yes that is correct, that's exactly what I'm saying
yes that is correct, that's exactly what I'm saying
So your saying to start ttm on every fish you receive to rid ich even tho it hasn't appeared on the skin of the fish at all? And you are 100 percent sure on this?
QT = Quarantine Tank (my QT has biological filtration established)
TTM = Tank Transfer Method (no need for biological filtration in TTM tanks since the fish stays only for 2 to 3 days here, just limit the feedings)
Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. I do tank transfer method on all of the newly acquired fish, whether I see ich on them or not, it doesn't matter. Yes, I'm 100% sure on that. The trophonts can hide in the gills, so it is really impossible to tell whether a newly acquired fish has trophonts on its body or not. Yes, to have a foolproof method, I do TTM on every fish I newly get. Also, I QT the fish for three or more weeks after the TTM is complete in a system where biological filter is already established. To me QT is one among the most important step, as important as the TTM itself, i.e., put a bright light on top of QT, establish biological filtration on QT (not on TTM tanks) and keep looking at the fish's skin for any skin imperfections or trophonts on fish everyday for atleast three weeks after Tank transfer method is complete. If you see a white spot, then prolong QT, and only after you are completely satisfied that the skin imperfections are not Ich, you can transfer the fish into display.
With the tangs, they can show some skin imperfections even after TTM, and it may not even be ich. It can fool you very easily and you may end up catching all the fish immediately from your display to do the TTM again. Restrain from it, and just watch for another three weeks before doing anything. That's what I'm learning now. It may be bacteria, virus or some minor thing, and you have to make sure it is not ich before you release the fish in display. If you do see a spot on tang then prolong QT for another three weeks, and if it is ick and IF YOU HAVE A TANG(Except vlamingi tang), then it will come in waves, the skin will have multiple spots and you can't miss it. If it is ich, then do TTM again/sanitize the QT as well, and think about what went wrong the previous time so that you can close the loop and do it better the next time.
I have two types of tanks for two different processes, some are the tanks I use for tank transfer method and some are the tanks I use for QT, and I try not to mix these tanks.
This is what happened to me, After I did TTM and I put the Powder Blue tang on QT for three weeks; but, the QT didn't have bright light, so it was kind of hard to monitor the fish's skin imperfections. But altogether the skin looked spotless during QT. I transferred it to display and then saw a spot in a week, I thought it was ich(that was two weeks ago), but now it seems like it is just some skin imperfection to me at this point. well, in another couple of weeks I can definitely say whether it is ich or not for sure. Two weeks ago when I first noticed the fish with the spot, I caught the powder blue tang (along with its white spot/ without the white spot falling off of the fish) and put it in QT. Now, if it is ich then I will see it in Waves of ich in next few weeks. I haven't so far. There are reasons why I separated the tang from the display tank while I left the other fish in the display for now. Here are the two reasons, one is I want to know for sure whether it is ich or not, and the other reason is to prevent a tank wipeout. Tangs can act like petri dish for ich and promote a ich bloom, and that may help wipe out the whole tank. Without the TANG in the tank that equation changes. Ich will be there but it may take longer time to become a ich bloom or it may not even become a bloom. Ich in some numbers may not cause tank wipeout but ich bloom certainly will.
Who knows, I might already have a ich-free display already now. I can confirm this in next two weeks for sure; whether I have ich in my display or not.
