Double check my treatment plan

[jccaclimber]

I set up a 170 several months ago with dry rock and have been gradually stocking it with chaeto, coral, and cuc. No fish. There is a 75 gallon converted to a sump beneath it. No baffles, just an egg crate wall, chaeto, and a light.

Due to some tragic circumstances some friends and I found ourselves needing to empty a LFS in short order. Having a running tank I am now holding a lot of both fish and coral. Several smaller tangs, a goby, a bellus angel, desjardini, and a lot of chromis.

The good news, the ammonia and nitrite have stayed at 0, and nitrate is near zero (API kit) as well. Most of the fish are fat, eating, and active.

The bad news, several of the fish had ich when I put them in, and of course it is spreading like wildfire. I knew this when I put them in, and didn't really feel I had a choice.

I would like to start with hypo and propose the following:

1) I dipped (CoralRX) all of the frags when I put them in the sump (holding space). Wait until the 1 week mark and dip them again. Move them to the display.
2) Catch all fish, move them to the sump. Probably a fish trap for the goby.
3) Put an MP40 in the sump to provide flow, make sure there is a lot of chaeto in the sump.
4) Disconnect the return pump (there is enough macro in the display to keep it in order).
5) Drop the salinity to 1.010 sg (refractometer) over 24-48 hours.
6) Feed, test, monitor, etc. for 8-10 weeks after the last fish is removed from the display.

 

[snorvich]

SG needs to be 1.009. The sump without filtration will not have biologic filtration. You probably have parasites other than ich; if so, hypo will not fix that..

 

[jccaclimber]

Ok, so get some cured rock in the sump too? I figured the chaeto would suck up the ammonia. The hypo QT articles I've read involved putting in a new filter pad daily, but I don't imagine there is much living on a pad changed that often.

What else should I be checking/dosing/treating for?

 

[jccaclimber]

Perhaps a better question than "what else should I be looking for?" is "Is there something I need to treat/check for first?" and "Is there a reason not to use this as the first step of treatment?"

 

[snorvich]

Perhaps a better question than "what else should I be looking for?" is "Is there something I need to treat/check for first?" and "Is there a reason not to use this as the first step of treatment?"

Hypo works only for ich. Other parasites require different treatments.