Quick question: Tang QT

[sjj80]

I've had a convict tang in QT for one week now. He eats like a pig, is very active and appears healthy. My qt is bb and I have yet to see any signs of ich on the bottom of the tank (the stage where they fall off the fish).

If he continues to stay healthy can he go into my DT as my first fish in another week or two?

 

[sjj80]

Anyone?

 

[downhillbiker]

i would wait 3 weeks minimum. i like to qt with lower salinity too. it helps the fish not stress and also kills ich. i put mine at like 1.014 and it will usually kill the ich, and the fish actually do stress less. also you should increase your temp to like 82 or 83 to help the ich cycle faster. if you can go through 3 or 4 potential ich cycles and still have no sign that i would say you are safe. good luck.

 

[sjj80]

Thanks downhillbiker! My current temp is 84 and my salinity was just raised from 1.018 to 1.021. I didn't know that higher temps helped ich cycle faster, good to know. Luckily I have some more LR coming this week so that will extend the QT time and keep me from putting him in the DT too soon. I've moved several times over the last two years so I've never been able to fully stock my tank and I'm pretty anxious to start getting it stocked.

Thanks Again.

 

[downhillbiker]

yeah. and i would lower the salinity again. i know you dont have ich, but it lowers stress, so why not do it anyway. i would also consider what kind of fish you are putting in first. depending on what type of tang you have they can be agressive, and may beat up on new fish you add. i might consider getting some other fish and put them in qt too, and do them at once, but with a divider, if needed. if you dont want to do that you can just watch new fish and qt will help them feel more comfortable, but if the tang beats up on the new fish, then you might be able to rearrange decorations a little, but not too much. how old is your tank. i let mine run fallow, or without fish, for 2 months before stocking. cycling all the way through and doing weekly 10% water changes, which i still do every saturday.

 

[sjj80]

I just purchased an orange lined bristletooth tang on divers den!!!!!!!!! Since he's already been QT'd before placed for sale online I'm going to put him in my 10g QT (he's 3") until my new LR has cycled and I do a wc. I currently have about 50lbs of live rock that just finished cycling so hopefully it will only be a couple weeks. From what I've researched both convict and bristletooth tangs are generally peaceful and usually picked on by ohter tangs, so I will add both to DT at the same time. I'm so excited!!!!!

 

[Hal]

Wait 3 weeks minimum. I recently had a Kole tang that was doing fine until it developed ich 21 days after going into my QT. I was just about to add it to my display tank.:eek1:

Raising the temp WILL speed up the ich life cycle. However, 1.014 won't kill ich. You need to get it to 1.009.

Lastly, I'm skeptical that running at lower salinity (e.g. 1.014) will stress the fish less. Mother nature designed them to exist in 1.021 or thereabouts. By definition, anything else is a stress on the fish.