Proper QT procedure

[BigManBud]

Almost 3 weeks ago, I got a scribbled rabbitfish from the LFS. He had been there for a week that I knew of. Looked good, he ate well, etc. I set up my QT with tank water. 10 gal tank with a sponge filter, PVC couplings, heater, air pump. SG was 1.025, temp was 78. The fish did well, ate like a pig, I fed him Hair Algae, algae wafers for 2 weeks exactly. Then I noticed he was not acting exactly like he had been before, he was kinda hiding behind the sponge filter for a long period of time. Looking real close, even with a flash light I could see 3 or 4 white spots or tiny bumps, like salt on his sides. He also had kinda light gray darker spots on his sides also. I assumed it was ick and started hypo. SG 1.009 with a calibrated refractometer. He contined to eat for 3 days although it wasnt eating as much as he had been. Feeding him algae soaked in Selcon. Yesterday, he wouldnt eat at all and was really having problems staying or swimming upright and it went down hill rapidly from there.

Now, what I need to know is what did I do wrong or what should I have done also. Im starting to think that it might not have been ick or maybe something else with it. The next fish, should I just assume they are all sick with all kinds of parasites and treat for everything I can and start this as soon as they go in QT? I guess I have been lucky with my other fish in QT, they have all done well

What are the proper procedures that I should do in order?

 

[paulamrein]

Everything seems to be fine as far as what you did. Did you test the water when you noticed things were going wrong? Water quality is essential when running a QT. And salinity and temperature is huge when dealing with ph and ammonia levels they seem to fluctuated ph and intensify ammonia spikes. With a smaller system and limited bio-filter essential for a QT these are the down-sides. I've had great success with starting hypo right away symptoms or not. The only problem is with bringing the levels back up if there is a cause to use alternative treatments. (hypo proves to be less-effective with some other parasites)
The other side of the coin is that with parasites comes the risk of secondary infections. Luckily most bacterial infections are gram-negative infections so the treatment can be successful. The bad side is that treatments kills gram-negative bacteria... guess what also is a gram-negative bacteria, the bacteria essential for the de-nitrification process. QT and disease control is the hardest part of the hobby in my opinion. A lot of time, with treating multiple symptoms you have to prioritize which infection will kill the fish quicker. And hopefully you can catch it in time to get to both. So, keep it up, check your levels, and study as much as possible of the various symptoms that could ail our fish. Of course there is another side where symptoms either resemble each other, or with some viral infections, show no symptoms at all. Which would attribute to some mystery deaths.

 

[BigManBud]

I left out this..I did give him a 45 min formalin bath per the instructions of the bottle before he went into the QT. I was changing out 1 gal to 1.5 gal everyother day keeping down the ammonia. thanks

 

[paulamrein]

That may be a different story. Formalin is extremely caustic and really a touchy treatment. If not properly aerated it will rob the entire bath of oxygen causing damage to the fish. Also, careful handling that stuff because it's carcinogenic and can cause problems for you personally.
It's basically formaldehyde and water the reason why it is even a "cure" because it kills the parasites slightly quicker than kills the fish, similar to chemotherapy in humans. All this is why personally I wouldn't even take that stuff if it was free and a sure cure of everything. Which in both cases it is not. No formalin dips for fish that are presumed healthy for precautionary measures. If it is the last resort, use it with caution. Proper hypo is safe and has never killed a fish based on it's treatment.

 

[BigManBud]

Thanks for the advice, and the info