Guide to setup a Quarantine Tank (QT).

[Dr. Reef]

Hypo is easy if u can hold salinity right at 1.009. Ato will help. U can have a lot of water made at same salinity and do frequent water changes during treatment while copper will cause more issues with beneficial bacteria and it also registers as ammonia on test kits so its harder in non cycled qt.
In hypo if u show ammonia u do water change ur done till next round but with copper first u wont know if ammonia on results is true or false reading then after water changes u need a copper test kit to hold it steady at 0.5 so will have to redose according making it a bit more difficult for new hobbyists.

 

[Christoph]

Ok, so the cupramine is a copper treatment. Can I run ammonia filter media while dosing cupramine? Just to help keep ammonia on the low level.

 

[Dr. Reef]

Such media will absorb cupramine (copper) out of the water making dosage very hard to judge.

 

[Christoph]

That sounds rather daunting to me, the copper side of it. I do have a refractometer. So maybe hypo is the way to go for me. You said ato will help. What is that?

 

[Dr. Reef]

Auto top off in qt or stay on top of evaporated water loss.
I think as a newbie u will be better off with hypo.
Drop salinity from 1.025 to 1.009 over 48 hrs slowly then hold for 3 weeks making sure all visible ich is gone also breathing has returned to normal ( hard breathing due to ich on gills)
If symptoms exist go longer on hypo.
Once clear raise salinity back to match dt over week.
Droppings salinity over 48 hrs is ok but increasing salinity has to be slower. So take ur time over a week.

 

[Christoph]

Ok. I can do that. Thank you so much for your help!

 

[Dr. Reef]

Also u have to leave main tank fishless for 10 weeks for ich to die other wise qt'ed will have ich again. Another thing that you have to take all fish out from main to treatment in qt.

 

[Dr. Reef]

That sounds rather daunting to me, the copper side of it. I do have a refractometer. So maybe hypo is the way to go for me. You said ato will help. What is that?

I agree copper is harder on fish as well as newbie and in un cycled tank and with media it makes a whole lot difficult so I think in ur case hypo is the way to go.
Good luck and safe reefing

Keep me posted.

 

[hogfanreefer]

bnumair, when you raise the salinity back how exactly do you do that. Seems like just water changes with 1.026 water would take forever. Do you use small quantities of high salinity water? Nuts and bolts for us newbs!

 

[Dr. Reef]

Guys i have written a step by step guide on HypoSalinity, here is a link if someone is interested.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2300497

 

[Dr. Reef]

bnumair, when you raise the salinity back how exactly do you do that. Seems like just water changes with 1.026 water would take forever. Do you use small quantities of high salinity water? Nuts and bolts for us newbs!

Hi,
dropping salinity in matter of hours is not much of an issue but increasing can be more problematic.
I strongly recommend wither doing water changes with 1.025-6 water or putting some saltwater in ATO reservoir so every time water evaporates and gets replaced, it gets replaced by saltwater thus increasing salinity.
I personally like the first method as it have more control on salinity and when u want it to increase.
I strongly recommend raising salinity slowly over at least 1 week time and not any faster. Best achieved by water changes.

 

[Christoph]

Went to lfs to get some garlic supp for feedings. I asked his opinion while there about my issue of not having the time to properly cycle the qt tank. He said to use water from dt for the least amount of stress to the fish. Do the hypo treatment. Then do a freshwater dip with this stuff called HydroPlex before putting fish back in dt. He swears by it. Uses it on all his new fish and has never had ich.
So if I use dt water the parasites are now in my qt. They'd be there anyway as soon as the fish are in. Will the hypo kill off all the ich while in qt? Since the overall plan is for at least 10 weeks of fallow dt, I was thinking of doing hypo twice. Then the HydroPlex fresh dip. What do you think Doc?

 

[Dr. Reef]

Transferring water from DT will probably bring ich with it but doing hypo will kill it specifically if u are running hypo treatment twice. Leaving DT fallow for 10 plus weeks will take care of ich there as well.
No idea on hydroplex never used it.
But plan sound alright to me.

 

[Dr. Reef]

I did some research on hydroplex. Its not made to cure ich. Same company makes kick ich and looks like the reviews I read it doesn't work either or some have mixed feelings. Do ur own research before wasting ur time and money and end up losing fish.

 

[Christoph]

Going to get a cheap 29 gal this afternoon along with some kind of simple filter. I'll set it up as soon as possible tonight. I will do more research on the HydroPlex before using it. Fed the fish an hour ago and they ate as normal, so good sign there.
This 10 week fallow will give me the opportunity to rescape my tank at least. Been wanting to do that for a while now. Thanks again for your advice and all the info you have provided for us newbs.

 

[Dr. Reef]

No problem Chris. Rescaping might cause some nitrates but not much to worry about. I wish u good luck and keep me posted.
Safe Reefing

 

[freefallen4key]

this is a great thread! a lot of good useful info! seems like everyone deals with ich... at least im not the only one... sucks a fat one tho! so much time without a dt.

 

[fio1022]

Hi Bnumair,
I have a Blue Hippo Tang in QT that has finished 3 weeks of cupramine and 1 week of prazipro.He has been in QT for about 5 weeks now.
From the day I got him,he has two tiny white dots/specs on his nose and 1 midbody.Never showed any signs of stress,eats like a pig.
I just finished a large wc and wondering if the dots are going to be a problem.
Cant get good picture.
Wondering when to put in DT.

 

[Dr. Reef]

white dots are kinda ify in my opinion. do they go away and come back or have they grown in size any at all? any white spots on fins or tail?

 

[fio1022]

Specs are about the size of a grain of salt.
I wish i could get a clear picture but he won't stay still.
Fins and tail are clean.