I have read articles on Ich treatments, but nothing much on prevention. I understand the benefit of a q-tank in preventing the introduction of ich from new tank mates, but is there anything else that I can do as a preventative measure?
None of my fish show symptoms of Ich, but I want to do all that I can to prevent Ich.
Ich Prevention???
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There really is nothing specific to prevent Ich, like drops you put on your dog to prevent fleas. There are things that you can do to be sure you select healthy fish, and that accidental diseases and parasites are not added to the main tank, and to keep your fish as healthy as possible so that their immune system is strong enough to fight off diseases and parasites.
Fish under stress are more prone to diseases and parasites, so minimizing stress is good, up to a certain point.
The particular stresses that seem to lead to an outbreak of Ich are exposure to cold, for example heater failure or chill during transport and transport itself. There are a number of things going on when a fish is captured at the store and you take it home. Perhaps reducing each part of the several stresses will help.
1) Wholesale shipments of fish are added to the store tanks and must adapt to different water. The water from the wholesaler may contain Ich or other problems. Then you take them home and they must adapt to a different water again. Reducing the differences in the water chemistry may help. Have your q-tank set up to match the store tank. Do not buy fish the same day they arrive at the store. If the store has UV sterilizer running then the diseases or parasites from the wholesalers' water will be killed. After several days in the store weak or overly stressed fish will die. Do not buy fish when their tank mates are sick, and remember that tank mates include any fish on the same filtration system.
Get to know the store people, perhaps just a couple of the people, and go in on the days your friend is working. I remember admiring some fish, and the salesman cautioned waiting. Sure enough, Neon Tetra Disease showed up a few days later. Sounds harsh, but it is true: Let the store take the loss that happens in the first few days after shipping.
2) Being chased and getting tired out is a terrible stress to fish, and the muscular exertion and recovery period means the fish will be generating excess ammonia exactly during the ride home, in the confines of the bag. Refuse to buy the fish if the fish catcher is using the 'get 'em all tired out' method of catching the fish. Calm, slow, and easy does it. Adding an ammonia locking product to the shipping bag can help.
3) Fish are under less stress when they are in the dark, so bring a dark bag if the store does not bag them in dark bags. Keep them insulated for temperature, and covered and in the dark on the trip home.
4) Make sure the q-tank matches the store water chemistry. Net the fish out of the bag. As gentle as the store person can be, the fish is still stressed, and the water in the bag has ammonia and stress hormones in it. You certainly do not want these in your tank. The store water may also have Ich tomonts or theronts, and possibly other diseases and parasites.
Also, the water in the bag has CO2 in it from the fish respiration. This lowers the pH. Ammonia in that sealed bag is more likely to be in the NH4+ form, less toxic. When you open the bag the CO2 out gases, and the pH rises, and the ammonia becomes NH3, more toxic. Get the fish out of the bag ASAP. If you know it will be more than a few minutes add an ammonia locking product to the bag (if the store did not already).
5) If you get the fish from a suspicious store run a UV sterilizer on the q-tank for several days or a week, then turn it off. This will kill any free swimming disease or parasites that may have made it into the water.
6) Treat the fish for diseases or parasites that may be common in that group of fish, for example intestinal parasites in Loaches.
7) Quarantine tank means that you are not sharing equipment among your tanks. Have a separate net, bucket and gravel vac for the Q-tank, and wash your hands in between dealing with your tanks.
So much for stress of transport and acclimation.
Other issues:
Any disease is a stress to the fish, and can weaken their immune system, but when the fish survive that sort of stress also makes their immune system stronger, better able to deal with a disease or parasite the next time it comes around.
Medications are sort of poisons, but here is the theory: Medication is toxic to some organisms at higher levels and to other organisms at lower levels. A medication that is specific for a disease or parasite in a particular animal means that medication will cause a minor stress to the animal and more stress (death) to the disease or parasite.
Treat the fish when needed the best you can for whatever disease you can properly identify, but do not treat healthy fish that do not need treatment. Catch the disease or parasite early, and treat with the proper dose so that treatment will be short, and the fish will not be stressed by fighting the disease for a long period of time. Use the mildest medicine that you know will do the job for the least stress to the fish. (I know, this is a tricky area. If you are not a veterinarian or a fish biologist it is a little tricky to know exactly which disease or parasite you are dealing with)
Fish are best adapted to certain water chemistry, and their metabolism will work optimally within a certain range of conditions (GH, KH, pH, salinity, TDS, temperature, and other chemistry)
When fish are kept in the optimum conditions they are functioning at optimum levels. When fish are kept in marginal conditions they are under a low level of stress that can accumulate and leave them open to diseases or parasites. Therefore, as much as you can, keep fish with other fish that thrive in the same or similar conditions, and set up other tanks if you want to keep fish that prefer different conditions.
Do not try to keep 2 species in the same tank if their requirements barely overlap. There is too small a margin for error in such a tank. If, for example you are keeping a warm water fish with a cold water fish and the heater fails the fish that prefers warmer water is already at the cold end its preference, and now the tank gets colder.
Do not keep big fish and little fish in the same tank. The little fish will be under the constant fear of the big fish (a possible predator), and fear is another stress. If the species you want to keep is a social fish and needs more of its own species the get enough of them that they will form a school. Contrarily, if you want an aggressive fish that does not get along with others then do not put it in a situation that will create the social stress of having to deal with other fish.
Keep toxins under control.
Do a fishless cycle, or use the proper nitrifying bacteria (for example from a healthy, cycled tank). Do not put fish through the stress of a fish-in cycle which can lead to physical injury (ammonia burns to the gills and fins) and other stress, sometimes lasting the rest of the fishes' life.
Keep up a regular schedule of maintenance such as gravel vacs and water changes to keep organic matter and nitrates at a minimum.
Use a proper filter to remove debris from the tank, and keep up with filter maintenance. The debris trapped by the filter is not really removed from the water until you clean the filter.
Grow live plants as part of the filtration system. Live plants are better than bacteria at removing ammonia and they remove nitrate, which accumulates when you are depending on nitrifying bacteria and water changes to keep up the water conditions. Live plants and the associated microorganisms remove many other low level toxins from the water, too, such as locking up heavy metals.
Keep the oxygen levels in the tank at the proper level for the fish, usually by water temperature and water movement that is appropriate for the fish.
Feed a rotation of foods that include all the food groups and vitamins and minerals that fish need. Feed the appropriate type of food to each fish. For example, certain Rift Lake fish can get a disease called Bloat if they are fed a diet too high in animal protein, but predatory fish require meaty foods, so do not keep these two types in the same tank.
Fish in the wrong surroundings may also have a low level of stress. For example many small schooling fish come from dark areas, such as near the banks of rivers and streams overhung with trees, with roots in the water and so on. They are brightly colored to signal to others of the school under these dark conditions. These fish are under stress when the tank is too light, and there are no hiding places such as live plants or arcs of driftwood. Research the fish and provide the appropriate substrate, decor such as rocks, caves, wood, plants and light levels for that species.
I am sure that other people can think of other ways to reduce stress to the fish, and all of these need some attention for each species. Some of them are very important to one species and less important to others. Any way you can reduce stress will be helpful to ward off Ich and other parasites and diseases.
Fish under stress are more prone to diseases and parasites, so minimizing stress is good, up to a certain point.
The particular stresses that seem to lead to an outbreak of Ich are exposure to cold, for example heater failure or chill during transport and transport itself. There are a number of things going on when a fish is captured at the store and you take it home. Perhaps reducing each part of the several stresses will help.
1) Wholesale shipments of fish are added to the store tanks and must adapt to different water. The water from the wholesaler may contain Ich or other problems. Then you take them home and they must adapt to a different water again. Reducing the differences in the water chemistry may help. Have your q-tank set up to match the store tank. Do not buy fish the same day they arrive at the store. If the store has UV sterilizer running then the diseases or parasites from the wholesalers' water will be killed. After several days in the store weak or overly stressed fish will die. Do not buy fish when their tank mates are sick, and remember that tank mates include any fish on the same filtration system.
Get to know the store people, perhaps just a couple of the people, and go in on the days your friend is working. I remember admiring some fish, and the salesman cautioned waiting. Sure enough, Neon Tetra Disease showed up a few days later. Sounds harsh, but it is true: Let the store take the loss that happens in the first few days after shipping.
2) Being chased and getting tired out is a terrible stress to fish, and the muscular exertion and recovery period means the fish will be generating excess ammonia exactly during the ride home, in the confines of the bag. Refuse to buy the fish if the fish catcher is using the 'get 'em all tired out' method of catching the fish. Calm, slow, and easy does it. Adding an ammonia locking product to the shipping bag can help.
3) Fish are under less stress when they are in the dark, so bring a dark bag if the store does not bag them in dark bags. Keep them insulated for temperature, and covered and in the dark on the trip home.
4) Make sure the q-tank matches the store water chemistry. Net the fish out of the bag. As gentle as the store person can be, the fish is still stressed, and the water in the bag has ammonia and stress hormones in it. You certainly do not want these in your tank. The store water may also have Ich tomonts or theronts, and possibly other diseases and parasites.
Also, the water in the bag has CO2 in it from the fish respiration. This lowers the pH. Ammonia in that sealed bag is more likely to be in the NH4+ form, less toxic. When you open the bag the CO2 out gases, and the pH rises, and the ammonia becomes NH3, more toxic. Get the fish out of the bag ASAP. If you know it will be more than a few minutes add an ammonia locking product to the bag (if the store did not already).
5) If you get the fish from a suspicious store run a UV sterilizer on the q-tank for several days or a week, then turn it off. This will kill any free swimming disease or parasites that may have made it into the water.
6) Treat the fish for diseases or parasites that may be common in that group of fish, for example intestinal parasites in Loaches.
7) Quarantine tank means that you are not sharing equipment among your tanks. Have a separate net, bucket and gravel vac for the Q-tank, and wash your hands in between dealing with your tanks.
So much for stress of transport and acclimation.
Other issues:
Any disease is a stress to the fish, and can weaken their immune system, but when the fish survive that sort of stress also makes their immune system stronger, better able to deal with a disease or parasite the next time it comes around.
Medications are sort of poisons, but here is the theory: Medication is toxic to some organisms at higher levels and to other organisms at lower levels. A medication that is specific for a disease or parasite in a particular animal means that medication will cause a minor stress to the animal and more stress (death) to the disease or parasite.
Treat the fish when needed the best you can for whatever disease you can properly identify, but do not treat healthy fish that do not need treatment. Catch the disease or parasite early, and treat with the proper dose so that treatment will be short, and the fish will not be stressed by fighting the disease for a long period of time. Use the mildest medicine that you know will do the job for the least stress to the fish. (I know, this is a tricky area. If you are not a veterinarian or a fish biologist it is a little tricky to know exactly which disease or parasite you are dealing with)
Fish are best adapted to certain water chemistry, and their metabolism will work optimally within a certain range of conditions (GH, KH, pH, salinity, TDS, temperature, and other chemistry)
When fish are kept in the optimum conditions they are functioning at optimum levels. When fish are kept in marginal conditions they are under a low level of stress that can accumulate and leave them open to diseases or parasites. Therefore, as much as you can, keep fish with other fish that thrive in the same or similar conditions, and set up other tanks if you want to keep fish that prefer different conditions.
Do not try to keep 2 species in the same tank if their requirements barely overlap. There is too small a margin for error in such a tank. If, for example you are keeping a warm water fish with a cold water fish and the heater fails the fish that prefers warmer water is already at the cold end its preference, and now the tank gets colder.
Do not keep big fish and little fish in the same tank. The little fish will be under the constant fear of the big fish (a possible predator), and fear is another stress. If the species you want to keep is a social fish and needs more of its own species the get enough of them that they will form a school. Contrarily, if you want an aggressive fish that does not get along with others then do not put it in a situation that will create the social stress of having to deal with other fish.
Keep toxins under control.
Do a fishless cycle, or use the proper nitrifying bacteria (for example from a healthy, cycled tank). Do not put fish through the stress of a fish-in cycle which can lead to physical injury (ammonia burns to the gills and fins) and other stress, sometimes lasting the rest of the fishes' life.
Keep up a regular schedule of maintenance such as gravel vacs and water changes to keep organic matter and nitrates at a minimum.
Use a proper filter to remove debris from the tank, and keep up with filter maintenance. The debris trapped by the filter is not really removed from the water until you clean the filter.
Grow live plants as part of the filtration system. Live plants are better than bacteria at removing ammonia and they remove nitrate, which accumulates when you are depending on nitrifying bacteria and water changes to keep up the water conditions. Live plants and the associated microorganisms remove many other low level toxins from the water, too, such as locking up heavy metals.
Keep the oxygen levels in the tank at the proper level for the fish, usually by water temperature and water movement that is appropriate for the fish.
Feed a rotation of foods that include all the food groups and vitamins and minerals that fish need. Feed the appropriate type of food to each fish. For example, certain Rift Lake fish can get a disease called Bloat if they are fed a diet too high in animal protein, but predatory fish require meaty foods, so do not keep these two types in the same tank.
Fish in the wrong surroundings may also have a low level of stress. For example many small schooling fish come from dark areas, such as near the banks of rivers and streams overhung with trees, with roots in the water and so on. They are brightly colored to signal to others of the school under these dark conditions. These fish are under stress when the tank is too light, and there are no hiding places such as live plants or arcs of driftwood. Research the fish and provide the appropriate substrate, decor such as rocks, caves, wood, plants and light levels for that species.
I am sure that other people can think of other ways to reduce stress to the fish, and all of these need some attention for each species. Some of them are very important to one species and less important to others. Any way you can reduce stress will be helpful to ward off Ich and other parasites and diseases.
38 tanks, 2 ponds over 4000 liters of water to keep clean and fresh.
Happy fish keeping!
Happy fish keeping!
My Top 10 Ich Prevention Methods-
1- Avoid getting new fish.
2- Stock the aquarium only once, and be done with it.
3- If getting new fish, set-up a new species only tank for them.
4- Quarantine. If buying new fish for an established tank, quarantine the new fish for at least 3 weeks before moving them to the main tank.
5- If you have MTS (multi tank syndrom) and have little control over your fish buying habits, then get to know the people who work at the fish stores. Be nice to them. You want them to be your friend. If they like you, they will clue you in on the health history of the fish.
6- Only buy new fish from a reputable sources. If their fish tanks are covered with dirt or algae, then find a new dealer. The tanks at a reputable dealer will look picture perfect. Also pay special attention to how the clerks net the fish and how they handle the fish bags. If they are too rough with the fish, then find a different dealer. Only buy fish from gentle caring people who love fish. The best shopes usually have a 7 day guarantee on their fish.
7- Scout out new fish. Don't buy the fish the day you 1st see them, wait and buy them 3-5 days days later if they still look healthy. Never buy fish on impulse. Even better, scout the fish the day they arrive at the fish store and have the store hold them for you.
8- If you don't have time to scout out the fish, then browse all the tanks at the fish store. Look for unhealthy fish and dead loss, then avoid buying fish from those tanks. If tanks are on a central filtration system, then don't buy any fish from the store.
9- Avoid cross contamination with aquarium equipment when new fish are present.
10. Be Proactive, not reactive. If you buy new fish at a store that sells ich medications, then you've probably just purchased some ich too. Be prepared to treat the fish immediately.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UV sterilizers do not prevent ich, they only reduce the organisms that are free floating in the water column that actually get exposed to the UV rays.
Regardless of the stress level, ich can still be present on the fish. Reducing stress may inhibit the parasite from being more visible.
Ich needs a host. A parasite free fish that is in an ich free environment won't get ich. Dropping the water temperature doesn't give fish ich.
1- Avoid getting new fish.
2- Stock the aquarium only once, and be done with it.
3- If getting new fish, set-up a new species only tank for them.
4- Quarantine. If buying new fish for an established tank, quarantine the new fish for at least 3 weeks before moving them to the main tank.
5- If you have MTS (multi tank syndrom) and have little control over your fish buying habits, then get to know the people who work at the fish stores. Be nice to them. You want them to be your friend. If they like you, they will clue you in on the health history of the fish.
6- Only buy new fish from a reputable sources. If their fish tanks are covered with dirt or algae, then find a new dealer. The tanks at a reputable dealer will look picture perfect. Also pay special attention to how the clerks net the fish and how they handle the fish bags. If they are too rough with the fish, then find a different dealer. Only buy fish from gentle caring people who love fish. The best shopes usually have a 7 day guarantee on their fish.
7- Scout out new fish. Don't buy the fish the day you 1st see them, wait and buy them 3-5 days days later if they still look healthy. Never buy fish on impulse. Even better, scout the fish the day they arrive at the fish store and have the store hold them for you.
8- If you don't have time to scout out the fish, then browse all the tanks at the fish store. Look for unhealthy fish and dead loss, then avoid buying fish from those tanks. If tanks are on a central filtration system, then don't buy any fish from the store.
9- Avoid cross contamination with aquarium equipment when new fish are present.
10. Be Proactive, not reactive. If you buy new fish at a store that sells ich medications, then you've probably just purchased some ich too. Be prepared to treat the fish immediately.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UV sterilizers do not prevent ich, they only reduce the organisms that are free floating in the water column that actually get exposed to the UV rays.
Regardless of the stress level, ich can still be present on the fish. Reducing stress may inhibit the parasite from being more visible.
Ich needs a host. A parasite free fish that is in an ich free environment won't get ich. Dropping the water temperature doesn't give fish ich.
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