Is there much difference between crypt and ich?

Question

I know they're both "white spot diseases", and so is one freshwater and the other salt? Because I think I have crypt in my freshwater tank. See, someone put seashells from Florida in my tank and two days later two of my fish are severely covered and all of my tiger barbs are swimming vertically. There's also a lot of white "things" floating around in my tank, and after I looked it up, it sounds a lot like marine ich, or crypt. So is it possible to have crypt in freshwater? I don't have a quarantine tank, so I'm trying to treat it the best I can (right now all I have is formalin), but any suggestions?

Answer 1

It is very possible to have marine ich or Cryptocarayon irritans in your freshwater tank. In past observance of the marine ich, Cryptocarayon irritans was known to explode in freshwater. Now there is a different strain going around, this strain is going around and hyposalinity to formaldehyde, formalin and copper sulfate is ineffective to this strain.

So, in actuality there is a possibility that you have this strain, however, since your tank is freshwater, it's more than likely that you have the freshwater strain which is regular ich.

If you want more information on that rare strain, I'll leave a link that you can learn on this new strain of cryptocarayon irritans which is marine ich. This will also give you a new type of treatment that can be effective. It's called Crypto-pro.

Anyways, I hope that this helps, thanks for asking..................

Answer 2

Cryptocaryon irritans, marine Ich, is just that-- the [visual] marine equivalent of the freshwater parasite Ichthyophthirius multifilis, or Ich.  Crypt will not and cannot develop in freshwater (even strains resistant to hyposalinity cannot live in freshwater-- they are just more tolerant than marine fish of temporary lowered salinity), so even if those shells did have the parasite, your fish would not have been affected.  What you are likely seeing instead is the shells leeching calcium carbonate into the water, causing the pH to rise abruptly, which is stressful for the fish.  The freshwater parasite took advantage of the fishes' lowered immune systems and infected them.  I would take out the shells immediately, as they will continue to buffer the pH upwards, which your fish clearly didn't appreciate... at least in such a short time span.

EDIT: Planaria are not free swimming and are not brine shrimp-- they are flatworms.  The white particles you're seeing are more likely precipitated calcium from the shells, that have bonded with other ions in the water, forming insoluble compounds.

Answer 3

There are a number of white spot or ich diseases, however salt water ich is not found in fresh water fish.  Cryptocaryoniasis, White Spot Disease or Marine Ich is caused by an infestation of the ciliated protozoan Cryptocaryon irritans and is salt water only

It is possiable that what you are seeing are small brine shrimp Planaria.  These are not bad for your tank. People raise them as food for fish.

Placing seashells from the ocean in a fresh water tank doesn't do much to the water and bacterias that survive in the ocean usually won't in fresh.

Check the PH which is more than likely your problem since seashells will raise the PH in your tank.

If your fish are showing no signs of ich outbreak, chances are it isn't ich.  Ich itself cannot be seen with the human eye swimming in the tank.

No you cannot have crypt in a freshwater tank.

Answer 4

Check out this site.  It is great for Problem solving fish issues.

http://www.gbasonline.org/disease_chart....