Need help with picking UV for my tank - ich outbreak

[Gwee]

Hello everyone
I'm new to the salt aquarium hobby and have made a serious mistake.
Well, my tank is a 79Gal soon to be reef which has just finished its cycle 3 weeks ago.
My girlfriend bought me a large PB tang as a gift and I thought it would be possible to keep him.
My water parameters were good so I decided to give it a try (not knowing how these guys were serious ich magnets).
The PB tang was swimming around and eating aggressively not showing any signs of stress or ich for the first week.
The week after that he showed a few spots of ich and then it went away.
And last week was hell..
He has been covered up with white spots and had trouble breathing.
I was too late with all the treatments and sadly he decided to jump out of my tank to his death.
My tank now holds only a percula which seems to now be covered with white spots as well.
I was thinking of giving him a freshwater dip before and see how that works. If not I might send him to the LFS for quarantine.
I've decided to buy a UV sterilizer hoping it will help fight off the ich in my tank and I might even keep it fishless for 3-4 weeks.
I've searched the forums for more info on UV's and how they can help but have not found enough info.
Apparently the search function on the site does not work due to server overload mass.
Thank you for understanding,
Guy

 

[Hattie B]

Hi Guy,

Its really easy to set up your own QT tank for your clown.

Unless you LFS will set up a QT specifically for your fish, the tank not linked to any other tanks, then it will be worthless to take him there as he would be exposed to possible new pathogens and expose other fish to new pathogens.

A QT can be a simple 10g tank BB with a hang on filter. before I had mine running all the time, I set up one in one day, with old water and an old HOB filter. You have to keep up on water quality for sure if you have to do this. as amonia can build up fast.

3-4 is a little on the short side to rid your tank of ich, you should wait at least 6-8 weeks (I would opt for 8) weeks of you main tank being fallow.

There is a sticky at the top by billsreef that can anwser some questions and has a lot of reading in it for ich.

However, my best advice is to QT at home and not take him to the fish store, unless you can guarentee that he has his own tank esc..

Best,
HB

 

[Hattie B]

ps. UV ster. have both positive and negative effects IMO. I do not have one but a lot of people do.

The problem with UV is that they are not all encompasisng, kill all the parasites. If I remember correctly, the parasite has to travel directly under the light at a certain stage to be killed. I am sure it helps as I use UV lights at work for bacteria and whatnot in hoods but overall, I think the best and most economical way is a fallow tank. =)

You can use google for a search with Reefcentral if you want to look up more info on UV.

 

[gary faulkner]

Gwee


[welcome]


Sorry to here about your ich problem. But as Hattie has said, there is some really good info on this forum.

Read up on Hypo and Copper. Don't use them together but decide on one or the other.

Good luck.

 

[Gwee]

Thanks.
I was wondering, are there any good QT tank set up guides?
I think if setting up a QT tank is that easy then maybe I'll get to it asap so that I could treat my perc with copper.
By the way I heard that gamma UV's are pretty good.
This is probably a stupid question but I can't seem to understand how I can connect one to my tank. Do I need to buy one along with a powerhead?
Thanks again,
Guy

 

[LargeAngels]

Most of the information you are seeking is located here. Some nice articles.

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/treatments.html

UV is not affective at treating a single tank. IMO best is to remove all fish, treat with copper and leave main tank fishless for 6 weeks.