My Ick battle.

[running scott]

I woke up this fine Saturday morning looked at my tank and the first thing I saw when the lights came on was Ick on my blue throat trigger. Then I notice that the blue hippo tang was covered! I didn't see any the night before! I decided to try the tank transfer method.

I got some containers siphoned water from the tank into them, then put every rock ( many with corals attached) into them. Then I netted all my fish, blue tang, yellow tang, blue throat trigger, occileris clown, two yellowtail damsels, Royal gramma, sunrise dottyback,splendid dottyback, flame hawkfish, and five lyre tail Anthias.

I put all of these fish in a plastic storage container with fresh saltwater, some PVC pieces, and a powerhead. They are in this twelve gallons of water for three days before the first transfer. Oh and I put a quarter capful of prime in their water.

I will continue to post my progress. It will 63 days until I can put hopefully these fish back in the tank.

 

[m1k3]

Good luck, following keep us updated.

 

[running scott]

Oh I forgot I also have a hoevens wrasses, and even though he shows no sign of Ick I very worried about him. He normally sleeps under the sand, but in the Hospital tank I just have peices of PVC. How do you keep those from moving around in the tank? The powerhead I'm using to oxygenate the water makes them roll around.

 

[Nina51]

i only use an airstone in a qt/hospital tank. it doesn't toss things around like a power head does.

as for the wrasse, it will be stressful for him not to have sand to bury himself in. you can use a shallow piece of something like tupperware and fill it with an inch of sand. just set it in a corner. he will find it. you will have to use fresh sand for each transfer but having something to bury in will be much less stressful for him.

 

[Genera]

Just to mention it, mollies are really easy to treat for ich, as they can switch back and forth between salt and freshwater. If I ever get ich, then I'll just set up a small-medium freshwater tank & stick them in there for a few months and leave the DT fishless. I wish you good luck! +1 on the sand-filled tupperware, I believe you could use cheap sand such as pool filter sand, correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[NJS7x7]

I am too battling Ich, got my Hospital tank set up tonight haven't transferred anyone yet though. Most worried about my Scooter Blenny, but I'm stuck between a bit of a rock and hard place when it comes to him.

 

[shifty51008]

Do you have a bigger tank to transfer these fish into after the ttm? 12 gal is very small for all those fish to stay in while you wait for the rest of the 72 days before they go back into the dt

 

[running scott]

I think you're right Shifty, after the fourth tank transfer I plan on splitting the fish up into two containers with more water. My question is do I get some bacteria in a bottle and some media to start a cycle? Or just do lots of water changes for the rest of the 72 days?

 

[shifty51008]

You could do either, i like to have sponge filters in holding tanks. You could add the sponge filter then add some bacteria to cycle it. I am also a fan of the ammonia badges to give you a quick view on if and when you need to do a water change.

 

[kmbyrnes]

Sorry for your troubles. Good luck on TTM.
IMO, you should get a tank cycling now for the long term. It may not be ready at day 12, but it will lessen the number of WC required for the rest of the fallow period.
After this is all over, just keep a sponge filter in your sump. Better safe than sorry.

 

[running scott]

My TTM regimen is going well, only one fish lost. My ancient royal gramma�� I intend on leaving my display fish less for 73 days. Do I need to add some sort of bio load to he display to keep the bacteria count up during this time?

 

[shifty51008]

Just ghost feed the dt, that will keep the bacteria levels up.

Sorry for the loss but gl with the rest.

 

[kmbyrnes]

Good to hear you are having success. Sorry for your loss.
As shifty21008 said, ghost feed the display to keep the other critters alive.
The 72 days will seem an eternity, but it's a good time to re-aquascape, re-plumb, or add new equipment.
Or you can do what I did: Keep the lights on, sit back and watch the algae grow!