ICH after QT

[symon_say]

My tank is just 6 months old and i have QT all the fish i get for 4 weeks, and none have any sign of disseasse, the tank was fine until the last adition an atlantic blue tang and now everybody have ich, they are all eating fine.

The tank have a ABT, a pair of clarkii, 2 royal gramma, 2 mollies and blue neon goby, i don't have enought space/tanks to QT then because my QT is just a 10g tank.

I'll move the blue tang to the QT to treat it, but what should i do with the rest of the fish??

 

[rinconmike]

what was your QT process?

 

[spieszak]

While the QT process used may be useful for future considerations, right now the only reason it would matter is if there is a suspicion it is something other than ich.
The way I see it, you have three options. Pick up a larger tank (craigslist) for use as a hospital tank, use your 10 gallon to hold rock and inverts and treat in your DT (any copper leaching into the silicone or water will have to be slowly removed before adding things back.. and some people are convinced it never goes away), or go the way your going and continually fight ich. A tank without a stand, sitting on your kitchen floor with a sponge filter will serve fine as a HT (makes it hard to siphon though) But, it can likely be done for under a hundred bucks... Its a small price to pay for ensuring this isn't an on going battle, truthfully.

 

[symon_say]

what was your QT process?

1st week treat with prazipro, 2nd week cupramin, 3rd week maracyn, 4th week no treat, 5th week, if no sign of any disease to DT.

Can a 30gls fit all those fish??

What if i can't get then all out like the neon goby that will be really hard to catch.

What about hyposalinity in the DT, i can take all corals and invert out, most of then are in their own rock, so it won't be a big deal to take then out and put it in a smaller tank, for some time.

System is 160g, so keeping stable parameter in hypo won't be to hard.

 

[sandwi54]

2nd week cupramin

Here is the problem. 1 week in cupramine is not effective for ich at all. It needs a minimum of 3 weeks (4 preferred). Ich runs an average life cycle of 28 days at tropical temperature and can only be killed by copper in the free-swimming stage, so if you are going to do cupramine at all, do it for four weeks, otherwise it's pointless.

Hyposalinity in DT is a hit-or-miss thing. I have done that three times in my life, sucessfully twice and failure once. The main issue is that the sand and rocks provide good breeding grounds for ich, so they are less stressed out by hyposalinity. Given that all your fish are small, I would pick up a used 30g tank as a QT and catch all your fish to put in it. Re-use the cycled HOB filter on your 10g QT and keep a close eye on ammonia.

Run cupramine for 4 weeks and leave the DT fallow for 10 weeks.

 

[symon_say]

Thanks, I'm kind of afraid with the cupramine, what treatment work best hypo or cupramine, do less damage to the fish and is easier.

I tend to travel a lot a might not be able to monitor tank everyday,.

 

[spieszak]

copper is rougher on the fish (although I've never had a problem with it when following the directions), hypo on the owner. If you don't have a ATO hypo is much less likely to be successful, since the even small swings into higher salinity can cause failure. Tank transfer is another option, but since your "struggling" with even having a QT for all of them, having two may not be an option...

 

[symon_say]

I have STO and can set a gravity fed for the qt, I have read that bigger problem with hypo is Ph swing, I can use my controller to monitor Ph and dose buffer solution to keep Ph into check, how does this sound? Do I have a plan?

PS: I'm a noob and to do things right for my fish, so easier method is best for me.

 

[snorvich]

I have STO and can set a gravity fed for the qt, I have read that bigger problem with hypo is Ph swing, I can use my controller to monitor Ph and dose buffer solution to keep Ph into check, how does this sound? Do I have a plan?

PS: I'm a noob and to do things right for my fish, so easier method is best for me.

In terms of effectiveness and ease, Tank Transfer is number one. The vast majority of people do not do hypo properly since SG above the critical threshold restarts the clock. Cupramine, given nightly testing is very effective and is what most people use with success. Four weeks preferred.

 

[symon_say]

What about keeping my hands of the tank for 11 months??

Is it true that ich die after that time, i ask because TWF don't me to take the fish out, because they can die in the due to stress in the treatment (her words).

All fish look healthy, eat normally and none is scratching, at least i can see then doing it, even the atlantic blue tang, that's is the only one that have white spots right now is doing great, swimming around, picking algae and eating mysys.

Is this treatment effective, is i do it, will i be able to introduce corals and inverts, with proper QT, or i can't introduce anything to the tank for that time.

If go this route i'll 1 year before introducing any new fish, this will be a major project for me, because hold me back for 1 complete year with a 130g tank almost empty is gonna be a challenge, but the animals are the first thing here.

 

[gone_fishing]

I tried the wait and see method, problem is each parasite drops off and produces about 200 new parasites, the third round killed my entire tank. It is a pain, but if you don't want to risk losing all the fish you have, then take them out. Tank transfer was by far the easiest one to do, I have done my QT with copper, hypo and most recently with my new hippo tang, tank transfer. She is a little stressed but eating pellets and flakes! No sign of ich, just my protocol to treat for it when I get fish, don't like the wait and see method or risk 5 weeks of watching and then hoping they don't have it when I put them in the tank.

Why wait a year to add fish, take everyone out, do one of the methods (tank transfer was the shortest 12 days ever because you had to mix up new salt in between you will feel busy) and keep the tank empty for minimum of 8 weeks, each week after 7 I believe brings the chance of it being gone close to 100%. I found with the strain that killed my tank, 8 was long enough, thankfully.

Then when you add the old fish back, after the 8+ weeks, start a new QT with new fish. No need to wait 1 year, you would most likely get really bored, impatient or leave the hobby.

 

[snorvich]

Good advice above. Tank transfer is easy and effective.