In Dire need of QT advice

[BrianBell1974]

I Currently have two tangs a KOLE and a Purple that appear to have ICH very bad.
I only have the display tank up right now. I have everything to set up my 29g that I started with.
I was preparing to do a water change on my 125 display tomorrow and have about 25 to 30 gallons of water mixed.
Should I set up my 29 and try to get the two tangs out of the display or will it make a difference for them. This will be a tough job.
If so how should I go about getting the QT ready.
Should I take some rock and substrate from my display and use the water from it that I syphon out during the water change. or will that water not make a difference. What about the cycle will it harm the fish worse that the ich?
I have never done this before and I have been unable to search the forums for a couple days so sorry for any redundancy. The infested fish would also appreciate the advice.
By the way the fish are still eating hardy and have not been scratching. I figure that is next to come.

 

[BrianBell1974]

I take it I should not worry about QT'ing the fish.

 

[mikenpam]

A QT tank doesn't need substrate, rocks, etc. It needs a filter, possibly a powerhead for circulation, a heater, light and some hiding spaces. I use PVC pipe for hiding space. I use a Y fitting.

Some people have claimed success with fighting Ich in their main tank and I will leave that to others to discuss pros and cons. I had Ich in my main tank and ended up removing my fish. It was a pain in the butt and it took me awhile to finally get my 6-line wrasse out. I used hypo salinity to treat my fish. My foxface passed away and I purchased a replacement which also developed Ich. It took a few weeks before my new foxface no longer had any Ich. It would clear up for a day or so and then come back. It has now been 10 days without Ich. I went seven weeks with no fish in my main tank. I had two QT's set up and have just returned my six-line wrasse, twin spot and clownfish to the main tank. It will be at least three more weeks before I place the foxface in the main tank.

There are great threads on treating Ich on the treating fish disease forum.

 

[BrianBell1974]

Thanks,
Did you already have your QT running? Wgat should do about the cycle that will occur?

 

[Blown 346]

The easy way to avoid a cycle is to use the water you take out of the main tank and put that into your Q tank. You wont have a cycle this way. I have done his any times with no problems.
A piece or two of large PVC should be enough for hiding.
Get a heater and set that to the temp of the main tank.
I would also get a sponge and throw that into the Q tank so bacteria can colonize on it, so they can handle th fish load.

You could do the hypo salinity or you can treat with copper.

 

[supertech3]

IMO use the water from your main tank to set-up the QT,it is cycled and ready to put in there. The draw back would be putting the water with the ich in there but if you treat with hyposalinity it will kill all of this when you lower the sg anyway. Just remember you will stress the fish when you capture them and in their condition this is not a good thing and may be better to leave them be.

 

[BrianBell1974]

Thanks blown
I would prefer not to use copper. What is the effective hyposalinty for treatment?

 

[supertech3]

you need to use a refractometer and lower it to 1.009

 

[chip721]

IMO if the fish have ich pretty bad, I wouldn't try treating it in the display. It's certainly going to be a challenge, but get the fish out if you can and leave the tank fallow for several weeks until the ich cycle dies out. You might try using a couple nets at the same time, herd the fish into one end of the tank, and then partition it off with a piece of plexiglass or something, so they don't have the full run of that 125. I've also used hypo-salinity to successfully combat ich. Some will probably recommend copper treatment. I've talked with folks who also said UV was effective. Good luck and save those fish.

 

[Blown 346]

The way to treat with Hyposalinity is to start off with the salinity level in the main tank. ( which will be the same since you will use the water from the water changeto start the Q tank)
Say your salinity now is 1.025, over a period of a few weeks you are going to want to do small water changes like a gallon every week of just fresh RO water.
This way the salinity will becvome lower each week with each small water change.
You will want to bring the salinity down to 1.009. Once you reach that level leave it this way for a week, than slowly start to bring the salinity back up to normal.
Another thing that will help is if you soak there food in garlic, this will help boost the fishes immune system to fight off the parasite.
I reccomend leaving the main tank fishless for 6 to 8 weeks, by this time the parasite will be dead since it didnt have anything to feed off of.
The ich will appear for a few days and then will be invisible making you think it is gone. But it isnt, the ich is actually reproducing in the sand, rock, and will re appear in a few days.
Hope this helps, you get a idea on how the parasite lives and how to treat it.

 

[BrianBell1974]

Thanks, I will begin this in the morning
The old addage nothing good happens fast well nothing good happens for me after 10pm LOL
What about the fish ich is not affecting like my maroon clown. Will it also need ot come out for the tank to be consided fallow?

 

[Blown 346]

Yes the other fish should come out as well, the ich will have a host to feed off of and the clown could become infected as well.
Invertibrates like shrimp, starfish, crabs, snails wont be harmed by the parasite. Also, I forgot to mention to use a airstone in the Q tank, this will insure a proper PH level and make sure it doesnt drop.
You will have to do frequent water changes so you dont have a ammonia problem. Since the tank is small, the changes in the parameters can quickly become deadly. Watch for those every week, as do water changes as needed.

 

[Confooseld]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6509087#post6509087 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Blown 346
The way to treat with Hyposalinity is to start off with the salinity level in the main tank. ( which will be the same since you will use the water from the water changeto start the Q tank)
Say your salinity now is 1.025, over a period of a few weeks you are going to want to do small water changes like a gallon every week of just fresh RO water.
This way the salinity will becvome lower each week with each small water change.
You will want to bring the salinity down to 1.009. Once you reach that level leave it this way for a week, than slowly start to bring the salinity back up to normal.
Another thing that will help is if you soak there food in garlic, this will help boost the fishes immune system to fight off the parasite.
I reccomend leaving the main tank fishless for 6 to 8 weeks, by this time the parasite will be dead since it didnt have anything to feed off of.
The ich will appear for a few days and then will be invisible making you think it is gone. But it isnt, the ich is actually reproducing in the sand, rock, and will re appear in a few days.
Hope this helps, you get a idea on how the parasite lives and how to treat it.

That's really really wrong you can bring down the salinity in about two days to 1.010 then leave it there for six weeks bring it up again (much much more slowly) and reintroduce your fish.
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/hyposalinity.html
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/marineich.html

 

[Blown 346]

I would think by bringing it down slowly you would create less stress on the already stressed and sick fish. I wouldnt want to bring the salinity down that drastically in that fast of a time. I have treated hypo the way I have stated with no ill affects. The hypo will still work but wont be as stressful to the fish.
Thats the way I see it, I dont see a need to rush things and stress the fish out more than they already are.

 

[mikenpam]

I brought mine down relatively quickly over about 4 or 5 days. One article I read mentioned that it may actually reduce stess as saltwater fish have to constantly drink water and lowering the salinity reduces the effort. (The article explains it much better.) I do take at least a week to bring salinity back up to 1.026. I had my QT set up prior to moving fish back into it. I had QT'd for only two weeks and the last fish I placed into the tank infected the foxface. I will always QT for at least 4 weeks from now on.

As stated by others there is no cycle involved; however, you must keep vigilant on testing water parameters. I would also suggest keeping the salinity at 1.009 for two weeks as the Ich is destoyed after it hatches, not on the fish, and that is around a 10 day cycle from what I have read. Keeping water temp at 80-82 speeds up the cycle.