I have had my clowns for about 8 months and my mandarin for about 5 months. I have never seen a sign of sickness on any of them, but I never quarintined them or the coral and rocks that I got. Is it possible their immune systems are keeping it at bay? Or is it safe to say they dont have ich.
Dormant ich?
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Auquanut
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Great thread. I've read before that most tanks have dormant ich, and the conditions just aren't right for it to manifest. Don't know if there's any validity to that or not. My hippo tang used to get a few spots occasionally that would last for a few days and then go away. I've also read where that is not uncommon. I haven't seen any signs in probably a year. I realize I'm of no help whatsoever, but maybe someone can enlighten us both. Can ich lie dormant for a prolonged period of time?
A can of worms that has no acceptable to all answer. It is very unlikely unless thay have been captive bred, that they have not been exposed to it. And today every supplier runs fish in the same system as their coral, inverts, and macro; and yes ich and velvet can hitchhike their way in. My advice, only buy coral from people that don't sell fish, only buy inverts and macro from people that don't sell fish.
Paul B
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Your tank is not ich free. Your fish are just healthy and "all" fish come to us with some degree of immunity and as long as you keep the fish fed correctly "and you don't quarantine or medicate them" they should remain healthy.
We don't want our tanks ich free, we want them immune to ich as they are in the sea.
We don't want our tanks ich free, we want them immune to ich as they are in the sea.
ArizonaAquatics
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Agree with Paul. Unless everything was CB, then it is highly unlikely the tank is ich free. My blue hippo and purple tang got it when I moved them into my 250 but it went away after a few days. I haven't seen it since. Also none of my other fish were negatively affected at all including 2 other tangs. Personally, I prefer healthy and immune fish over stressing the hell out of them with meds and solitary confinement.
I'm not saying by any means that no one should quarantine, because it is definitely necessary most of the time. Just not for ich that is already in a tank, as the problem will never be eliminated unless the tank goes fallow for a while.
I'm not saying by any means that no one should quarantine, because it is definitely necessary most of the time. Just not for ich that is already in a tank, as the problem will never be eliminated unless the tank goes fallow for a while.
It has been my recent experience that the former to be the case. 8-9 months no new additions, no signs, everything going great then everything dead, the last of which was a hippo tang that all of the sudden was covered in ich.
