How can I treat a swim tank without livestock in it for ich or other diseases?

[AR_Clint]

I am taking care of a tank. It's a 210 gallon swim tank with crushed coral and lace race. It's only inhabitants are a clown and 2 damsels. The owner wants me to put about 10 new fishes in. I have QT'ed them and they are good to go.

Here's the dilema:
The three fish currently in the tank have some sort of illness (possibly ich). I plan on taking them out and treating them. Meanwhile, while the tank has no livestock in it, is there something I could do to it to get rid of any lingering deseases? There are no corals, liverock, inverts, etc. so I figure the only thing I need to worry about is to not kill off all the beneficial bacteria. Could I inrease the temp like crazy? Do hyposalinity? I don't really want to add copper, because changing out 210 gallons of water doesn't sound like much fun.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Clint

 

[Zplay]

If you don't want to add copper, then I would leave the tank w/o any fish for at least 2 months to let the ich die off...

 

[AR_Clint]

And with copper?

 

[Kieth71]

Copper is not a good idea for a display tank.You are basically turning your display tank into a hospital tank.There is no quick fix for ich.You either do it right and leave it fishless for 6-8 weeks and treat the sick fish and also make sure to qt any new fish to make sure you dont reintroduce it back in or you will never get rid of it.Some fish will survive it others wont but it will not go away.There are some "reefsafe" medications for ich but there is noone that can prove they really work or beleive me you would see everyone useing them.You do hypo to the display but that isnt quick and will also take 6 weeks minimum so leaving it fallow is your best bet.

 

[AR_Clint]

I'm not really worried about treating with copper. This tank will ALWAYS remain a fish only swim tank.

I posted my question more specifically in this thread.

Thanks.

 

[Kieth71]

If you want to use copper in it go ahead just realize that no inverts or corals will ever survive in the tank and that the tank itself will be tainted(lets say you broke it down in the future and wanted to sell it)Having said that i would recomend cupramine if you wanna go that route.You need to get a seachem or salifert copper test kit and make sure you turn your skimmer off and remove any carbon being used.Copper will for sure get rid of the ich ..i think if you ran it for 2-4 weeks you would be fine.Just make sure you qt any future additions so you dont have to go through this all over again.

 

[limitdown]

Most people who run reefs will have a panic attack if you mention putting copper into a display tank.

I run a 250g (1,000 liter) FO system and have treated it 3 (maybe 4) times with Cupramine. I added 10ml per day for 5 days which brought my concentration to the recommended 50mg/liter. The key to adding copper is "slow and easy".

After the treatment was done, I did a big 50% water change and ran carbon and cuprisorb. I always run carbon anyway since my tank is an FO so I don't need to worry about the carbon removing beneficial trace elements that corals need.

I highly recommend using Seachem's Cupramine, their copper test kit and also their Cuprisorb.

I keep my skimmer running while treating with Cupramine. Seachem also recommends it.
http://www.seachem.com/support/FAQs/Cupramine.html#faq11

Q: I am treating my 90 Gallon tank with Cupramine. I've removed the activited charcoal and carbon and I turned off the UV and the Ozonizer. Shoud I turn off my Protein Skimmer?

A: It is perfectly acceptable and recommended to leave your skimmer on during treatment.

If you're concurrently treating with Prazi-Pro for flukes, then you will need to shut off the skimmer.

You will also need to turn off the UV sterilizer with both Cupramine and Prazi-Pro.