Ich in my system

[LennytheBlennie]

Hi! I have a 40 gallon reef system that was exposed to ich via the fish I bought about a year ago. They are fine and I have been running a CoralLife UV sterilizer on it for almost as long. My clowns fins look a little dusty every now and then, but no ill effects to them or any of the other inhabitants.

My question is this- I am about to start cycling a new 125 gallon setup (yes I caught the bug). Going to use Live rock and Marc Weiss Bacter boost to kick it. I was planning on using a little of the live sand, water and used filtration media to import some good bacteria into the new system, but then started pondering ich and am now wondering if that is a good idea. The new system will have a 40W Emperor UV sterilizer that will be turned on post-cycling.

Should I be concerned about the ich in my current system enough not to use anything from current tank? The fish will eventually be relocated to the new tank. So if I am going to be retentive, I'll have to treat them, too. Or should I consider the ich exposure to be inevitable and get over it. Just worried since I want a tang in the new tank. Would be nice to use the small tank as a quarantine, but won't be able to do that, either, if I go with the retentive way of thinking. Sigh. Thoughts??

 

[gone fishin]

Do you have any intention of QT the new fish for the 125g?

If you do then I would run your current fish through TTM then into the 125g when ready. I would not use anything you listed from the old tank. On the other hand if you do not plan on QT the new fish then IMO it does not really matter what you use from the old tank.

 

[kmbyrnes]

Congrats on the upgrade!
If there is ich in your current tank, you have 2 choices: Live with it in your new system or do something about it. Moving ich infected fish from one tank to another is just playing Russian Roulette.
If you want to use live rock from your current tank or you also have corals, you will need to leave the new tank 'fallow' for at least 72 days. I would skip that.
IMHO your best course is to cycle the new tank by whatever means works for you, without using anything from the old tank. Once cycled, do TTM on your fish ( see sticky at the top of the forum ) and move them to the new tank. Then let the old tank run fallow for 73 days before moving corals. Or reverse it and move the corals, wait 73 days and then do TTM on the fish before moving to the new tank.
Either way, TTM combined with the 72 day fallow period will ensure your new DT is ich free.
Good Luck!

 

[mgraf]

I am currently running a fallow tank. Planning on adding fish at some point, have a QT up and running. The fact is that you may have to QT all purchases from now on. Anything! Snails, crabs, corals, everything. not a bad idea to allow new setup fish less for a bit. Get your clean up crew, corals, and other inverts settled. Wait the 72 days, and then begin to add your treated fish.

 

[Sapelo]

Gone fishing is right: if you're not planning to QT going forward, there's really no point in QT now. It's not one of those things that you half way do.
Personally, I have a lot of money invested in my livestock so it would be worth it to me to fallow the DT, QT everything from it, only use live rock that had been without livestock for 72 days, and then QT everything going forward.
Just my two cents...

 

[LennytheBlennie]

Thanks for the advice, guys. i would hate to start off on the wrong foot with the new one. So I will go ahead and pickup another small aquarium and do TTM on existing fish prior to introducing them to the new tank after it has cycled. I won't use anything from the existing tank and will make all efforts not to cross-contaminate anything in the mean time. I'll leave the current tank fallow before I bring in any new fish into it. I have time and want to do this right. I think I will sell the smaller tank once the new one is fully stocked. At least I can sell everything with a clear conscience as a starter for someone if I do it that way.