marine ich

There are few words that send a shiver down a marine aquarium hobbyists spine like Marine Ich does. As hobbyists, we put a lot of time and money into the hobby with the expectation that everything runs smoothly will a minimum of problems. Most of the time, problems always seem to surface when dealing with this hobby. Especially if a Quarantine Tank is not used.

One of the things that does go wrong on a frequent basis is the introduction of marine parasites into our beloved aquariums. There are two main culprits, Marine Ich and Marine Velvet. while both are common, marine ich is the parasite that most deal with most of the time.

The scientific name of this prolific pest is Cryptocaryon Irritans. But is usually called by its common name, Marine Ich or Saltwater Ich. Almost anyone that has been in this hobby for a decent length of time will have dealt with these things at some point in time.

They are very easy to get and spread like wildfire in a closed aquarium system. They are usually brought in via specimens that are collected from the wild. These parasites were either already on the fish during collection or contracted it during the housing and exporting process.

Marine ich is a very common problem in the hobby. Thankfully, there are ways to deal with this pest before they do massive damage on your livestock. But first, lets look at their life cycle. Their presence is usually known as visible white spots on the bodies of fish. The affected specimen may also exhibit scratching and rapid breathing. At this stage, the parasite will feed on the fish until it drops off.

When they eventually drop off, they encyst and begin multiplying themselves. All new parasites are essentially copies of the mother parasite. Once the babies have been released into the water column, they begin looking for prey to repeat the process. In a closed aquarium system, this can be disastrous as the parasites can continue this cycle until all your fish are wiped out.

Thankfully, there are many products on the market that will effectively eradicate marine ich. But before you start looking at medication, you need to set up a Quarantine Tank. By far the most effective types of medication involves the use of copper. Copper is highly toxic to them along with any invertebrates in the aquarium such as crustaceans and corals. Which is why a quarantine tank is needed.

Other types of medications use a mix of malachite green and formaldehyde. While not as quick acting as copper, they will eventually do the job in the long run. A word of warning, copper is toxic and can really stress out your specimens. If the affected fish is doing very badly and is near death, i'd advise against using copper.