Ich in large 180 gal. DT need advise please!!!

[Zer0.]

So, this is my first reef tank. It has been up for about 9 months and everything has gone very well.....until now.

Despite QT'ing all fish, i have somehow got Ich in my DT and am not sure how to proceed.

Currently I have a small blue hippo, small melanurus wrasse, and a small yellow kole eye tang in a 30 gallon cycled QT running a fluval C4 with extra biomedia for filtration, the two tangs both showed signs of Ich a few days after being introduced into QT and have just finished being treated with Cupramine @ .4 concentration for 3 weeks and are looking great now.

I dont know if somehow I cross contaminated this ich into the DT some how or if I just didnt catch it on a prior addition but my Royal Gramma is showing obvious signs of Ich in the DT, such as flashing and several white spots.

My problem is that these fish were to be the last additions to the tank and as such my 180 is what i would consider pretty much fully stocked, this includes;

1 sailfin tang
2 occ. clowns
1 midas blenny
1 mcCoskers flasher wrasse
1 blue flasher wrasse
1 firefish
1 royal gramma basslet
1 target mandarin dragonette

All of the fish including the tangs are pretty small at 3in or less.

From what I gather since this is a mixed reef tank with inverts, my best option is to remove all fish and treat them in a QT/HT and let the DT go fallow for 13 weeks I believe it is?

I have a few things I'm unsure of and really need advise on....

1) I don't think the 30 gallon QT tank is going to cut it for all these fish. I am kind of tight on funds but I think i can pick probably swing picking up a 55 gallon tank. Will this be large enough for all the fish? (provided lots of PVC hiding spots)

2) Can I add all these fish to the planned 55 gallon tank using the established HoB filter for filtration or will this over load my bio-filtration too much?

The filter is currently on the QT with the 3 aforementioned fish and I do feed the QT fairly heavily (like to fatten the fish up in QT before they go into DT)
I plan to add another similar HoB filter for redundancy in case first fails as well as add more filtration capabilities but obviously this new filter will take time to establish.

How should I handle this? Can i add them all at once? or should I do a few at a time. Im afraid adding them slowly over time may hurt in the fact that they will be waiting so long to get treated, although the RG is the only fish really showing signs of Ich.

3) The target mandarin. I don't know what to do with this little guy. He is the only fish I didn't QT, I believe I have seen him eat some of what ever the smaller food in Rod's is during feeding time, but assume almost all his diet comes from the copods in the DT, which there will not be in the QT.

How should I proceed with this? I read mandarins are pretty Ich resistant due to a extra thick slime coat but I would hate to leave him in while the DT is other wise fallow for so long to find out the Ich survived on him. On the other hand I would hate to lose him due to starvation in the Hospital tank.

Thank you all for your time and sorry for the long read, I am just trying to be as thorough as possible as this is pretty worrisome to me.

With the help of all the great people here (esp. Sk8er, snorvich, and Bnumair) I have not lost a fish yet and only 1 coral and I would really like to keep it that way.

Regards,
-Z

 

[Zer0.]

Bump, would like to start this asap

 

[snorvich]

So, this is my first reef tank. It has been up for about 9 months and everything has gone very well.....until now.

Despite QT'ing all fish, i have somehow got Ich in my DT and am not sure how to proceed.

Currently I have a small blue hippo, small melanurus wrasse, and a small yellow kole eye tang in a 30 gallon cycled QT running a fluval C4 with extra biomedia for filtration, the two tangs both showed signs of Ich a few days after being introduced into QT and have just finished being treated with Cupramine @ .4 concentration for 3 weeks and are looking great now.

You will need to treat for 4 weeks at a concentration of .5

I dont know if somehow I cross contaminated this ich into the DT some how or if I just didnt catch it on a prior addition but my Royal Gramma is showing obvious signs of Ich in the DT, such as flashing and several white spots.

If QT is adjacent to the DT, there can be contamination; however, most likely a wet object was introduced without proper quarantine

My problem is that these fish were to be the last additions to the tank and as such my 180 is what i would consider pretty much fully stocked, this includes;

1 sailfin tang
2 occ. clowns
1 midas blenny
1 mcCoskers flasher wrasse
1 blue flasher wrasse
1 firefish
1 royal gramma basslet
1 target mandarin dragonette

All of the fish including the tangs are pretty small at 3in or less.

From what I gather since this is a mixed reef tank with inverts, my best option is to remove all fish and treat them in a QT/HT and let the DT go fallow for 13 weeks I believe it is?

fallow period for ich is 72 days. Best option for treatment is tank transfer, but then you would need a cycled quarantine for the remainder of the fallow period

I have a few things I'm unsure of and really need advise on....

1) I don't think the 30 gallon QT tank is going to cut it for all these fish. I am kind of tight on funds but I think i can pick probably swing picking up a 55 gallon tank. Will this be large enough for all the fish? (provided lots of PVC hiding spots)

after tank transfer, best would be to purchase and cycle a rubbermaid tub.

2) Can I add all these fish to the planned 55 gallon tank using the established HoB filter for filtration or will this over load my bio-filtration too much?

I would not use a HOB filter for fear of contamination

The filter is currently on the QT with the 3 aforementioned fish and I do feed the QT fairly heavily (like to fatten the fish up in QT before they go into DT)
I plan to add another similar HoB filter for redundancy in case first fails as well as add more filtration capabilities but obviously this new filter will take time to establish.

How should I handle this? Can i add them all at once? or should I do a few at a time. Im afraid adding them slowly over time may hurt in the fact that they will be waiting so long to get treated, although the RG is the only fish really showing signs of Ich.

ich does not to present visibly in order to be present

3) The target mandarin. I don't know what to do with this little guy. He is the only fish I didn't QT, I believe I have seen him eat some of what ever the smaller food in Rod's is during feeding time, but assume almost all his diet comes from the copods in the DT, which there will not be in the QT.

all fish must be treated (TTM preferred) and I suggest feeding the mandarin with nutramar ova; but that is a difficult fish to feed with only supplied food

How should I proceed with this? I read mandarins are pretty Ich resistant

ich resistant is not ich proof

due to a extra thick slime coat but I would hate to leave him in while the DT is other wise fallow for so long to find out the Ich survived on him. On the other hand I would hate to lose him due to starvation in the Hospital tank.

Thank you all for your time and sorry for the long read, I am just trying to be as thorough as possible as this is pretty worrisome to me.

With the help of all the great people here (esp. Sk8er, snorvich, and Bnumair) I have not lost a fish yet and only 1 coral and I would really like to keep it that way.

Regards,
-Z

 

[Zer0.]

Hey snorvich. Firtst off thanks for the reply.

Just 2 questions.

"I would not use a HOB filter for fear of contamination"

I'm not sure what you mean by this. The HoB filter would be coming from my current QT to the new 75 gallon HT I am picking up, which will hold my fish who already have Ich, so Im not sure I understand the "contamination" part. Unless perhaps you assume I will tank transfer to cure fish then put them into the ich free - 75 gallon tank; which leads me to my next question...

How would I TTM this many fish? I dont think i could do them all in the 30 gallon tank at once. And I also don't know if i have the time to perform the TTM. (I have never done TTM btw.)

The current plan as of this moment, is to set up the 75 gallon tank. move the cycled HoB filter to the 75 gallon tank as well as the fish in the QT and also move in the fish from the DT, then treat with cupramine in the 75 while the DT stays fallow for 72 days.

Does this not sound like a good plan?

Thanks for your time,
-Z

 

[jbvdhp]

Hey snorvich. Firtst off thanks for the reply.

Just 2 questions.

"I would not use a HOB filter for fear of contamination"

I'm not sure what you mean by this. The HoB filter would be coming from my current QT to the new 75 gallon HT I am picking up, which will hold my fish who already have Ich, so Im not sure I understand the "contamination" part. Unless perhaps you assume I will tank transfer to cure fish then put them into the ich free - 75 gallon tank; which leads me to my next question...
I think it was assumed the established media was coming from the DT, if your current QT is ich free, I can't see why you can't use a HOB filter from it?

How would I TTM this many fish? I dont think i could do them all in the 30 gallon tank at once. And I also don't know if i have the time to perform the TTM. (I have never done TTM btw.)

I didn't think I had time for TTM either, but I MADE time, and I am glad I resorted to TTM. It truly works if done meticulously. Honestly..it takes all but 25 mins for me to rinse and dry my bins, on the way home from work I stop into the water store to buy as much RO as I need, and 5 mins to mix saltwater; 10 mins to transfer fish, and I live a busy life; I'm certain you can make the time for the transfer! You can definitely do it, you wont be sorry!

The current plan as of this moment, is to set up the 75 gallon tank. move the cycled HoB filter to the 75 gallon tank as well as the fish in the QT and also move in the fish from the DT, then treat with cupramine in the 75 while the DT stays fallow for 72 days.

Does this not sound like a good plan?

Thanks for your time,
-Z