1st time Ick quarantine. Help

[thedasher]

I just noticed ick on a sailfin tang in my tank, so I am going to be setting up a qt tank for the first time. I plan on using probably a 10-30 gallon tank with a hob filter, air pump, 50w heater, and light.

Should I have filter floss in filter or carbon or what?

What medication is most effective, copper, cupramine, ???

How long till the parasite is gone permanently?

Should I be doing water changes/how big of a wc/and how many during quarantine period?

Am I missing anything else?
Thanks

 

[Dbondaruk]

First I would reccomend reading all the stickies on this site about ick. Tank transfer method seems to be the best option and less harsh than copper. And you would need to take all the fish out and let the tank sit fallow for 8-12 weeks. You can leave corals and snails in the tank but no fish. Read up on the life cycle of ick. No carbon or floss Is needed for a qt set up.

 

[Code4]

Quarantine tanks need to cycle also. I have never had marine ich. But I do know treatment depends upon other critters in your tank. Look up the life cycle of ich. Lots of information on that. There is alot of information on this site. I now have a quarantine tank also. I just leave it set up and running in the hopes I never will need it. I wish you luck.

Shelley

 

[Code4]

Quarantine tanks need to cycle also. I have never had marine ich. But I do know treatment depends upon other critters in your tank. Look up the life cycle of ich. Lots of information on that. There is alot of information on this site. I now have a quarantine tank also. I just leave it set up and running in the hopes I never will need it. I tried an emergency quarantine tank once. Ammonia really spiked. Did not end well. Good luck. I am not an expert by any means. And you will see there are alot of opinions here. I tend to trust people with lots of years of experience in this hobby.

Shelley

 

[Code4]

Well now we know why I am not a computer wiz!

Shelley

 

[Spar]

+1 on reading the stickies, will likely answer all of your questions.

first thing you will want to decide is what you are wanting to accomplish.

if it is to completely rid your tank of Ich for life, you will want to read up on Tank Transfer Method and Copper; ignore anything about Hypo as has too many issues, IMO/E. You will want to do this for all your current fish and for any new incoming fish going forward. and will need to keep your DT fallow for 72 days minimum. anything wet you add going forward will need to be run fallow in a separate tank for 72 days as well... this means coral, hermits, macro algae, live rock, nem's, anything and everything wet.

if your goal is to just maintain a reasonably healthy tank (knowing you will eventually run into an ich outbreak), then all you need to do is cycle a hospital tank and monitor new arrivals for a little while, no medication needed (consider prazipro though for flukes).

how long until Ich is gone? with TTM 12 days; copper 28 days; fallow 72 days.

water changes are only needed to keep ammonia in check. with TTM, you can use Amquel or similar and will be doing 100% water changes every 3 days anyway. with Copper you only have water changes as a way to keep ammonia in check as Amquel or similar will kill fish in combination with Copper; you have to make sure that your copper level never drops below .35ppm even for a second during water changes when running copper.