How long can ich live without fish?

[tman23]

Does anyone know how long ich can live without fish in a home aquarium? With no hypo-salinity or any treatment.

[Neuticle]

I've heard 30 days from many reputable sources. I believe 30 days is nearly universally accepted in the hobby.

[Mr.Peanut]

Originally Posted by tman23

Does anyone know how long ich can live without fish in a home aquarium? With no hypo-salinity or any treatment.

It depends on which part of the life cycle we are talking about.

As we know there are 4 stages in the Cryptocaryons life cycle

1- Trophont-this is the parasitic stage on the fish
2- Protomont-this is where the parasite leaves the fish to encyst on the substrate to reproduce.
3-Tomont- This is the reproductive and longest lived stage
4-Theront- Free swimming looking for a host.

The trophonts will mature and leave the fish after 3-7 days
The Protomont will encyst within 24 hours
The Tomont can last up to 72 days(in rare cases). That is the reason ich is so difficult to remove from a system.
The Theront will die within 24 hours without a host.

The life cycle can be as quick as 7 days, usually 24 days But can go as long as 72 days. 60 days without a fish will eradicate ich 99.9% of the time.

I have also read, that if no new strains of ich are added for 11 months, that the parasite will have run it's course and simply die.

[Newbie-Reefer]

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.php

This link offers a good deal of information. The author has done the research and used many sources. Looks legit to me. Also, I have read multiple articles that back the information in this article. Hope it helps.

[Loverotties]

Originally Posted by Mr.Peanut

It depends on which part of the life cycle we are talking about.

As we know there are 4 stages in the Cryptocaryons life cycle

1- Trophont-this is the parasitic stage on the fish
2- Protomont-this is where the parasite leaves the fish to encyst on the substrate to reproduce.
3-Tomont- This is the reproductive and longest lived stage
4-Theront- Free swimming looking for a host.

The trophonts will mature and leave the fish after 3-7 days
The Protomont will encyst within 24 hours
The Tomont can last up to 72 days(in rare cases). That is the reason ich is so difficult to remove from a system.
The Theront will die within 24 hours without a host.

The life cycle can be as quick as 7 days, usually 24 days But can go as long as 72 days. 60 days without a fish will eradicate ich 99.9% of the time.

I have also read, that if no new strains of ich are added for 11 months, that the parasite will have run it's course and simply die.

Wow! thanks for all of that info.

[jenglish]

Originally Posted by Mr.Peanut

I have also read, that if no new strains of ich are added for 11 months, that the parasite will have run it's course and simply die.

I can't remember off the top of my head who did this study but it's important to note that this is primarily based off one research project. This was not what they were trying to look at, they were actually trying to keep a strain for research purposes and just noticed it got less and less potent. It's sort of a hard result to replicate in that well.... it takes months to do.

Its always a bit hard to make predictions with a single data point. This strain could be in the middle of the bell curve or it could be one of the tails. Just like the timing of Tomont stage is varied, the time it takes a strain to wear itself out may also have a range to it.

It's a promising lead for people who don't have the option to break down a large reef that they have inroduced ich into, but it's still not really that clear as to the time limits. I am thinking that maybe they didn't introduce any new hosts into the system during this time either.

[tman23]

Thanks a lot for all the info! I'm quarantining a small sailfin tang and a hippo-tang together, currently. It appears that the hippo still has some spots, but I'm not sure about the sailfin. I've seen spots on the sailfin when it was in one of my display tanks, but I don't recall noticing spots in the quarantine tank. I think I will treat with copper soon.
Let me know what you think!

[Mr.Peanut]

Originally Posted by jenglish

I can't remember off the top of my head who did this study but it's important to note that this is primarily based off one research project.

Lee Birch. He states that he did some experiments in the 70's when he discovered this fact and a Dr. Burgess later did some experiments and also found that 11 months was the lifespan of a strain of Ich.

[jenglish]

Originally Posted by Mr.Peanut

Lee Birch. He states that he did some experiments in the 70's when he discovered this fact and a Dr. Burgess later did some experiments and also found that 11 months was the lifespan of a strain of Ich.

I had not noticed before that this was a replicated study. I saw Lee Birch had initially found closer to 10 months. I wonder what temperature these studies were done at. If warmer temp makes the cycle go faster (which some dispute, but the cyst stage is affected by it so it seems pretty established to me) and this is a generational thing.... it would make since to me that you would get more generations in an 82 degree tank than a 77 degree tank. If I was using this method and I thought a few degrees could be tolerated without stress and make it a 9 month process instead of an 11 I would be cranking the heater I don't really plan on getting myself into that particular predicament

[jenglish]

Originally Posted by Mr.Peanut

Lee Birch. He states that he did some experiments in the 70's when he discovered this fact and a Dr. Burgess later did some experiments and also found that 11 months was the lifespan of a strain of Ich.

I had not noticed before that this was a replicated study. I saw Lee Birch had initially found closer to 10 months. I wonder what temperature these studies were done at. If warmer temp makes the cycle go faster (which some dispute, but the cyst stage is affected by it so it seems pretty established to me) and this is a generational thing.... it would make since to me that you would get more generations in an 82 degree tank than a 77 degree tank. If I was using this method and I thought a few degrees could be tolerated without stress and make it a 9 month process instead of an 11 I would be cranking the heater I don't really plan on getting myself into that particular predicament

[duijver]

Does anyone know if black ich has the same life cycle times?

Also, when I had the last ich outbreak, I dosed my fish with CHLOROQUINE PHOSPHATE and hypo. Has anyone else successfully used this treatment?

[Mr.Peanut]

Black Ich is a horse of another color. The life cycle is, from what I understand, much longer than Ich.

I have had success with hypo and a product called "clout".