ick

[andrewsk]

Originally Posted by reeferaddict

Ich is always in your system... there should be no need to QT all of this fish in your system. Fish that are stressed and not eating are prone to parasites.

If you CAN move any infected fish into a quarantine and treat with copper that would be great...

Andrew - that was the most polite flame I have ever received - thank you.

I agree that Cleaner Wrasses aren't for MOST systems, but I noted that this system seemed large enough that it may work well... one thing I DO know about Cleaner Wrasses is that they'll clear ich off anything in no time and the fish love it! I have 3 cleaner shrimp as well... but they didn't seem to do anything about the ich...

Ick can remain in some systems, that's true. The fish remain healthy and are able to fight off a low number of them, but as soon as any stress strikes, it can be deadly.

Letting the tank fallow for 6 weeks and treating all fish in QT guarantees that your system is ick free.

It's a gamble really. He could leave the Tang, add a cleaner and hope. But I would put money on what will happen is that in a week or 2 we get another panicked message that the Tang is dead and his other fish are showing signs of ick.

Then his fish are in real trouble.

Either way, very frustrating.

Do you not think fish need to be quarantined?

I will agree that a Cleaner Wraisse is very efficient and some people are able to keep them, just not most.