Ich popularly known as white spot disease is a disease that affects many aquatic animals, including fish. This disease could affect both freshwater and saltwater fish because it is said to have both freshwater and saltwater types. When they affect your aquatic animals, it will begin to irritate them and they will begin to scratch their bodies on anything they see, and that may be why your fish could be rubbing itself on anything it sees. Although some fish are very prone to it, especially freshwater fish and some are Somewhat immune to it, especially saltwater fish. In this article, you will learn if Blennies could get Ich and many more.
Can Blennies get Ich? Blenny fish could get Ich, but they are not susceptible to it.
Ich is a parasite that affects many aquatic animals, including fish, as I explained, they are more effective on freshwater animals than on saltwater animals because many saltwater animals are immune or resistant to it and so you can hardly notice it in your tank, but you can anyway, but that it is very rare.
When the parasite affects your fish, they will begin to have some tiny white spots on their bodies, that is why the parasite is also called white spot disease and it will irritate your fish which will make them be scratching themselves on anything they see.
Although it doesn’t kill fish immediately, but it could lead to frustration and stress which could kill them unless they are treated/quarantined.
White spot disease could be a real problem if it is not well treated and it could spread in your aquarium by either live plants, substrates, caves, pipes, and other animals, especially those directly from the wild.
The average lifespan of saltwater ich is 3 days to 72 days, that’s if the environment is okay for it and it has a host or hosts to rely on because it can’t last a few days without a host or it dies.
Another thing that shortens its lifespan is a high temperature of about 78°F and above.
Ich is dangerous and they could multiply when they happen to be in their ideal environment with enough hosts, but as I explained above, they barely affect saltwater animals, but they could anyway, this is because salt and copper do kill them, but there are some types that are resistant to salt.
Those that are resistant to salt are the ones that could affect your saltwater fish such as Blennies, but despite that Blennies and many other saltwater fish like Gobies, wrasses, etc could hardly be affected by these parasites, or at least hardly could you notice that they have contracted ich because they are resistant to it.
So, if you are worried about the parasites affecting your Blennies, then you don’t have to be because they are very resistant to it, so it can’t easily affect them, but it is possible anyways.
Even if you notice the presence of the parasites in your Blennies tank, don’t worry because you are going to learn how to eliminate them from your saltwater tank in this article.
Can A Lawnmower Blenny Get Ich?
Yes, Lawnmower Blenny and other Blennies could get Ich, but they are resistant to it and they don’t show signs of it but could transfer it to less resistant fish in the tank.
If you have any type of Blenny fish and you notice that these parasites are in your tank, you shouldn’t be very worried because it takes a very long time for Blennies to feel the negative effects of the parasites, but you should treat it with the tips I will give below because the more time you waste, the more the parasites could start affecting them.
So, this means that the Lawnmower Blennies and other Blennies could get it and it could affect them too, but very slowly because they are resistant to it.
Are Wrasses Susceptible To Ich?
Wrasses are very resistant to Ich. Ich doesn’t affect them very easily unless they are not treated.
Wrasses are one of those fish that are resistant to these parasites, but it doesn’t mean that they can’t be affected or harmed, it takes a very long time for that to happen unless the Ich is not tackled at all.
Are Gobies Resistant To Ich?
Ich does not easily affect Gobies because they are resistant to it.
If you are talking of fish that are somewhat immune to this parasite, then Goby fish is among them.
Other fish that are resistant to Ich includes Clownfish, Damsels, Cardinalfish, Rabbitfish, Eels, Dragonet, etc.
All these fish are quite resistant and some could repel it entirely even without being treated, this means the parasites could stay, but it can’t affect the fish involved, but they still need to be treated anyway.
Will Saltwater Ich Go Away?
Saltwater Ich does not go away on its own unless the fish, tanks, and its contents are quarantined.
The lifespan of Ich in saltwater is 3 days to 72 days. This greatly depends on how favorable the environment is and how many hosts they have in such an environment too because they can’t last more than a few days without a host nor in warm water, and again they don’t last in water that has Copper.
How Do You Treat Saltwater Fish For Ich?
If you happen to notice Ich in your saltwater tank and your fish happens to be among those resistant fish I mentioned above, then you shouldn’t worry much, but you need to get rid of the Ich anyway, but if your fish are the prone type, then you need to take drastic and fast action to get rid of the parasite.
To get Ich out of your saltwater tank, here is what to do:
1. The first thing to do is to Buy a quarantine tank and relocate the fish.
Relocate them into highly treated water and leave their former tank empty with all the substrates and plants removed too.
2. Buy a powerful heater and set it up in the former tank and increase the water temperature in the tank to up to 80°F and leave it like that for up to 4-5 days or even a week
3. Add a lot of Copper to the tank and leave it there for 4-5 days or a week.
5. Apply Copper to the substrates and a little to the live plants or I suggest you change the live plants entirely and treat the new plants with little copper just in case there is any disease or parasite in the new plants.
6. Leave the substrates to dry and until whenever you feel that the Ich in the tank is no more, remove the water and wash the tank thoroughly and apply treated water, then put all the substrates and plants back, allow the water to settle and then reacclimate the fish back to the tank.
Conclusion
Although These fish are not prone to Ich but am not in any way suggesting you don’t quarantine them when they infest your tank because they could be deadly and your fish might not be resistant forever.
