ICK Life Cycle

[Huskymaniac]

If the ick life cycle can last up to 76 days then why do we only treat copper for 30 days. I literally had 3 fails in QT and had to break my tank down twice to catch fish. On all 3 times ick returned a few weeks after copper treatment. I am using CP now and the tineframe is even less. Does CP kill all stages or something?

 

[sfin52]

If I'm not mistaken the pupa stage of ich may last up 72 days in a fishless system.

 

[drstardust]

In a perfect world we would treat with 76 days of copper or CP. However, fish are not likely to survive treatment this long, esp with copper.

 

[Huskymaniac]

If I had a persistant ick infection that has a cycle more than 30 days would 30 days of CP have any different effect than copper at 30 days?

 

[drstardust]

If I had a persistant ick infection that has a cycle more than 30 days would 30 days of CP have any different effect than copper at 30 days?

Theoretically, no. There are anecdotes of people having "copper failures" which then respond well to CP, or vice-versa. Lots of factors involved, including type of copper used, how frequently level is checked, how it is checked, whether water changes are done with water containing therapeutic copper levels, how careful someone is with biosecurity...the list goes on.
Maybe you can provide more detail on how you went about copper treatment?

 

[Huskymaniac]

I treated with 3 30 day copper treatments. First two times with coppersafe and the last the last time with copperpower. All levels where in therapeutic range and confirmed using the hanna checker. Not sure what else to do. I have 4 separate quarantine tanks going. Thinking of running hypo for a full 76 days on all of them. Right now the tanks with sensitive fish are in hypo and all all clear. The other two are in CP and the only one left with spots is the purple tang. Just not really sure what the point of the CP is if the parasites cycle is more than 30 days.

 

[drstardust]

It's not a perfect system. The CP (or copper) would kill free swimming parasites, and the tomonts (encysted) stage are what can last >30 days before releasing free swimmers. If you treat x 30 days, you will kill any free swimmers, and if any tomonts persist past that time, they won't come into play if you remove the fish from the tank, as they will stay behind on the glass/pvc/whatever.

I've not heard of someone running hypo that long, or how fish would handle it. Hypo in general is a pain in the butt based on the need to constantly keep salinity where you want it and not letting it creep up even once. Also, there are hypo resistant strains of ich. Ugh.

 

[drstardust]

Now, if you were to leave fish in there and remove copper/CP after 30 days, that could present a problem. But I'm guessing you removed the fish right out of therapeutic copper into your DT. This is also why I like to use an observation tank that is separate from the treatment QT. I watch fish for 2-4 weeks to make sure I didn't miss something. Also not perfect, but an extra layer of security.

There's also good old TTM. I don't do it personally because I'm more afraid of the other nasties, worse than ich, that this does not treat. But if you're dealing with ich specifically and do it properly, it's a very effective method.

 

[Huskymaniac]

First time I did it but the two times have kept in QT. They have been in QT since May 5th.

 

[drstardust]

Ha, I edited my last post to include TTM at the same time as you posted. That may be an option for you. It certainly sounds like you have enough tanks to do it.

 

[Nopy117]

@Huskymaniac 14 days of therapeutic copper then transfer into another clean system is best for yourself and the fish. The 30 day copper into a single Qt is a gamble.

 

[Humblefish]

@Huskymaniac 14 days of therapeutic copper then transfer into another clean system is best for yourself and the fish. The 30 day copper into a single Qt is a gamble.

^^ This; although 30 days of copper or CP (in one QT) still gets the job done in most cases. Strains of ich which exceed 30 days total life cycle are rare, so the odds are in your favor.

However, no matter which way you go a 2 week observation period (post treatment) is very important to ensure the fish is clean/disease-free.

 

[4FordFamily]

^^ This; although 30 days of copper or CP (in one QT) still gets the job done in most cases. Strains of ich which exceed 30 days total life cycle are rare, so the odds are in your favor.

However, no matter which way you go a 2 week observation period (post treatment) is very important to ensure the fish is clean/disease-free.

This exactly!