Does ich grow on LR?? Please answer.

[sruiz]

Does ich grow on LR??

I just bought 120lbs of LR from a lady yesterday. Lets just say her aquarium was not the cleanest I've ever seen. I the reason I'm worried is I just did a change from 30 to 55 and my fish had signs of ich on it. And when I saw the rock I noticed it had little white spots all over some of the pieces. What could this be??

[TWallace]

I believe one of the stages of ich does attach to substrate, including live rocks, so yes it's possible :(.

[leebca]

The 'little white spots' on the rock would NOT be Marine Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans). Marine Ich (MI) is really only visible to the naked eye at one stage of its life cycle. That is when it is attached to the fish and after it has engorged itself and ready to move on to the next stage.

Any live rock, decoration, substrate, equipment, fish, water, etc. could bring the parasite into a tank, if these things came from an infected aquarium system. All living things can be quarantined, since the MI can't live without a fish host for more than 6 to 8 weeks.

What you could be seeing is any of a number of small inverts.

If you'd like more reading on MI. . .
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/marineich.html

If you would like more information about quarantine processes:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/sp/feature/index.htm

Keep your fish healthy by a proper diet:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=785228

:)