help! how do I QT/medicate my shark

hrairguitar

hrairguitar

New member
I've posted some things in the newbie section about ich and I'm in need of some advice on how to treat my shark

my BT caught the ich. I noticed today it really was acting weird (lethargic, not eating as much, just not its usual self). Please go easy on me as I'm still new to this hobby. Didnt QT anything and am now quickly realizing thats the way to go. My foxface is acting a little more stressy lately too and not bright yellow all the time as well. It still eats and all that but my blue tang did too and acted normal up until just a couple hours ago.

My plan of attack currently is to put all my fish in a 30 gallon QT/hospital tank for 2-3 months and treat them. The corals are going in my fiances 46 gallon tank.

My concern is the shark. It's about 18 inches. It still eats regularly and acts like a shark is supposed to act but I want to get it out of the tank while my main display tank is sitting empty for 2-3 months so the ich has nobody to love on.

What the heck do I put this shark in? I have a 300 gallon tank in the garage that i'm setting up this summer. It has holes in the bottom so I cant just fill it up and use that. My options at this point are to put it in a round circular tub type thing. It's only about 20 gallons though. It's like something you would put a keg in with ice. OR put it in the 30 gallon tank instead of the fish. That tank is hexagon and about 2 feet or so tall. OR I try to find the biggest cheap tank on CL that I can get asap. Most people don't just sell the tank and want to sell their whole system and are asking hundreds of dollars for them and I'm not in a position to do that at the moment due to space and money.

What do you think gives me the best chance at it surviving? keg jug? (do they sell bigger tub type things that'd work?) 30 gallon hex? some 55ish gallon tank on CL? It would need to survive in it til either the 125 is ich free or the 300 gallon is set up and both would probably be done around the same time. i have the HOB filters, powerheads, heaters, etc....just need a tank....I'm about in panic mode at this point because I dont want to lose any of my beloved fish
 
From what I've read, sharks can be carriers of ich, but it will not affect them. The problem is you can leave your tank fallow, and when you add back an untreated shark, it is possible the shark could reseed the DT back with ich.

I think you can treat a shark with crypto pro or QS. Maybe someone else will chime in.
 
Last edited:
geaux xman said:
From what I've read, sharks can be carriers of ich, but it will not affect them. The problem is you can leave your tank fallow, and when you add back an untreated shark, it is possible the shark could reseed the DT back with ich.
Click to expand...

Hmm....so basically if I only care about the shark then it wont be infected in the ich tank if I just left it alone but then its eventually bye bye fishies OR even if I QT the fish then its possible that its potentially pointless since the ich will just shack up on the shark until a fish arrives then restart the process all over again.

Right now I'm leaning to finding the biggest circular tub type thing I can find to put the shark in. I can find a lot of 55 gallon tanks but their dimensions are not suitable at all for my shark whereas in a tub it'd be able to swim around without bumping corners although the thing really doesnt swim a whole lot but still....even though round container is less gallons I feel like it'd be more beneficial than a rectangular box with more gallons but bad dimensions. Am I right?
 
Yeah, if the shark is the only fish in the tank, you do not have to worry about ich. Sharks do not tolerate hyposalinity or copper. I believe they can be treated with crypto-pro or QS if you insist on treating it. I think also chloro something phosphate.

Again I have no experience with sharks. I previously researched them as it was one of the fish i wanted if i do a big tank.
 
Ok...then I guess I'll try to just get allll the fish out of there and into the 30 gallon and leave the shark be on its own with the cleaner shrimp. Then once the 300 is ready then I'll remove the shark and leave the 125 gallon tank alone. I guess it'll be just a invert/coral tank. Then the ich hopefully will die and my fish will return. Man, thats gonna be like 6 months or somethin til my 125 see's a fish again lol. Talk about lame!
 
And so it looks like I'm on the market for a 55 gallon tank at least. Just the thought of all my fish in a 30 gallon QT tank for 6 months is pretty depressing so I may as well make it as comfy as possible for em or have 2 QT tanks and split em up. Man gonna be such a pain to catch all of them. All the rock will have to come out and the tank is going to look like a sand storm with a PO'd confused shark.

Here's spending the weekend catching fish...yay
 
Sharks will carry crypt... but you can do things to knock it off of them prior to putting it back in the main tank (freshwater dip being the easiest and most effective). Most also take very well to hypo (I run my big shark tank at 1.015 right now).

Anything that will actually KILL the crypt will also have a very negative impact on the shark.

Another option (if you have floor space) is a $10 6' kiddie pool from Wal-Mart or any toy store. Yes, I mean the funny blue plastic pools with mermaids and fish on the bottom. They work great for a cheap and effective shark holding pool.
You can even do a homemade filter for them using 5 gallon buckets, bio balls, filter floss/pad and a mag drive pump. (If you go that route, let me know and I can go into more detail for you.)
 
While reading this a cattle/horse water container crossed my mind as a suitable holding tank for a shark? I have no clue of the cost of one but the LFS in my area uses them for holding live rock and QT tanks. They come in all kinds of sizes, have bulk heads installed for draining/filling and are readily available at feed stores (if you have them near by).
 
Zoodiver said:
Sharks will carry crypt... but you can do things to knock it off of them prior to putting it back in the main tank (freshwater dip being the easiest and most effective). Most also take very well to hypo (I run my big shark tank at 1.015 right now).

Anything that will actually KILL the crypt will also have a very negative impact on the shark.

Another option (if you have floor space) is a $10 6' kiddie pool from Wal-Mart or any toy store. Yes, I mean the funny blue plastic pools with mermaids and fish on the bottom. They work great for a cheap and effective shark holding pool.
You can even do a homemade filter for them using 5 gallon buckets, bio balls, filter floss/pad and a mag drive pump. (If you go that route, let me know and I can go into more detail for you.)
Click to expand...

Funny...I just read this and last night I went and bought a big kiddie pool lol. Its going to be on my kitchen table. Homemade filter? Its filled up with water right now and salt is mixing. I'm rigging up a HOB filter for it rated for 60 gallons, heater and 2 koralia 1400s blowing in each direction. I was going to throw in a pipe (currently an issue finding a way to weigh it down) a clean filter pad just in the pool with a seeded pad in the filter itself. I'm curious to know about this homemade bucket idea though. I don't have mag pumps but have an assortment of rios. The pool probaby has 30-40 gallons of water in it id say but seems more ideal for it than stuffing it in a 55 gallon tank since the pool is circular and sort of like a tide pool. I'm going to try hyposalinity but I'm not sure how low to go or how quick to bring it down. I'm expecting to do lots of water changes and spend a grip on salt over the next few months.

Also picked up a 55 gallon tank on CL for $40 for the fish. Tonight is gonna be lame...gotta remove all my rock, catch fish and shark and acclimate then put my rock back in the ich tank to live with crabs, snails and my soon to be lonely cleaner shrimp

Lesson well learned...always QT and now that I have a QT I won't be making this mistake ever again

Wish me luck
 
Zookeeper knows a heck of a lot more about sharks than me, but i respectively have to disagree with the treatment options for ich in elasmobranches. I have used chloroquine on more than one occasion to treat cryptocaryon irritans in sharks. It was well tolerated, worked and is well documentated in the literature.

something to consider.....
 
Interesting. Never heard of using chloroquine phosphate to go after crypt. Used it on a lot of other things... good to know. And I agree chloroquine is shark safe.
 
Update....transfers were successful last night...shark stretched its legs a lot swimming quite a bit but it eventually stopped at dawn this morning which is typical...it probably liked all the extra swimming room compared to being in the 125 with all the rock. Really hope it can survive in the pool. There's a lot of water movement, temp is holding at 78 and I think the filtration should be suitable...I have some bio balls, and sponges....I'm still going to do 10% water change every other day or so I think though just to be safe and I don't think I'm going to do hyposalinity. There doesn't really seem like a reason to do it

What's this product you two are talking about? Should I use it?
 
Update after day 2 ....shark seems fine...swimming around at night a lot and got it to eat a couple bites of shrimp this morning so that's a good sign. Going to change 10 gallons of water today too when I get home

The fish on the other hand in the 55 QT are not as good. Lost my anthias this morning which was the newest addition and my BT which was the main fish infected is hanging on but barely. The chromis and clowns and coral beauty seem fine. My valentini puffer seems sad. It eats but sits on the bottom a lot . Its pretty depressing. The copper seems hard on the fish and I'm questioning doing hyposalinity instead...going to change 10 gallons of water today in that too.

So far the shark seems the most happy out of everything which has me very surprised but I'm very happy about it since its my pride and joy. I still can't believe I have a shark in a kiddie pool on my kitchen table lol just seems nuts but hey its working
 
Sorry to hear about the loss. I am not too surprised by the shark doing OK, as Matt said before sharks are not usually affected by crypt, mostly carriers.

Shark pool on kitchen table- not strange at all, lol. Nothing wrong at all (from one shark nut to another).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

G
Back after 20 years - cycling advice
Replies
4
Views
171
Guygettnby
Guygettnby
D
Coral beauty Sick - how do i treat
Replies
3
Views
1K
leebca
L
oceangopher
Tankpocalypse Now
Replies
2
Views
187
Reefing102
Reefing102
FishMann
Meg Teeth
Replies
4
Views
160
Reefing102
Reefing102
E
Getting back into the hobby
Replies
11
Views
443
Uncle99
Uncle99
Back
Top