I have some basic quarantine question and a marine itch ?

[dgiglio]

Okay so I made a very common beginner mistake. I have never quarantined any of my fish I've always thought "well it's not like I actually have enough fish in my tank to worry about wiping them all out". Yeah i know thats just dumb. Anyways I recently added a yellow tang, which appeared to be pretty darn heathy. Well now two weeks later I see on his side fins he is starting to develop a couple small white specks, which to me ( relatively new to the fish health and disease topic ), appears to be marine itch. I've seen him rub against the sand and corals and such. So after reading the stickies in the board and searching the web I was looking to see if someone could give me instructions on how to cure my fish and tank of marine itch. Also with the quarantine tank, anyone have some photos to give me some ideas on I should set mine up ?Before i start getting more delicate & difficult fish, or any fish for that matter I would like to have a quarantine/treatment tank set up. Also, I have been thinking of getting a uv sterilizer for sometime now mainly to use as a water polisher. And i know there is a lot of debate around the use of them with corals, that aside I was wondering would a uv sterilizer help get rid of marine itch? If so, would you say it's better to have a unit rated fora 150 gal on a 75 gal tank ( like with a skimmer)? Or better to buy one rated for the actual size of my tank. Thanks for your help,
D.G

 

[b0bab0ey]

You are going to need to pull ALL the fish out of that tank and treat in a separate QT. Being you are a newbie, I would suggest treating with a med called Cupramine. However, we really need a listing of all the fish you have in this tank to be sure you don't have one that shouldn't be medicated with Cupramine.

About how to setup the QT, check out these two threads (scroll down for pics):

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1990651&highlight=setting+qt

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1866770&highlight=setting+qt

You'll also need to leave your DT fallow (fishless) for at least 9 weeks to starve out any remaining Ich parasites in there.

 

[MrTuskfish]

You are going to need to pull ALL the fish out of that tank and treat in a separate QT. Being you are a newbie, I would suggest treating with a med called Cupramine. However, we really need a listing of all the fish you have in this tank to be sure you don't have one that shouldn't be medicated with Cupramine.

About how to setup the QT, check out these two threads (scroll down for pics):

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1990651&highlight=setting+qt

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1866770&highlight=setting+qt

You'll also need to leave your DT fallow (fishless) for at least 9 weeks to starve out any remaining Ich parasites in there.

^^^^^^I agree^^^^^^
UV may help some with ich, but if you look at how UV works, its obviously impossible for it to cure or prevent ich. Free swimming ich parasites emerge (mostly) from the substrate. most emerge at night, where the fish sleep. Every single ich parasite would have to find the UV intake before it found a fish host to continue its life cycle. Common sense seems to say that's impossible. Also, UV flow must be precise and the UV bulb & sleeve must be perfectly maintained. UV is a good water-polisher; but i doubt you'll find many experienced hobbyists that think they can prevent or eliminate ich....or any parasite. Religious use of a QT is the only to prevent ich and copper, hypo, or tank-transfer (all in a QT) are the only ways to eliminate it.

 

[dgiglio]

Wow! Sounds like I have quite the job on my hands now! Fish list: yellow tang , 3 black and white cardinals , 1 red fire fish, 2 clowns, 3 blue green chromis, and some shrimp... Don't know if they need to be removed. I may be wrong in my diagnosis , maybe if I post a picture you guys can help me figure out what this tang has going on. I just Noticed it last night and it was very faint so I'm praying that I'm wrong. Wish me luck and bababooy to you all ha

 

[b0bab0ey]

Wow! Sounds like I have quite the job on my hands now! Fish list: yellow tang , 3 black and white cardinals , 1 red fire fish, 2 clowns, 3 blue green chromis, and some shrimp... Don't know if they need to be removed. I may be wrong in my diagnosis , maybe if I post a picture you guys can help me figure out what this tang has going on. I just Noticed it last night and it was very faint so I'm praying that I'm wrong. Wish me luck and bababooy to you all ha

IMO, all the fish you listed can be safely treated with copper (Cupramine). Remember, only the fish need to be treated. Everything else (including the shrimp) stays in the DT for 9 weeks without any fish being present.

Post pics if you can. b0bab0ey b0bab0ey :lolspin:

 

[sandwi54]

Post pics if you can. b0bab0ey b0bab0ey :lolspin:

do you like boba?

 

[b0bab0ey]

do you like boba?

Yeah. I'm in general a big Stern fan and listen to him whenever I can. Lately though, I've been listening more and more to Walton & Johnson in the morning.

 

[dgiglio]

Tata-toothy? Ha anyways when I got home last night I found my tang does have Ich. Questions- I know I need to take all my fish out but should I treat all the fish even Though theyre not showing signs of Ich? And with the qt tank what kinda filter should I use? Will a hang of back type work ? And should I use water from my display for the quarantine?

 

[b0bab0ey]

Tata-toothy? Ha anyways when I got home last night I found my tang does have Ich. Questions- I know I need to take all my fish out but should I treat all the fish even Though theyre not showing signs of Ich? And with the qt tank what kinda filter should I use? Will a hang of back type work ? And should I use water from my display for the quarantine?

Yes, all the fish need to be QT'd and treated. What you are seeing (the white spots) are just the eggs. They will eventually fall off the tang, hatch and the naked to the human eye parasites will attack! They will attack everything in your tank, not just the tang.

I personally use an AquaClear 50 HOB power filter on my 29g QT. And I have a small power head for added circulation. I really need to take a pic of it and post it. That kind of setup should work fine for you and your bioload of fish as well. And yes, you can use the water straight out of your DT to set it up.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Tata-toothy? Ha anyways when I got home last night I found my tang does have Ich. Questions- I know I need to take all my fish out but should I treat all the fish even Though theyre not showing signs of Ich? And with the qt tank what kinda filter should I use? Will a hang of back type work ? And should I use water from my display for the quarantine?

Yes, all fish need to be treated and the DT left fishless for (I prefer) 10 weeks. The ich now resides in your DT now, not just on the fish. A HOB filter is fine, but you don't have time to cycle the QT, so a lot of WCs are in your future. DT water is fine, in a newly set up HT, you'll be killing any ich you transfer anyway and the fish don't need any real acclimation. Never transfer anything between tanks once treatment has started, though. Do you know what treatment method you'll use? Copper, hypo, or tank-transfer are really your only options.