told you it was bad does not know what the heck she's talking about.

Good luck

 

[anon02]

Ich is a parasite and cannot occur spontaneously, if the problem has gone away without your intervention it probably wasn` t ich
A weekly gravel vac/water change is a good habit to get into