Ich's life cycle
 

I purchased a firefish about 2 weeks ago.
He had a few small spots on him that i presumed were ich.
He went in to QT and i began hypo, But the question is?
It's been 2 weeks and the spots are still there.
My understanding of ich tell's me they should have dropped by now.
Is my understanding wrong?

Do a search on the board on the subject of Ich. There is reams of published information on the subject.:mrgreen:

well to clear ich from your tank you have to have no fish in there for 6 weeks...soo ?

Agreed,
But im wondering about the actuall hosting phase. Which from what ive seen generally last about a week.
I'm thinking maybey ive misdiognozed and it's something other then ich.
Because from my understanding if it was Ich it should have finished the hosting stage by now.

hypo kills ich while its in the egg stage laying in the sand or rocks ,the lower salinity causes them to burst and stops the cycle,so first of all the sg must be at 0.009 or lower because at 0.010 it still can reproduce,so while the ich is still on your fish it has to drop off wich i think can be between 3-7 days and if its in the swimming form thats 3-5 days also,so once the sg is low enough wait a good 3 weeks to be safe then raise it up.

I believe ich stays on the host fish for under seven days. You might have something else going on with the fish. Any pics?

Here are two excellent page on ich and its treatment....

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/tr...marineich.html

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/tr...osalinity.html

heres a couple more
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.php
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/20...ture/index.php

Thanx Bev
Thats what i was asking. Maybe i wasn't clear that he's had the same spots in the same place's for about 2 weeks. Thats why I'm wondering if it may be something other then ich.

Unfortunately my camera isn't good enough the level of detail to show the spots.

Where on the fish's body are the spots localized and was the QT cycled before adding the fish? What are the QT water specs and is alk/Ph being monitored a few times daily? Was C. irritans prevalent when starting hypo or was it prophylactic?

If the spots have not changed in the time frame you noted, it could be Lymphocystis (an iridovirus) or a mild bacterial infection. Any sign of redness around the area or scales standing on end?

Lymphocystis will look "warty" in appearance on the body area while it could look cottony on fin areas. Kinda confusing as it will also resemble fin rot which is bacterial.

When you aquired the fish, it was most likely netted but was it easily captured or a challenge, possibley injured?

Cheers
Steve

Yes, could be Lymphocystis as steve-s suggests. There was a recent thread where I talked about the remedy for it. Do a search for it.