New Fish.... Ich... couple questions

[MichaelFreedman]

Bought a couple fish yesterday, one of which didn't look like it had ich at the store, but under my actinics it's COVERED. Ofcourse I don't have a quarantine tank and I had already put it into my display. It's a 2" Flame Angel. I have since removed it from the tank and have it in a bucket. I have a 14 gallon Bio Cube that I can convert to a quarantine pretty quick. The only thing is that it has live rock and live sand in it. Should i leave the rock and sand and go hyposalinity? Or should I strip the tank completely and do copper?

Thanks for your help!
Mike

 

[trick440]

Why don't you take the fish back?

Or just Qt the fish for a while and feed him garlic. Most ich is caused by poor diet and stress.

 

[rodd1rj]

I would strip it and turn it hypo and feed with food soaked in garlic. It sounds like it is already stressed in a bucket so in the biocube would help, i would cover most of the glass with dark paper and keep the lights off or low.

 

[MichaelFreedman]

Thanks for the input. I moved everything from my biocube to my fuge including sand. There is a pistol shrimp in the filter part of the biocube... hopefully it will come out. The Angel is in there and eating like a champ. Is wierd... doesn't seem too stressed but is completely covered. It was falling off the fish when it was in the bucket. So in my cube (14 gallon) I have a Yasha gobbie, a pistol somewhere, and a cleaner shrimp. Bare bottom and some pices of PVC to hide in. I have removed the bio balls but I am contemplating putting them back in as well as the cartridge filter that comes with the cube. What are your thoughts. By the way, I did fill the cube with my display water.... I'll slowly reduce salinity over the next couple days....

Thanks,
Mike

 

[ronjeremy]

you need to get the inverts out of the qt tank...the drop in salinity should take no more than 48hrs....if the fish is otherwise healthy, they can be added straight into hypo conditions. do you have a refractometer??? swing arm type hydrometers aren't really accuarate enough for hypo...keep an eye on the ph during hypo..also keep an eye on ammonia and nitrites after the drop in salinity..the nitrifying bacteria will experience dieoff when the salinity is lowered..i like to keep my hypo conditions at 1.009..this leaves room fro error, in case i forget to add topoff water one or two days

 

[MichaelFreedman]

I do have a refractomoeter... I'll start dropping it tonight. I'll also remove the cleaner shrimp... worried about hte pistol though.. I can't find him. What should I do with temperature? Should I put the bio balls back in?

Thanks!
Mike

 

[Sk8r]

DOn't use bioballs, imho: go to Petsmart, get a cheap airdriven filter that you can change the floss on frequently. The biosystem in a wet-dry isn't likely going to be strong enough to handle an angel's waste on short notice, you may have some dieoff to cope with, and a nitrate/ammonia situation is the last thing the poor creature needs...I'd get a bottle of Amquel as a standby, too, and not use it unless life-and-death.

Safest to pull all fish from the main tank and leave the main tank fishless for 6 weeks, or you may see a recurrence. Do you have room enough?

 

[ronjeremy]

i like Penguin filters with biowheels on them..also, definately leave the main display "fishless" for 6-8 weeks..some people go 4-6, but the extra assurande is worth it to me.. seriously, keep an eye on ammonia and nitrite during the first week or two..i have had to do small daily water changes to keep them in check..i mix alot of water in advance just for this...the ph will also be a concern during hypo......about the temp, leave it wherever it normally is

 

[jmchzn]

NEW FISH

NEW FISH

I run uv for a week or so after every new addition. It will not cure anything but will kill any free floating nasties before they find a new host.will stop the outbreak!!

 

[ronjeremy]

the U.V. only kills what passes through it...it will help, but it won't kill all the free floating parasites, because they won't all pass through it..