I was just wondering what is the best way to add fish without getting ich? Does it matter were I get the fish as long as they look heathly? Is it better to just bring the Salt level higher when adding new fish? I am just scared, just got over ich, and not wanting to add right know.... but maybe in 2- 3 weeks I wanted to add another.

Thanks

The best thing to do to avoid introducing ANY new problems into a tank is to quarantine any new fish for at least 2 weeks before introducing them to an established population. A quarantine tank can be a rubbermaid tub with a filter hung on the side - it does not have to be fancy. Remember, though, that if the water parameters slip - the tank is not cycled - nasties, such as ich will pop out. It is essential to keep a quarantine tank's water as pristine as possible.

I recommend quarantine for all new fish, in a separate tank or tub, with the water at .3% (point three percent) salt. If anything is seen during that time, it is then treated and quarantine is continued until 2 weeks have gone by AFTER the problem was solved. Sometimes this means a LONG quarantine.... so be prepared.

In an established tank, particularly one with a gravel base, ich orgnaisms can encyst and hide in the gravel. There, they can sit and wait for up to years, waiting for the fish to be stressed in any way, or for a new fish that is stressed to come along, and they attack. It may be that you have ich in your tank. Your present fish are strong and healthy at this time, but if you let the water quality slip, or you add a new fish that is stressed, the ich opportunistically will attack.....

Quarantine will not solve this problem, but it may help the new fish become stronger so it can resist problems when it is added to the main tank....

thank you for the information. is there anyway to get rid of the ick in my gravel?

I am not completely sure, but as I undestand it, when the ich is encysted it is impervious to just about everything except mechanical removal. If you do end up feeling that this is what may be going on, you can do a couple of things - first, up the vacumning of the gravel to physically remove what you can, and second, I guess I would recommend that you up the salt to .3% whenever you add anything, or see anything that looks untoward in the the tank.....

I added UV units to my tanks to help control various problems that I was seeing off and on. (not ich, though). I would guess that a good sized UV would also help eliminate anything - the ich organisms are free swimming for much of their lives. They come out of the cysts and swim through the water to the fish, where they under the skin of the fish. The white "bumps" of organisms burst, releasing thousands of little swimmers that will then go to infest other fish and other places on the same fish. While they are in the water, they are susceptible to the salt and the UV.....

If you have a good solid cycle built within your filter and filter's media, you can even remove the gravel and clean it and replace it. If you rely on the gravel for part of your biological cycle, though, this would not be good - you would end up starting the very thing you are hoping to avoid.

Ich is not really a very nasty or insidious parasite - but it can be persistant!