quarantine ???

[rm41400]

My quarantine tank was holding a healthy salfin (lawnmower) blenny for about a week. I introduced a tang with ich and lost the battle (I know that sucks) on the tang. The salfin blenny never became infected with ich and still looks healthy. How long should I keep the blenny in quarintine before putting in my main tank? Can he carry ich if not visible infected with it?

thanks

 

[kevin2000]

If your fish has been in a Qt tank with another fish that has ich then I would recommend another six weeks of QT .. to be safe you should consider lowering the salinity of the QT and treating with hyposalinity.
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/hyposalinity.html

Lawnmowers get ich like any other fish .. some would say as a bottom dweller they may have additional mucas which may provide a bit more protection .. however even a mild case of ich will transfer to your ST and thats not something you want to do. Lawnmowers natural coloration makes it darn tough to spot anything less than a full blown ich infestation.

 

[White Tiger]

Keep your blenny in the quarintine tank and treat it as if it had ick. This is because fish do not show symptoms of ick sometimes. Therefore, you should always assume that healthy looking fish in the same tank with an ick outbreak has ick as well.

 

[rm41400]

I also have hermit crabs that were in this tank that I forgot about. Maybe 5-6. What should I do with them?

 

[White Tiger]

Hermit crabs cannot get ick. Leave them in the main tank and treat you blenny in the quarintine tank.

 

[rm41400]

They are in the QT not the main tank. Should I move them to the main tank without concern of ick hitchiking? Then start hypo on the qt.

 

[White Tiger]

Move the hermits to the main tank. This will not spread ick since ick can only survive on fish. Then, start your treatment in the qt. Make sure you do not add any other fish in the main tank for at least a month. This is so ick still existing in the main tank will die off due to an absence of host (fish).