Marine Ich QT

[NikeLV]

Hey reefers!

First, can Marine Ich be present but not visible for over 3 months? There is nothing wrong with my fish currently, I am just curious. The last time I have added a fish in my tank was 3 months ago and I wonder if I can still experience an ICH outbreak.

I am getting a Naso Blonde Tang tomorrow and I have my QT ready to go. I have a few questions on Treatment of copper.

The Cupramine Copper bottle says:
"Use 16 drops per 10.5 gallons the first day, wait 48 hours, then repeat. Final copper concentration is 0.5 mg/l. Leave at this concentration for 14 days."
Am I only dosing copper 2 times? and how will I perform water changes if it will remove the copper present in the QT? because I need to leave it at 0.5 mg/l for 14 days.

How often should I perform a water change? How much at a time? (%)
-My sponge filter has been seeding in my tanks sump for 3 weeks and I am using a 20 gallon QT.

Thanks!!

 

[Haffs09]

Yes, it's possible for ich to be present while not visible to you. I had a hippo tang break out with a very mild case of ich. The tell tale visible signs went away, and didn't come back. Fast forward two years and I move the fish into a much larger tank with a bunch more tangs that were all QT'd a minimum of 8 weeks with no visible signs of ich either. One month later, the hippo is covered with ich and my other acanthurus tangs break out too. Although not 100% conclusive, I'm pretty sure the hippo tang was the source of the ich.

For QT, here's what I like to follow:

1. Acclimate new arrival, and observe for any visible signs of infection/disease. If none, focus on getting the new fish eating. If something is present, try to treat accordingly.

2. After fish is eating something (hopefully within 3-5 days), begin 2 or 3 rounds of prazipro treatment.

3. I then dose cupramine. I target 0.40mg/L and try to bring the tank to that level incrementally over 4 days. I maintain this level for 4 weeks.

In terms of water changes for a 20gal, having at least 5 gallons ready to go at anytime makes it very convenient. I have a 20H QT that is currently divided with a yellow tang (3") on one side and a powder blue (2.5") on the other. There's also a flame hawk that swims between the two sides. I change 5 gallons every 5 days. When treating with copper, I prefer to have my new water at the proper copper level before doing the water change. This time around, I don't have a spare tank to prep the make up water with copper, so I do my water change and then calculate how many drops I need to bring that 5 gallons to 0.40mg/L and dose that to the QT. So far, it is working well for me.