Do all tanks have ich?

[One fish]

I was in MD this afternoon and stopped by Tropical Lagoon Aquariums to buy a fish. I usually go to LFS like these and pay a bit extra for a fish instead of buying from Petco. Just as I was checking out I overheard the owner telling another customer that all tanks have ich. He said if the fish are healthy the tank and fish just won't show signs. I was under the impression that if you quarantine you can keep your tank free of ich. I am now concerned about adding this fish to my tank. Was his information accurate? I am now confused from what I have heard in the past.

[AlanM]

I'd say almost all tanks have ich.  

 

It's possible to be very very careful, but that means leaving the tank fallow for around 80 days if you start it with live rock. Quarantining all new fish in copper or CP before adding them and holding them at the treatment dosage for long enough to kill all the ich.  Then having a separate QT system for all coral frags, macro algaes, and inverts that you are willing to keep them in for around 80 days (without adding anything else to that QT in that time and restarting the clock) before adding them to your main system.

 

Most people just aren't willing to go through that and will risk it if the fish "looks" healthy.  Maybe they'll do a quick run through some Prazi Pro or freshwater dips, etc, and call it a day, and so they probably have at least some population of ich.

 

He's right about very healthy fish and a mature tank being able to tolerate some amount of the parasite, though.  

[Customride0105]

I agree every tank has ich... I qt all my fish. They go threw a tough process before they make it to my tank. Last fish I noticed it was a koi tank no one in the tank had ich.. even new koi tang. Next day everyone had ich. Stress adding new fish caused it. Next day ich was gone on all fish including koi. That being said I believe it's in there all the time even tough they are healthy and happy it's still present.

[mari.harutunian]

I was in tropical Lagoon today and some of their fish had very visible white or black ich just in their systems swimming around with healthy fish-- but it is by far not the majority of the fish there. Also a seahorse got stuck in a clam and the frag I bought had bubble algae on it. I was in when they were unpacking livestock and they do no dipping whatsoever. Not sure I quite trust this store yet. Great coral selection tho.

 

 

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[WishNewFish]

With all the frag swapping and using rock and stuff from other tanks, I am not suprised if that statement is true.

Although having double QT tanks like Copps mentioned he does even for his Corals may make a difference.

 

I got Ick in my tank from introducing an anemone from other tank breakdown, I wouldn't be suprised if introducing inverts could do the same.

[davidm]

I gotta agree - all it takes is one drop of water.  think of this analogy - if all of us were completely immuno deficient all sorts of diseases would spread like wildfire just from what we are exposed to in our daily lives. But our immune system keeps this from happening.

[scott711]

Not all tanks have ich.  There are a lot of myths and claims out there that resurface constantly:

 

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ich-cryptocaryon-irritans.191226/

 

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forum/index.php?threads/marine-ich-myths-and-facts.23132/

[sen5241b]

Not all tanks have ich.  There are a lot of myths and claims out there that resurface constantly:

 

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ich-cryptocaryon-irritans.191226/

 

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forum/index.php?threads/marine-ich-myths-and-facts.23132/

 

 

Agree. Put a Powder Blue Tang in your tank. If it gets ich you got it. If it doesn't you don't.

[paul b]

You can run your tank loaded with ich or with no ich. There are two ways to run a tank, it is up to you what you want to do. Both ways work

[davelin315]

I would say that most reef tanks have ich unless you have run hyposalinity for 3 months and then not add anything which is enough to kill off any ich in your system (note that if you have corals, this is not an option).  It is much easier to assert that you have an ich free tank if you do not have any corals because then it's easy to treat with copper and hyposalinity to eliminate ich.

 

My tanks always had ich in them but the fish had built up immunity of sorts.  They would on occasion exhibit tiny outbreaks but they were so used to this that eventually, it simply stopped being visible in the system.  That said, when I added anything new to the tank it would resurface.

 

You can liken this to disease in people - ich may be in remission but that does not mean that it's not present, it's simply dormant and the body is able to fight it off.  Take something like shingles which is derived from chicken pox.  The virus is always in your body but it typically only resurfaces if your body is under a lot of stress or your immunity goes down.  This is why in a tank most people preach water quality and healthy diet for your fish, this keeps their immunity up.  Most consider QT to be treatment of all ailments, but truly a lot of QT is simply observing and being reactive to anything you see.  Most don't do a full blown hospital system to treat for that which is undiscovered because it's costly and also stresses the animals out, not to mention it takes a long time to complete - looking at 90 days of hospital tanks to be truly free and clear in my opinion.

 

So, no, not all tanks have ich, but I would say that I have probably never seen a reef tank that did not have ich in my lifetime and probably won't because I know that most of us don't have the patience to wait ich out under appropriate conditions.

[miggs76]

I've had my tank set up for 5 years. Never had ich once.

[reyc]

I think all tanks have some itc in it others more than other but they can build up more and more as you add more live stock and rocks all together without the waiting 80 days.. this is a patienceee slow hobby ! I learned my lesson ! the hard way ITC... got my new small baby clown fishes lol

 

 

•Just got a new Rimless deep blue 57 gallon tank with t5 programmable led's! with blk stand - im in the MD AREA• NooB

Edited June 30, 2017 by reyc