Also in nature, the fish have perhaps minimally thousands of gallons to live in, reducing the chance that any individual can get infected with more than 1 or 2 ick parasites at any one time, so other than being an irritant, it may be no big deal, unless the fish is already injured or sick.
But in any tank with at most a few feet to go in either direction, ick parasites are able to attach en masse to fish over and over again, becoming much more problematic, even lethal.
The wild fish I've received over the last few months (taken from a tropical river nearby) have almost all had 1 or 2 parasites per individual. But now in my small 180 gal tank (compared to the natural waters), I had to immediately treat once the few spots were noticed, to keep the ick, or Lernaea from getting out of control.
And yes because certain rheophillic fish have less contact with ick in nature due to excess flow, if they do get ick in a tank, it may kill them more quickly and efficiently than some species that have semi-built in immunity.
This may be why the OPs rheophiles died, while the other species seemed un-effected.
This however, does not mean the ick is not still in the tank, and has a possibility of infecting others.
Note 1 ick spot in front of the eye of the Andinoacara, and 1 near the dorsal of the Roeboides tetra, noticed near the day they arrived.
But in any tank with at most a few feet to go in either direction, ick parasites are able to attach en masse to fish over and over again, becoming much more problematic, even lethal.
The wild fish I've received over the last few months (taken from a tropical river nearby) have almost all had 1 or 2 parasites per individual. But now in my small 180 gal tank (compared to the natural waters), I had to immediately treat once the few spots were noticed, to keep the ick, or Lernaea from getting out of control.
And yes because certain rheophillic fish have less contact with ick in nature due to excess flow, if they do get ick in a tank, it may kill them more quickly and efficiently than some species that have semi-built in immunity.
This may be why the OPs rheophiles died, while the other species seemed un-effected.
This however, does not mean the ick is not still in the tank, and has a possibility of infecting others.
Note 1 ick spot in front of the eye of the Andinoacara, and 1 near the dorsal of the Roeboides tetra, noticed near the day they arrived.
