ICH and 72 days

Breakthecycle2 · Sep 21, 2015

So, I am in the 5th week of a fallow tank because of either one or both of ICH and Velvet. Most people say (because of that 1997 study) that 72 days is pretty much the consensus. My question is how many of you are ICH free after doing this? Iv'e been reading more and more and it seems that it could possibly last more then 6 months? Any truth to that?

Cleo642 · Sep 21, 2015

Humblefish says 72 days and he's a cool guy.

jcdeng · Sep 21, 2015

I have only done 60 days, and the fish that went in afterwards had no white spots till this day.

Humblefish · Sep 21, 2015

There is some anecdotal evidence that going fallow for 72 days may not be long enough for certain strains of ich. However, 72 days is the longest time it ever took theronts to emerge from a group of tomonts in the study you referenced. It's possible fallow failures are due to other factors as well: cross contamination, aerosol transmission, ID-10-T error, etc.

Personally, I've only had to go fallow once for ich and 72 days got the job done. And as the lady said, I'm a cool guy.

Cleo642 · Sep 21, 2015

Humblefish said:
There is some anecdotal evidence that going fallow for 72 days may not be long enough for certain strains of ich. However, 72 days is the longest time it ever took theronts to emerge from a group of tomonts in the study you referenced. It's possible fallow failures are due to other factors as well: cross contamination, aerosol transmission, ID-10-T error, etc.

Personally, I've only had to go fallow once for ich once and 72 days got the job done. And as the lady said, I'm a cool guy.

vedros74 · Sep 21, 2015

I have done the 72 days and Ich free with a powder blue and purple tang now

Breakthecycle2 · Sep 22, 2015

jcdeng said:
I have only done 60 days, and the fish that went in afterwards had no white spots till this day.

Only 60 days? How many fish? What size is your tank?

jcdeng · Sep 22, 2015

elos 120 (90 gallons) I have now 9 fish in total. kept them since the wipe which makes it 30 months.

miyags · Sep 22, 2015

I recommened 12 weeks, thats 12 days longer than the 72 days,and that was due to the so called strains of Ick. But 72 days worked for me. Going fallow is the hardest part of the treatment. Treating new comers is easy for me.

TylerS · Sep 22, 2015

Can you raise the temperature of the tank for extra "insurance" on the 72 days? I think I remember reading that the life cycle is faster at higher temperatures?

Humblefish · Sep 22, 2015

TylerS said:
Can you raise the temperature of the tank for extra "insurance" on the 72 days? I think I remember reading that the life cycle is faster at higher temperatures?

That is for FW ich. For Cryptocaryon it is less clear whether or not raised temp will accelerate the time it takes for theronts to rupture from their cysts. I think the confusion is because there are so many different strains of ich that come from different geographical locations with various temperature ranges. It is known, however, that very low temp will cause tomonts to go dormant.