Sanitizing QT after Ich Outbreak

[sleepydoc]

I purchased a royal gramma last week from my LFS. After 7 days in quarantine, he came down with a bad case of ich. I started copper, but he unfortunately died before the copper had time to work.

I now have a tank and associated equipment that are contaminated with ich. I'm trying to figure out the best way to sanitize them so I don't give ich to my next purchase or introduce it to my DT (via buckets, shared hoses, etc.)

I've filled the tank with plain tap water, thinking hypotonic chorine would likely kill any remaining parasites, and thought I would then empty it and let it dry several days before starting it up again. Will this be sufficient?

As an aside, my LFS quarantines all its fish and prophylactically doses Cu before selling them, so this is just another example of why it's important to quarantine all your fish, no matter where you buy them!

 

[h2so4hurts]

Drying it out for a few days and wiping all surfaces down with a mild bleach solution will do the trick.

On the topic of LFS QT procedures...I highly doubt they are as religious about Cu dosing as you need to be to effectively prevent an ich infestation. Unless your LFS is charging 2x the cost of a fish, it's just not economically in their favor to really care about the animal's health.

 

[snorvich]

First point, the fish most likely had velvet not ich. Second point, a low level of copper as run by many LFS will mask velvet. I suggest not buying from any LFS that runs a non therapeutic level of copper. Of course running a therapeutic level of copper in a fish system as used by the vast majority of LFS is difficult if not impossible.

 

[sleepydoc]

First point, the fish most likely had velvet not ich. Second point, a low level of copper as run by many LFS will mask velvet. I suggest not buying from any LFS that runs a non therapeutic level of copper. Of course running a therapeutic level of copper in a fish system as used by the vast majority of LFS is difficult if not impossible.

Not positive which it was - noticed poor feeding then white spots 2 days later, like salt all over the fish and lethargy. No scratching or abnormal breathing, and I never noticed a film or coating after that, so I was assuming ich. How does one tell the difference? From your posts on the topic, the symptoms appear similar except for the 'velvet' coating.

As a clarification, the LFS quarantines the fish for about 2 weeks prior to sale and treats with Cu in the QT, but not in the sale tanks. My understanding is that the treat to a concentration of 0.15 mg/L, which is somewhat below what most people consider therapeutic levels (which would go along with it suppressing an underlying velvet infection.)

 

[snorvich]

Since I was not there to observe, I am guessing velvet based on the mortality timeline. Normally, ich requires more than a single life cycle to kill.

 

[sleepydoc]

Thanks. I guess it's good that Cu treats both, giving the similarities in the initial presentations. Seeing how fast a fish dies isn't a very satisfying way to make a diagnosis!

Tank and equipment are drying now after being rinsed with chlorinated tap-water. Plan on washing everything with dilute bleach next just to be sure. What's an appropriate concentration? Planning on using 1 cup/gallon of plain clorox, but I haven't really seen any definite recommendations beyond 'dilute.'

Thanks again for your help.

 

[snorvich]

Thanks. I guess it's good that Cu treats both, giving the similarities in the initial presentations. Seeing how fast a fish dies isn't a very satisfying way to make a diagnosis!

After the fact, we have no choice but to look at what is presented. I do know that velvet occurs more frequently than we think and is often mistakenly diagnosed as ich.

Tank and equipment are drying now after being rinsed with chlorinated tap-water. Plan on washing everything with dilute bleach next just to be sure. What's an appropriate concentration? Planning on using 1 cup/gallon of plain clorox, but I haven't really seen any definite recommendations beyond 'dilute.'

Thanks again for your help.

That should be fine. I would rinse then air dry.