ICH questions

[silvercvic]

Is it true that once there there are no fish in a tank that has ICH infested water, the ICH will eventually die off??

I lost some fish to ICH and was planning on setting up a QT for the rest of the fish in the showtank. I am wondering if the ICH will die off due to no host + I just added a UV sterilizer on the showtank...hoping to ward off whatever is floating around. And if this does eventually work by killing the ICH, will my fish get ICH again once they get better in the QT and I put them back in the tank??? How long does it tank to kill of ICH if they have no host??

Will the UV cure my tank if I didn't setup a QT and just left the fish the way they are???

I am wondering about the second option because I heard that tangs and copper are not a good mix. Any one got any thing on this theory??

[reelheel]

I have read that it is true that Ich will not survive in your tank without a fish host. The tank should remain sterile (no fish hosts) for a minimum of 4 weeks to ensure that the parasites are dead. However, if there are surviving fish in the aquarium, the Ich can be present on them and transfer to any other tank when they are moved....I just had a huge Ich outbreak that claimed most of my fish (due to no hospital tank) but those that survived will always be "hostable" by the Ich until they have been treated w/copper or hyposalinity for 3-4 weeks...

I personally (from experience) would not leave this to chance...I would remove all remaining fish and treat w/hypo for 3-4 wks, and leave the main tank fishless during this time...this way you can be reasonably sure that your problem will be solved...

HTH :rollface:

[silvercvic]

well, does marine ICH and freshwater ICH the same??? I move a brackish black finned shark to my arrwoana tank and the ICH died. Now with the hospital tank and true marine fish, would you recommend hyposal or copper??? Or both???

[reelheel]

Marine Ich and freshwater Ich is not the same, that's why hyposalinity will kill marine Ich...low salinity levels. Either copper or hyposalinity will be effective if performed properly...whichever you choose, however, make sure that the tank is monitored constantly! I prefer hyposalinity, because it can be performed without the dangers of copper residue in your hospital tank. That said, however, you will need an accurate salinity meter (i.e. refractometer) in order to be successful...if you choose copper (I recommend Cupramine), you will need an accurate copper test kit...before you choose...I would suggest searching both in the Disease Treatment forum here on RC...

HTH :rollface: