ich, should i qt all fish?

[s2svetko]

my tangs (hippo and white cheek) are showing ich and i want to know if ALL my fish need to be put in qt....

none of the other fish are showing spots but as far as i know they can have it and just not be showing

coral beauty (probably should qt)
Lyretail Anthias (probably should qt)
pair of maroon clowns (probably should qt)
yellowhead jawfish (dont know if i should and very hard to catch)
Mandarin (been told that they dont get ich)

also the hippo has developed popeye since getting ich, how should i medicate him? both copper and Methylene, or hypo (i dont have a Refractometer) and Methylene?

any thoughts?

 

[boxfishpooalot]

Putting all your fish in qt is kind of outrageuos I think. Plus not to mention the fact that ammonia can build up if the qt is not established with bacteria yet.

I would only put fish in there that are very effected by it. The best defence is a well fed fish imo. And water stability, esp temp and salinity.

 

[Freed]

Re: ich, should i qt all fish?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8119936#post8119936 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by s2svetko

none of the other fish are showing spots but as far as i know they can have it and just not be showing

You are very correct here and I must add that you should stick with your initial thoughts on QT'ing ALL fish if you have a big enough QT tank. Do not subscribe to the theory that if you only QT the fish that have noticeable signs of ich then your problem will go away after you QT only those suspect fish. Ich will possibly remain in the main tank being that there are fish in there as you QT the only ones with noticeable signs of the DEADLY disease. They will be living off the ones in the main tank and would happily REINFECT the ones you put back in from QT even after the 4-6 week minimum for the QT of ich. Hypo works best, by the way, for treating ich in QT.

 

[s2svetko]

i have a 29gal to qt them in.
if i do water changes every other day or so the ammonia shouldnt be a problem.

 

[Freed]

That is correct, the ammonia shouldn't be an issue if you do water changes but I would still have at least an air driven foam sponge filter in there for bacteria to thrive on which would keep the ammonia down mostly by itself.

 

[tang named junkyard]

dont do anything.. keep feeding your fish and make sure your tank isnt out of wack. Most of the time they will beat it.

 

[McCrary]

I agree with junkyard. Going after the fish in an attempt to QT them will probably lead to more stress than the ich itself. Check your water parameters and if you have fish that are being stressed.

 

[Lake75]

I agree with junkyard, too. If your water is good enough and your fish are healthy, then you'd better leave them there. Removing all of the rock/corals and catch the fish in a 90 gallon tank is no fun and will certainly put a lot of stress on the fish.

A couple of months ago, my yellow tang and a ocellaris clown got ich because I didn't quarantine a new hippo tang. I didn't do anything at that time, hoping that all of the infected fish could get over it by themselves. Well, the new hippo died in a week, but my old healthy fish all recovered in a few days. It's been a while now and I haven't seen an ich comeback yet.

 

[thor32766]

that you can also try Kich Ich, i have a friend that had ich in his tank and treated with this stuff and had great sucess with it. He had clams, softies, anemones and ending up getting rid of it.

 

[Mr31415]

I QT'ed all my fish and the ordeal stressed my Purple Tang out more than when he used to have aonly a couple of spots... He is now sort of anorexic...

 

[TKByrnes]

I beat it with some stuff called ich attack its organic and natural. It will prob take the whole bottle but its only $11 completely reef safe. I have purple monti digi, hammer, zoo's, mushrooms, leathers. and anemone's no losses at all. nothing even acted like they noticed i was treating with it.