Marine Itch

There are obviously cycles where it can survive without
notice. I think more research needs to be done on this.
One method is attaching to the gills of fish.
But the reality is that if a fish is healthy with a good
immune system, it will not die, but will recover fine.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



George Patterson wrote on 12/26/2006 3:21 PM:
Blackheart wrote:
(it will almost always be there in some form, whether
it has an outbreak is another thing).

This is a prevalent idea which is total bull. Ick is a parasite. It has
a 21 day life cycle. After that it dies. If it cannot feed off a fish at
some point in that period, it dies earlier and does not lay eggs. If it
can feed off a fish, it lays eggs. These hatch after a few days; they do
not have the capability of lying dormant. When they hatch, they attach
themselves to a fish, and the cycle starts over.

If you have oodinium in your tank, your fish will periodically be
parasitized; that is, you *will* get outbreaks. If you don't have
outbreaks, no ick is present in any form.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

Wayne Sallee wrote:

But the reality is that if a fish is healthy with a good immune system,
it will not die, but will recover fine.

Sure. But then the next cycle, there are more parasites. This population
explosion eventually kills the fish.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

Not if the fish has a good immune system.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



George Patterson wrote on 12/27/2006 11:01 AM:
Wayne Sallee wrote:

But the reality is that if a fish is healthy with a good immune
system, it will not die, but will recover fine.

Sure. But then the next cycle, there are more parasites. This population
explosion eventually kills the fish.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

Wayne Sallee wrote:
Not if the fish has a good immune system.

Ick is a parasite; not a disease. It doesn't matter how good the immune system
is when the fish can't get oxygen 'cause the gills are covered with bugs, or is
being bled to death by these little suckers.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

The immune system helps the fish from getting the ich, and
helps it from getting as much, and helps it get rid of it,
and helps it rid off infection, witch copper hurts the
immune system, making fish more at risk from getting a
secondary infection from ich. Also producing more blood
cells is part of the immune system.


Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



George Patterson wrote on 12/29/2006 10:54 PM:
Wayne Sallee wrote:
Not if the fish has a good immune system.

Ick is a parasite; not a disease. It doesn't matter how good the immune
system is when the fish can't get oxygen 'cause the gills are covered
with bugs, or is being bled to death by these little suckers.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

Wayne Sallee wrote:
The immune system helps the fish from getting the ich, and helps it from
getting as much, and helps it get rid of it, ....

Just like a good immune system keeps you from picking up ticks in the woods and
makes them fall off faster? Dream on.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

But that medicine works good for dogs :-) hehe
There are some people that mosquitoes won't bite.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



George Patterson wrote on 12/30/2006 10:04 PM:
Wayne Sallee wrote:
The immune system helps the fish from getting the ich, and helps it
from getting as much, and helps it get rid of it, ....

Just like a good immune system keeps you from picking up ticks in the
woods and makes them fall off faster? Dream on.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

George Patterson wrote:
Wayne Sallee wrote:

The immune system helps the fish from getting the ich, and helps it
from getting as much, and helps it get rid of it, ....


Just like a good immune system keeps you from picking up ticks in the
woods and makes them fall off faster? Dream on.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

Actually, it CAN help a tick fall off faster.