Recovery from Ich

GaryE

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In another thread, a poster asked about Ich parasites and Epiplatys annulatus killies. It got me wondering about the experiences of other people.

With time, I have gravitated toward smaller and smaller fish. I like the way they make a scaped tank look large.

I don't see a lot of Ich, usually every few years in quarantine. But when I worked in the business, travelling to large wholesale places, Ich was a problem. If you want chilled fish, go to Canada. Most people buy fish over the winter when they are indoors more, and the fish have to pass through airport cargo where proper care isn't the norm. If Ich is present, even slightly chilled fish are perfect victims.

As a kid, I'd carefully carry my tetras inside my coat, sitting on the bus looking very deformed. But the fish were already often under attack, and I got very good at handling Ich back then.

Conventional widom said that other than a few "ich magnets", the doomed victims of the parasite are small fish. The parasite kills them more easily than with larger fish, as it sits in its white cyst feeding on them. it makes sense to me - the same size parasite with the same nutritional needs sucking the life out of a smaller meal more quickly.

But is it true? Have you seen more Ich recovery problems, whatever treatment you choose, with small fish?
 
But is it true? Have you seen more Ich recovery problems, whatever treatment you choose, with small fish?
I have never seen any real difference. If you spot the disease and treat it early enough, you can usually keep the fish alive. If you leave it for a week and then start treating, you will probably lose fish.

Having said this, I rarely had white spot in my tanks at home and even in the shop it wasn't very common. We had a lot more external protozoan and bacterial infections than white spot.

One of the problems with white spot if the parasite leaves scars where it has been feeding. If there are lots of scars on the gill filaments, the fish will have more trouble getting oxygen from the water. If the fish is put in warm water with little aeration, and it has lots of scars on its gills, it might have more problems breathing and could die from that.
 
So odd, I hadn't thought about it before, but ich is one of the few problems I haven't personally dealt with in my short time in the hobby, despite being one of the most common illnesses. I've seen it in parent's tank growing up, so it was the first illness I knew how to ID just from that - I've seen it in store tanks, but then I didn't buy from that store for a while after seeing it, so *touch wood, so far* haven't had to deal with it or the aftermath. It's an interesting question though, so I want to follow the responses.
 
The only ich outbreak I ever had was thanks to Hurricane Laura; we had to evacuate, no power at my house for 6 days = no filtration

I did have battery-powered air pumps that a neighbor (who stayed) monitored for me, but there were times he couldn't be there, and the batteries died with long intervals between the times he could change them out

With no A/C running in the house, tank temps reached almost 88F

When I got home, had lost alot of fish...and the remaining ones were ich infested, many didn't nake it for long afterwards...but I don't recall if I lost more smaller fish vs. larger ones because of it....I was too devastated to think about it, most likely
 
Interesting that at 88f, there was Ich. That's not supposed to happen.

I think in a northern climate, you see more Ich because of the fact it thrives on chilled fish. I've gone as long as 10 years without seeing it in my tanks, but eventually, you get some new fish and it's spot the spot time. I medicate at the first sight, so I haven't had losses for a while. But elsewhere, I have seen things you just wouldn't want to ever see... the horror.
 
Interesting that at 88f, there was Ich. That's not supposed to happen.

I think in a northern climate, you see more Ich because of the fact it thrives on chilled fish. I've gone as long as 10 years without seeing it in my tanks, but eventually, you get some new fish and it's spot the spot time. I medicate at the first sight, so I haven't had losses for a while. But elsewhere, I have seen things you just wouldn't want to ever see... the horror.
Actually, when I finally got home, that was the temp of the tanks. Power was back on, so filters back up and running, and the home A/C back running, so the tanks gradually cooled from that point on...and that's when the ich developed (or was noticeable), a day or two later
 
My first betta (due toy lack of knowledge) died due to multiple things.
#1- Using wrong dechlorinator
#2- ich
#3- Not cycling
#4- Fin Rot
#5- Too small of tank
#6- Stress due to almost no hides
I'm sure there were more... But those were the basics
 
Actually, when I finally got home, that was the temp of the tanks. Power was back on, so filters back up and running, and the home A/C back running, so the tanks gradually cooled from that point on...and that's when the ich developed (or was noticeable), a day or two later
Are you sure it was white spot and not excess mucous?
If the fish were stressed and some died, and the filter wasn't working, there might have been an ammonia issue that caused the fish to develop excess mucous.

I wouldn't have expected white spot to appear after the water got to 88F or more, especially if nothing new was added to the tank.
 
Are you sure it was white spot and not excess mucous?
If the fish were stressed and some died, and the filter wasn't working, there might have been an ammonia issue that caused the fish to develop excess mucous.

I wouldn't have expected white spot to appear after the water got to 88F or more, especially if nothing new was added to the tank.
I'm positive it was ich.
This was a few days after I got filtration going again, the tanks cooled down to proper temp, removing the carcasses that were still not consumed, and doing massive water changes when I could...coming home after fleeing a hurricane is no fun, lots of "Life" to deal with when you get home...cleanup and damage assessment
 

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