I had an outbreak of marine ich. I removed all fish, put them in quarantine, treated with Cupramine, and left display tank fallow for 8 weeks. I have a green bird wrasse that was originally scratching. After a few weeks in quarantine hr stopped scratching and had no signs or ich anymore. I just placed him back in display tank yesterday. He is eating well with no visible signs of ich. However, he is scratching against a rock again. Is this just notmal behaviour or does he possibly still have ich? This is so frustrating because he wasn't scratching at all in QT.
Confused about ich
- Thread starter iceman70
- Start date
- Tagged users None
Could always try black mollies?
Freshwater Black Mollies vs. Marine Fish Diseases
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sh...vs.-Marine-Fish-Diseases.312166/&share_type=t
How about flukes? Have they ever been checked or treated for flukes?
And I agree, 8 weeks is technically not long enough to account for longest known lifecycle of ich (the longest known strain was 72 days)
My first QT failed as well, I put them in a little early... literally only a couple of days. I’m not sure if that was the reason, or if I’d cross-contaminated somehow at some point and unknowingly reset the clock. The second round of QT I waited 80 days, just to be sure...
Freshwater Black Mollies vs. Marine Fish Diseases
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sh...vs.-Marine-Fish-Diseases.312166/&share_type=t
How about flukes? Have they ever been checked or treated for flukes?
And I agree, 8 weeks is technically not long enough to account for longest known lifecycle of ich (the longest known strain was 72 days)
My first QT failed as well, I put them in a little early... literally only a couple of days. I’m not sure if that was the reason, or if I’d cross-contaminated somehow at some point and unknowingly reset the clock. The second round of QT I waited 80 days, just to be sure...
Last edited:
I had read that 6-8 weeks was thr recommended time to go falloe. The thing is the fish have not shown any signs for 8 weeks. Even now that they are back in the DT there are no visible signs other than the bird wrassr occasionally scratching. At this point I guess I will just watch and see if any other signs show up.
It’s 6 weeks for Brook and Velvet... 76 days for ich...
He might not be reinfected, I wouldn’t panic yet. Any other fish have symptoms since reintroduction?
Is he scratching on the sand... or against the rocks? My wrasses flick their bodies on the sand to kick up little critters to eat
He might not be reinfected, I wouldn’t panic yet. Any other fish have symptoms since reintroduction?
Is he scratching on the sand... or against the rocks? My wrasses flick their bodies on the sand to kick up little critters to eat
The only other fish I have in with him is a Hawaiian black trigger and a yellow tang. Neither of them is showing any signs. In the middle of the tank I have a big shell that he seems to like scratching on as he swims by. I have seen him do it in the sand too. He has definitely been very active swimming around and looking at every nook looking for food. Since the tank was falloe the shrimps and worms have been mutiplying like crazy so there are plenty of live things in the tank for him to hunt. I guess I'll just have to keep an eye on things and see if they show any other signs. Thanks for your feedback. I just can't believe that after over 20 years in the hobby there isn't a better way of treating ich.
Big G
captain dunsel
@Humblefish recently posted a study where Ich was able to survive longer than 76 days in sandbed environments where there was no oxygen available. So we need to consider adding stirring the sandbed to the 76 day fallow period. So it may not be as simple as going fallow "long enough" to starve out the parasite. I'm thinking a stirring every couple of days or so might help.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/why-a-fallow-period-will-sometimes-fail.536167/#post-5546414
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/why-a-fallow-period-will-sometimes-fail.536167/#post-5546414
I’ve had several fish go through treatment and come out scratching later on. Sometimes fish just have an itch. Don’t panic yet.
I agree that you terminated treatment a bit early and it is possibly you reinfected the DT. IMO you are likely ok. Most ICH strains have already completed their life cycle within a few months especially in a fallow tank at 78 degrees. There’s always the exception, but I’d honestly worry more about cross contamination than a cold water study conducted many years ago.
Most people do not follow protocol. They fail to keep therapeutic levels long enough or never arrive at therapeutic. Others simply cross contaminate the DT. It happens. If you know you were careful other than the short fallow period of 56 days. Just wait it out and see what happens and don’t fret. You’ll likely be ok.
If not, you’ll never forget this next 76 days.
I agree that you terminated treatment a bit early and it is possibly you reinfected the DT. IMO you are likely ok. Most ICH strains have already completed their life cycle within a few months especially in a fallow tank at 78 degrees. There’s always the exception, but I’d honestly worry more about cross contamination than a cold water study conducted many years ago.
Most people do not follow protocol. They fail to keep therapeutic levels long enough or never arrive at therapeutic. Others simply cross contaminate the DT. It happens. If you know you were careful other than the short fallow period of 56 days. Just wait it out and see what happens and don’t fret. You’ll likely be ok.
If not, you’ll never forget this next 76 days.
