Corals and Ich?

[SteveMM62Reef]

Do Corals eat Ich? I have a fellow reefer, who brought over some clean Cheato, from a grow out tank. Two months ago he got a Hippo Tang, ended up having Ich. Which it gave to his other fish. Hasn’t seen a bit of Ich in over 3-1/2 weeks. We pretty much have the same Coral, from swapping. I Quarantine just about all my fish, and inverts, fish get Copper Treatments, the Goby’s mostly just four weeks of observation. Wondering if Corals knocked out the Ich.

 

[Kershaw]

I don’t know if they do or don’t. But I am sure that if they do they don’t eat enough to eradicate it. It’s likely his fish are healthy enough that it can be considered managed. my guess would be if the fish get stressed or sick he will notice them again.

 

[threebuoys]

Do Corals eat Ich? I have a fellow reefer, who brought over some clean Cheato, from a grow out tank. Two months ago he got a Hippo Tang, ended up having Ich. Which it gave to his other fish. Hasn’t seen a bit of Ich in over 3-1/2 weeks. We pretty much have the same Coral, from swapping. I Quarantine just about all my fish, and inverts, fish get Copper Treatments, the Goby’s mostly just four weeks of observation. Wondering if Corals knocked out the Ich.

Corals do not eat ich. Are you certain your diagnosis was accurate? Sometimes, mucus plugs on tangs will initially look like ich, then they gradually disappear.

 

[James M]

Corals will not eradicate ich but people have many different opinions on corals eating ich at different life stages

 

[vetteguy53081]

Do Corals eat Ich? I have a fellow reefer, who brought over some clean Cheato, from a grow out tank. Two months ago he got a Hippo Tang, ended up having Ich. Which it gave to his other fish. Hasn’t seen a bit of Ich in over 3-1/2 weeks. We pretty much have the same Coral, from swapping. I Quarantine just about all my fish, and inverts, fish get Copper Treatments, the Goby’s mostly just four weeks of observation. Wondering if Corals knocked out the Ich.

No- ich is a protozoan and has a life cycle however that life cycle is disrupted without a host fish

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Will corals feed on ich tomonts that happen to land on them? Probably, but will they control ich? Nope.

Well established reef tanks, with good protein skimming, can reduce the "propagule pressure" of an ich infection to some degree. It then becomes the process of "ich management".

Jay