Can Ich be present for 2 years without symptoms?

[amps]

Hey all,

I have a 10g nano with 2 clownfish. The clownfish were purchased from a reputable LFS from a large batch of babies that originated from a local breeder. I've since added dozens of corals and inverts to the tank. It has now been running for a little under 2 years. I haven't added anything to the tank in over 6 months.

I also have a large 180g system with a basement sump. I've followed a fairly rigorous QT process for every fish and coral added to this larger system. Corals spend two weeks in a dedicated QT with a melanarus wrasse and get dipped at least twice, fish get a 3 week CP treatment followed by 2 rounds of Prazipro + Metroplex (if required).

I'd like to plumb the 10g tank into the basement sump of the large tank to help get it under control. I'm having issues with nutrients (unable to siphon most of the sand/crushed coral due to clearance issues), a failed ATO unit and keeping parameters in check. My only concern is the possibility of the smaller tank harboring Ich and spreading to the larger tank via the now connected plumbing.

The clowns have never shown any white spots or disease symptoms (other than a little white around the mouth of the female from picking at rocks I think). Is there any chance that Ich could have been going through a full lifecycle, using the clowns as hosts,. without every really showing itself?

 

[Opus]

I believe it is possible. My purple tang has gone 6 months are more without any symptoms and then it will get stressed and the white spots show up.

 

[Brew12]

Hey all,

I have a 10g nano with 2 clownfish. The clownfish were purchased from a reputable LFS from a large batch of babies that originated from a local breeder. I've since added dozens of corals and inverts to the tank. It has now been running for a little under 2 years. I haven't added anything to the tank in over 6 months.

I also have a large 180g system with a basement sump. I've followed a fairly rigorous QT process for every fish and coral added to this larger system. Corals spend two weeks in a dedicated QT with a melanarus wrasse and get dipped at least twice, fish get a 3 week CP treatment followed by 2 rounds of Prazipro + Metroplex (if required).

I'd like to plumb the 10g tank into the basement sump of the large tank to help get it under control. I'm having issues with nutrients (unable to siphon most of the sand/crushed coral due to clearance issues), a failed ATO unit and keeping parameters in check. My only concern is the possibility of the smaller tank harboring Ich and spreading to the larger tank via the now connected plumbing.

The clowns have never shown any white spots or disease symptoms (other than a little white around the mouth of the female from picking at rocks I think). Is there any chance that Ich could have been going through a full lifecycle, using the clowns as hosts,. without every really showing itself?

It is possible. Then again, it would be possible for you to introduce ich into your DT via your coral, too. Coral dips only kill ich in the free swimming phase. If you were unlucky enough to have ich in the Tomant stage cyst on a coral you could still bring it in that way.

 

[melypr1985]

Yes, it's very possible. People keep tanks and fish with ick for years without seeing much of a problem - at least until some stressor event occurs and causes them all to start succumbing to the parasite. There's a chance that you already have it in your 180 anyway, since it can and will ride in on hard corals, frag plugs ect. If you removed the wrasses from your coral QT it would help minimize the risks of getting ick (or other parasites) that way. Good luck to you!

 

[Paul B]

I agree with Meredith. Ich can be in your tank for 6 months or 60 years without you even noticing it at all. Many tanks have ich, much more than is thought and if the tank owner knows what they are doing, ich will never be a problem. I am very sure ich has been happily living in my tank for almost 40 years and has never reared it's head. It just depends on how you run your tank and how healthy you keep your fish.
Good luck

 

[Darth George]

Agree with all above. Ich is always present. Street usually brings it out.

 

[Alanc425]

Agree with all above. Ich is always present. Street usually brings it out.

Ich can't be always present if you follow proper quarantine procedures.

 

[Darth George]

I was under the impression all fish carry it. Stress/weak immune system and they start showing symptoms, no?

 

[Darth George]

I work at my LFS and my boss, who has sold fish for 40 years, just clued me in on that.

 

[Darth George]

A lot of LFS treat their fish tanks with copper because of it.

 

[Brew12]

I was under the impression all fish carry it. Stress/weak immune system and they start showing symptoms, no?

Ich is a parasite with a very well understood life cycle. It can be killed with copper treatments and completely eliminated.

 

[Alanc425]

A majority of fish do carry it these days from the distributors and yes ich can lay "dormant" for long periods of time (it continues to attach on gills so you won't see it on the fish). When the fish gets stressed, its immune system and slime coat weakens, and that's when you see full outbreaks.

But if you properly treat every infected fish, and quarantine everything wet, it's impossible for ich to just appear from no where.

 

[dragon99]

To be safe you should remove the clownfish from the 10g and run them through QT. Then let the nano sit fallow for 76 days before plumbing it into the main system.

Of course if you ever lapsed even a little on QT for the 180, that all might be moot. Running strict QT is hard.

 

[Paul B]

A lot of LFS treat their fish tanks with copper because of it.

If it were not for copper, there would be no salt water fish hobby.

 

[amps]

Thanks guys. I may consider running the tank fallow and just at the clowns with a cp treatment. I haven't had a 100% QT chain for my corals over the years and there's definetly been some cross contamination between my nano and the 180 via the plugs/rocks they're attached too. I keep the wrasse to help get any bugs that the coral dip misses but I've had other pests make the transition (frickin aptasia).

 

[Salsa777]

So to be 100% safe, you need a QT for fish running copper/meds, and a QT for corals, and you need to keep your coral/frags in the QT tank for 76 to make sure you don't have any exposure to ich in your DT?

 

[amps]

So to be 100% safe, you need a QT for fish running copper/meds, and a QT for corals, and you need to keep your coral/frags in the QT tank for 76 to make sure you don't have any exposure to ich in your DT?

That's what I tried to do. A fish QT is pretty obvious but a coral QT makes sense for more than just Ich. My main reason for using a coral qt is to prevent any disastrous pests from destroying my corals. You get time to observe them and to dip them multiple times.

 

[MT. Reefer]

If you want to run the nano into a combined sump, couldn't you run a UV on the line coming out of the nano if that's the tank that worries you? Wouldn't you believe that the UV would kill all of the free floating ick? Not sure myself but someone on here should know the answer to that.