Would you ever buy fish from a tank that you knew had Ich in it?

If it was a fish you had been looking for and finally found?

I was looking for a couple more bristlenose and found some nice ones, but some of them had Ich. I had to drive a long way to find these so I considered buying them anyway and since it's usually easy to cure, I could just treat them when I got them home and into a small quarantine tank.

Most fish stores won't sell fish if they know they are sick, but I've found plenty that are not even aware that they have anything wrong in their tanks. I asked at this one and they said they don't normally sell them if they're sick, but they'd let me have them for half price and no guarantee.

It turned out that they were medusa plecos and were very expensive to start with, so I didn't purchase any. With my luck, they would have been carrying some super resistant strain of Ich.

Well, if they had been cheap and I had a QT and had been looking for them for awhile, I would have probably bought them.

For some reason, plecos and clown loaches ALWAYS have ich in the LFS.

What's up with that?

There is only one store in this area that actually puts "NFS" on their sick tanks...I do have to admire that, but get kind of put off when I go in the store and see several tanks marked "NFS" and know they have a central system.

Kim

Hi Kim maybe I can help out here,with the "Centtral" comment.
First off,NFS doesn't mean they are sick (at my store) it means they are new arrivals.The fish are covered for a day or two to help ease the stress and treated as well.
Yes,I thought the same,about ich,until I had more info on the Ich cycle.
As explained to me by an even older hobbyist On the Floor Laughing ,the ich does not live long enough to travel thru the system.Ich veligers have to re-infect by entering the body of the fish very quickly.By the time the water overflows the tank,swirls around the reservois and then back to the tank,its dead.
Even super nuclear ick never travelled thru any of the systems I use at work.
Either way,if you see ich in one tank on a system and the other tanks are fine then I would even buy the fish.
Although doing the "Q" at home was never an exception.
Ich in a pet store is just a fact of life,the fish have been bounced around heated and cooled and stressed out by the other 125 fish in the bag,,,,sometimes for 40 hrs or more.
All the fish coming into my store are treated ASAP after going in the tanks,I rarely have a break out,except in freezing cold weather,,,then we are ALL on the look out.
One can "kinda" get a feel for what is going to get sick and what is not when the boxes are opened and the bags removed.
But an ounce of prevention,,,,,

Cheers!!! Larry

I don't think I've ever seen a "NFS" on any of the tanks at your store, nor have I ever seen a fish in your tanks with signs of ich, Larry...Of course, I'm always there on the weekends, a couple of days after the new guys have arrived.

Nor have I ever bought a fish from you that came down with ich!!!

I was referring to a place closer to home here, in St. Kit's. The constantly have "NFS" tanks.

It has always been my understanding that ich is always present in the water of an established tank, but you only see it become "active" in fish that are compromised by one reason or another, much as you describe happens during transport and handling, etc.

What do you use to treat ich, Larry? Were you lucky enough to stash back some Quick Cure?

And while we're on the subject, is there anything comparable to Quick Cure still on the market? I cringe when I think about treating ich without it, but it was pulled from the shelves here.

Great topic, Aura!

Kim

Thanks for the informative replies.

I've always worried about those central systems. If I saw any dead or diseased fish in one tank, I wouldn't want to buy out of any tanks, at least not any nearby.

And I've also heard that Ich is always in most tanks, but I've never really understood that. Is it present in the water and substrate, etc. or is it dormant in the fish? From what I've read, it needs a living host to survive. idunno

I honestly don't know, Aura. I am assuming if this is an accurate statement, it is one of those parasites that lies (I want to say dormant but that is not right) "quiet" until some imbalance occurs within the fish. It is my understanding that ich cannot survive without a host, so I assume it is a parasite always on the fish, but not a threat unless some "stressor" causes it to become active???

I've read so much on this that it all seems to run together after awhile.

I just know I've never dealt with ich I didn't cause, directly or indirectly! And there was always a notable stress involved.

Kim

Like viruses in many organisms, parasites can become active due to stress factors in a fish. When the fishes immunity is down they will attach and start to kill their host.

I find it very interesting about the DAS systems not having the capability to spread ich...I always heard they were bad because of that reason. Thanks for the information, Larry! :D

Interesting thread. I wish all lfs were as conscientious as you, Larry. My lfs is so busy, they hardly notice a problem in one of their tanks until I point it out to them. Then they'll take the fish into the back to put in quarantine and medicate. Also, I've noticed that when one tank has ich at my lfs, there are usually several more tanks that show signs of infestation. I know they're not doing anything to disinfect their nets from tank to tank, so I'm sure that's an additional method of spreading ich, as are fish that jump from one tank to the other.

I'm not sure about the ich being ever present in a system, although I've heard that. My personal theory is that cysts travel through our public water system (especially at certain times of the year), being immune to chlorine and other chemicals when in that stage. I think if ich were ever present in our tank, we would see an occasional cyst on our fish.