Has anybody had a fish fight off ich on their own? Mine did...

ValorG · Oct 23, 2013

I have a powder blue which was developing ich. It got worse and worse everyday but he always stayed energetic and ate a lot. None of my other fish showed symptoms and my water tested fine. I was going to do a water change which is what I normally do when something seems off (I dont like medicating) but noticed I didn't have enough salt. Ordered more salt and as the days passed, noticed the spots were disappearing and now he has none. I think this is the first fish I had which fought off ich without any intervention whatsoever. Have you guys experienced something like this maybe with other diseases? Heres the lil trooper.

robbrouse · Oct 23, 2013

The sad part if it's ICK it's still in your tank and will come back..

o2manyfish · Oct 23, 2013

When I had my FO tank with a Powder Blue in it, The powder blue was always fighting some kind of ich/disease/fungus. I had other tangs and angels in the tank and nobody else had issues but the Powder Blue. He was fat and healthy and active. But for the 3+ years I had him he was seldom healthy looking.

In my reef tank I had about 16 tangs and over 100 other fish. I had an achilles for the past 18 months and everyday it was a crap shot as to whether the Achilles was going to be clean or covered in spots. He was healthy, he was growing but somedays he was covered in spots and some days he was perfectly clean. No rhyme or reason.

Dave B

ValorG · Oct 23, 2013

As long as the fish are healthy and eating, and I provide good water. Their immune systems will be able to prevent another infection. Just have to make sure theyre not stressed.

Tahoe61 · Oct 23, 2013

Good job.

Other fish sure I have had success with conventional treatments, tangs no. The parasite has just fallen off the fish though and is now in the substrate, the tang may not be come visually symptomatic again as long you keep a nice stress free environment with good water quality and proper nutrition. Fish immunity to the parasite is very limited and depends on the strain of Cryptocaryons irritans. If no fish are added for extended periods of time the parasite sometimes peters out.

Reefing Madness · Oct 23, 2013

ValorG said:
As long as the fish are healthy and eating, and I provide good water. Their immune systems will be able to prevent another infection. Just have to make sure theyre not stressed.

Yup, totally agreed. My Hippo Tang has had it several times, and fights it off with no problems.

rworegon · Oct 23, 2013

Sorry to say you are probably just experiencing the period of the parasite's life cycle where its growing in the sand waiting to explode and reinfect your fish. I would expect it to reappear within a couple of weeks. Sorry.

Trex · Oct 23, 2013

rworegon said:
Sorry to say you are probably just experiencing the period of the parasite's life cycle where its growing in the sand waiting to explode and reinfect your fish. I would expect it to reappear within a couple of weeks. Sorry.

Pretty much what I was going to say.

In addition, just because you don't see it, doesn't mean the fish still isn't affected --- the gills are a common place for the parasite to colonize.

Joe Knows Reefs · Oct 23, 2013

A lot of people have ich in their tank and dont know it. Ive seen plenty of fish get a touch of it and recover. Keep params in check and STABLE...if the fish is otherwise healthy they can usuall fend it off with no problem. Trying to catch the fish and do a freshwater dip or QT is usually enough stress to send them over the edge

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Gillman · Oct 24, 2013

Ich is a very easy thing to overcome imo. My Chevron Tang had a pretty bad case of it. I just stepped up his feeding regimen and included a larger variety of foods (Spectrum Pellets, Spectrum Flakes, Amino Acid soaked brine shrimp, garlic soaked brine shrimp, selcon soaked brineshrimp, aloe soaked brine shrimp, cyclopeeze). I think ich is in nearly ever tank out there. Most fish just become immune to it or are happy and healthy enough to fight it off. Don't get down about it. Stay positive and feed. I think dipping fish and QTing them will only make their stress / health raise / lower.