"ICH FREE TANK" Quest Begins

[markcasto]

Heres a pic of the stuff thats on my rocks.

 

[cduran02]

Thats what I have, but only one bubble that showed up about a week ago on a rock that I've had since Feb.

Wooooohooooooo!!!! The kids go back to the display tonight!! As of today its been 8 weeks with no fish in the display and 6 1/2 to 7 weeks with no sign of ich on the fish. The parameters in the QT have been kept the same as the display for the past week so I dont need any re-aqlimation, I cant wait to get home today.

 

[markcasto]

Well if its the same stuff thats on my rocks I hope it doesnt spread like mine did. but if you have that foxface he will injoy eating it.

 

[Triggerfish]

cduran - that sure must have been a long haul. congrats on the patience and holding out, it should pay off without a doubt..

Looking forward to hearing updates regarding your continued quarantine practice as well as condition of your tank.
i wish you luck...

 

[cduran02]

Thanks I will be posting some pictures of the kids when I put them back in the tank.

 

[Triggerfish]

oops got you confused with marks situation,, you didn't do the hypo.

it will be interesting to see how your 2 weeks of copper treatment has worked out. i believe that is how you treated them?
when each of us are through with the treatments, i will summarize what we all did. we can then evaluate the results over the year.

 

[cduran02]

Yes I used copper (Seachem's Cupramine).

 

[Triggerfish]

what test kit did you use to measure the copper level with?

 

[cduran02]

Red Sea, it only tests up to 0.4ppm and Cupramine instructs to dose 0.5ppm. What I did was calculate the dose base on the volume of water. I performed 1 gal water changes every day with pre-dosed water and tested to make sure I was at least at 0.4ppm. I suspect this method would only work with non-chelated forms of copper. This type of copper doesnt stick to surfaces and remains in the water, the only way to remove it is with copper or water changes.

 

[Triggerfish]

here is an interesting quote from seachems support forum:
"Cupramine is meant to stay in solution well. However, if there are any relatively new coral decorations or if there is a calcium based substrate in the system, Cupramine can be pulled from solution. Additionally, very high carbonate alkalinity can effect levels slightly."http://www.seachem.com/support/forums/showthread.php?t=31

 

[cduran02]

But non of that is (and should not be) present in a QT tank.

 

[cduran02]

The kids are back in the tank!! They are all doing fine, though they are being shy and spend most of the time hidden. With exception of the foxface (keeps swiming up and down on one side of the tank) hope hes/shes ok.

 

[tjay]

Well one of us is back in, great!!!!!!!
how many weeks did you go fallow in the main??

Looking forward to seeing how long we can keep these tanks ich free and forever debunk the ich in every tank myth

 

[Triggerfish]

i think he went 8 weeks fallow.
i'm almost 1/2 way there..

 

[markcasto]

It will be great to debunk the myth of itch being in evertank theres still a lot we dont understand but at least this will go some way to giving us some evidence that it will work.How does it feel to have the kids back in the tank then?
I am happy to report that my ammonia levels are now staying at zero at last. I think the seachem stability additive really helped things along and there prime was great at keeping it down.Let us know if your foxface eats the bubble algae for you.

 

[Triggerfish]

great to hear the NH3 is under control now.

this waiting game really blows.
i keep adding things to the fallow reef to keep me interested.
got 4 more frags going in that i'm picking up sat from the local club meet, 2 heads of green frogspawn that i am very eager to add as well as green and orange digi..

oh ya,,got a death to report..my sea slug died..must have been gone for couple of days as the smell was just horrible..:eek1:
heard that they just do not live long in captivity...

 

[tjay]

I am refraining from adding anything to the fallow tank. Fortunately there seem to be new things appearing all the time. Since I used seeded water and sand to start the 90 gallon it is hard to age the tank.
It barely cycled at all. and that was over three months ago.
Now I am seeing Coralin forming on plastic and glass spots. sponges every where. That thing I posted a picture of turns out to be pearl bubble coral. I bought the rock as a dead coral skeleton but turns out it was not completely dead and now has spots coming back to life.
I am watching something down in one hole of a rock that has three hair like tentacles that are white and tan striped poking out but that is all I can see of what ever it is.

So I am hoping I am on the verge of a Coralline outbreak and that a few more critters will emerge. All I can do to fight the boredom.

 

[tjay]

Oh I did ad T5 lighting. that is fun

 

[Triggerfish]

I am watching something down in one hole of a rock that has three hair like tentacles that are white and tan striped poking out but that is all I can see of what ever it is.

hopefully it is not aptasia..been getting rid of any that sprout up.

had an issue recently with a BTA that i added the other day..it decided to move up in a rock right in the middle of a large colony of xenia..was stinging the heck out of it and it was not looking happy at all.
the bta was attached deep within the rock crevice and i had to chisel a part of the rock and cut it away from where it was attached.. needless to say,,it was now the one not happy..
it seems to have recovered..but it looks like it is on the move again to somewhere..
luckily only lost one small xenia crown...so far..

 

[tjay]

Well if it is aptasia it will be lunch for my CBB in about three weeks