How long before re-introducing fish in DT?

[CanhMan]

So I learned the hard way that I should have a QT up and ready all the time.
I won't go into the details of what and how many fish I've lost when I came back from vacation. I believe Ich or Velvet caused some of the casualties.
I have a QT tank now with my Sailfin getting copper power treatment. The Yellow and Blue tangs are still in the DT and seem to be doing fine.

My question:
Should I remove the Y and B tangs in a separate QT and leave the DT fishless for a month to make sure all the parasites are gone? If so, should I treat it with anything? Do you still do water changes? I want to make sure all is safe before re-introducing any fish.

Thanks in advance!

 

[b0bab0ey]

I'd QT all the fish, treat them w/Copper and leave the DT fishless for 8 weeks to starve out the Ich. If you don't then most likely you'll see the ich come back here and there, and possibly cause problems down the road.

 

[lagatbezan]

I'd QT all the fish, treat them w/Copper and leave the DT fishless for 8 weeks to starve out the Ich. If you don't then most likely you'll see the ich come back here and there, and possibly cause problems down the road.

^well said.

 

[CanhMan]

Thanks for your responses

Thanks for your responses

So my Sailfin didn't make it.
I'll move the Y and B tangs to the QT and start a new copper treatment, eventhough they are still healthy.

Follow up question:
Would keeping the two of them (3-4") each in a 20 gallon QT tank for 8 weeks stress them out?

I'll do a water change on the main 125 DT but is there any treatment I can put in to speed up the process of eliminating the parasites?

Thanks again!

 

[mnowicki]

Do you have inverts or corals? If not you can use hypo (plenty of info on it online, just make sure you do it with a refract.)

 

[CanhMan]

It's a FOWLR but I do have the usual CUC with shrimps and crabs.
Thanks for the info. I'll do some more research and hypo but seems like the DT will be fishless for awhile.

My main concern now is how to make sure the Y and B tangs are clean of parasites and not stressed after being in the QT with copper. Would appreciate hearing from folks with success stories on tranferring fish back into the DT.

Thanks in advance!

 

[sdunkin]

I let my tank go fishless for 10 weeks before putting any fish back into the tank. I had heard anywhere from 6-10 weeks, but decided to go the full 10 just to make sure all if the ich died off because I was already going through all the hassle of removing and medicating fish. Hypo in the main tank wouldn't be an option since you have shrimp/crabs. I just did my normal maintenance on the tank while it was fallow (normal water changes, cleaning skimmer, scraping glass, etc) and I occasionally fed the tank some pellets to keep my clean up crew happy.

Personally, I'd try to find a cheap tank that is bigger to keep them in QT in since they will need to be in it so long to let the main tank sit fallow. I believe petco is having their dollar per gallon sale, so if you could go get a 55g tank I think that would be your best option for them. You could also try picking up a used tank for cheap on CraigsList.

 

[CanhMan]

Thanks for the comments

Thanks for the comments

I guess I'll start the process soon and be fishless for 10 weeks... :-(
What if I just drain the tank and start a new cycle? Probably can't use the same live rock and sand though huh?

 

[huggybear1000]

I guess I'll start the process soon and be fishless for 10 weeks... :-(
What if I just drain the tank and start a new cycle? Probably can't use the same live rock and sand though huh?

yup you would have to clean everything and probably kill off most of the good stuff, the waiting 10 weeks would be easier and less costly.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Do you have inverts or corals? If not you can use hypo (plenty of info on it online, just make sure you do it with a refract.)

Hypo in the DT will kill all the friendly bacteria and everything in the LR; resulting in the loss of the bio-filter and a large increase in ammonia.

 

[MrTuskfish]

So my Sailfin didn't make it.
I'll move the Y and B tangs to the QT and start a new copper treatment, eventhough they are still healthy.

Follow up question:
Would keeping the two of them (3-4") each in a 20 gallon QT tank for 8 weeks stress them out?

I'll do a water change on the main 125 DT but is there any treatment I can put in to speed up the process of eliminating the parasites?

Thanks again!

It will not stress out the tang nearly as much as an ich/velvet attack would---they'll be fine.
There is no fast way to eliminate the parasites in your DT. This is why every book, forum, magazine, blog, etc, etc., strongly suggests you QT everything.

 

[MrTuskfish]

I'd QT all the fish, treat them w/Copper and leave the DT fishless for 8 weeks to starve out the Ich. If you don't then most likely you'll see the ich come back here and there, and possibly cause problems down the road.

Exactly.

 

[CanhMan]

It will not stress out the tang nearly as much as an ich/velvet attack would---they'll be fine.
There is no fast way to eliminate the parasites in your DT. This is why every book, forum, magazine, blog, etc, etc., strongly suggests you QT everything.

Thanks MrTuskFish.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Hypo in the DT will kill all the friendly bacteria and everything in the LR; resulting in the loss of the bio-filter and a large increase in ammonia.

Too late to edit. I should have added that there are a lot of hobbyists who consider hypo safe with some other inverts and the bio-filter. I'm just in the group that doesn't.