Ich ick season?

[OurCoralReef]

Have many friends with ich
i started a similar thread on a different forum about a year ago seems like many people were having ich the same time a year ago as well

Yes i know people get it all year long but im thinking this is from the wild mass breakout infecting anyone thats buying fish now

How many people currently have ich

What do you do to treat and avoid ich


Quarantine?
Feed well? (treat it like a cold)
Buy from a store that....

Cleaner wrasse
Neon goby
Cleaner shrimp

Garlic?
Selcon?
Copper?
Hypo salinity?
Melafix?
Ich attack?

Hope & Pray?

 

[Bruce Spiegelman]

Ich isn't seasonal. It's not a disease -- it's a parasite that has a very clearly defined life cycle. I suspect (and this is just a guess) if there's any correlation to your observed results it would have more to do with more stress on tank is this time of year. Reefers are home more and make changes to their tanks over the holidays. Gifts of new fish, new corals , etc can cause additional stress to an existing tank and could trigger a more visible cycle.

Most of the info you've asked about is readily available online in GOOD scientific papers, but a quick overview:
1) Healthy fish that are well-fed and aren't stressed often go years without showing any outward sign of Ich or effects from it even if the tank has it.
2) Disrupting the cycle via QT or TTM is the only way to keep it from being introduced to the display tank. Cleaner fish, etc don't disrupt the cycle. That's a myth. Garlic, selcon, etc, etc in the DT won't disrupt the cycle, although it MAY aid in keeping fish healthy.
3) You can mechanically disrupt the cycle in a couple of ways if it's in the DT. One is a properly set-up and large enough UV sterilizer. The other is a filtration device (diatom or other system) that removes particles small enough to capture the free swimming phase of he parasite.
4) In tank chemical treatments will not work.