Qt Help

[Magga Pie]

Ok so I havent added a new fish in my 75 reef for over a year until the other day and low and behold I didnt qt the tang and it had ick apparently and gave it to my breeding pair of black ocellaris. They are still eating very well but the ick looks like its getting worse. I have been soaking thier food in garlic and feeding 4 times a day to try and help.

So I am going to tear apart all my rocks:mad2:and take out all my fish.Which includes

A Radiant Wrasse, 2 chalk bass, diamond goby, chromis, another wrasse id unknown, my clowns.

How should I set up the qt tank? Take water out of my display and transfer it over? I will be treating with copper im really not that comfortable doing hypo salinity.

 

[blacktop pete]

Sounds like you need a hosp/tank asap. You can use your water from your dt. Few cups of sand from your dt. Piece of live rock from ur dt. Filter media from ur dt. heater,powerhead and ur ready to go in a pinch. Cupramine is a good choice and copper test kit.

 

[Triggerfish]

b/f you start tearing the tank apart.. just give a week or so and see how virulent the ich strain is ur dealing with.
as mentioned above.. use as much cycled substrate from dt as possible to keep amm in check.. it may absorb some of the copper so just check every 3 days or so..

 

[wooden_reefer]

Ok so I havent added a new fish in my 75 reef for over a year until the other day and low and behold I didnt qt the tang and it had ick apparently and gave it to my breeding pair of black ocellaris. They are still eating very well but the ick looks like its getting worse. I have been soaking thier food in garlic and feeding 4 times a day to try and help.

So I am going to tear apart all my rocks:mad2:and take out all my fish.Which includes

A Radiant Wrasse, 2 chalk bass, diamond goby, chromis, another wrasse id unknown, my clowns.

How should I set up the qt tank? Take water out of my display and transfer it over? I will be treating with copper im really not that comfortable doing hypo salinity.

In a separate container, cycle a medium intended for QT ASAP. After the cycle, it should process all the ammonia from all your fish when you treat in QT.

No matter what you plan to or have to do so soon, you should certainly think about removing/processing ammonia in QT.

 

[chuckreef]

I would not start with water from the display tank - it is already carrying the parasite in larval stage.

I would start with well mixed/aerated new sw.

I would do a hypo or fresh water dip on the way into the hospital tank - the goal being to break the parasite's cycle as much as possible so the infected fish can get an upper hand in the hospital tank. The medicine(s) will further help the fish get the upper hand. (The dip will burst/kill a large number of the parasites.)

 

[davelin315]

What did you end up doing? I would have left the tank alone. There are so many tanks that have ich in them but good feeding and good water quality can help the fish to keep it at bay. I have ich in my tank but when it does surface, it lasts for maybe a day and the fish are never bothered by it.

Ich gets a good foothold on your fish when they are stressed and tearing a tank apart stresses a fish out a whole lot more than leaving them alone and improving husbandry of the tank when they are sick.

 

[blacktop pete]

I am starting to feel the way you do. Managing the ick problem may be the way to go for some. Lets face the facts how many people truely quarantine everything. How many people want to break down their reef trying to catch those evasive fish in order to qt and treat. Not too many i bet.

 

[Magga Pie]

Hey sorry I havent been on here lately been busy. I ended up taking out my clownfish since they where infested with the ick and looked completely white and ended up treating them with cupramine and the ick went away. BEing hardheaded I put them back in my display tank with the remaining fish that have been doing fine and today when I got home from work they where covered with ick again. So im catching all my fish tommorow and leaving my tank fishless so the ick will die.

 

[sfboarders]

You have to leave your DT fishless for at least 8 weeks. Good Luck!

 

[Magga Pie]

You have to leave your DT fishless for at least 8 weeks. Good Luck!

I have heard 4 weeks 6 weeks 8 weeks 10 weeks i dont know which one is right anymore everybody has a different opinion on this subject. My main thing is trying to catch all the fish out of my tank first.

 

[blacktop pete]

8 weeks too be safe

 

[wooden_reefer]

I have heard 4 weeks 6 weeks 8 weeks 10 weeks i dont know which one is right anymore everybody has a different opinion on this subject. My main thing is trying to catch all the fish out of my tank first.

It is not to say that four weeks will not work. It is a matter of probability of eradication over patience.

If your setup is good, you should have the patience to wait 8-10 weeks, since (if your QT setup is right) you should not need to do much actual work during QT. Most of the work is in the QT setup, which should include robust nitrification in QT.

 

[wooden_reefer]

I am starting to feel the way you do. Managing the ick problem may be the way to go for some. Lets face the facts how many people truely quarantine everything. How many people want to break down their reef trying to catch those evasive fish in order to qt and treat. Not too many i bet.

QTing everything for at least eight weeks is not as difficult as many suggest.
Patience but not alot of work is required.

If you QT rigorously and better control diseases, the chance you will need to remove fish from a DT is much reduced.

As for as ich is concerned, it is history for me. I think I will never have another case of ich in DT again. Bacterial infection is still a chance, albeit reduced. There are also other fish diseases that can occur in a DT, granted.