To QT or not to QT

[StephM33]

We have 2 Dot-Dash Butterflys that have Ich. I know we've caught it early as I was actually taking pics of the tank last night, and I can see that one of them had no spots yesterday, and the other had just a couple (which I missed last night). We have netted them after a huge amount of trouble. Now I know why people prefer to treat the whole tank. It was HORRIBLE with the smaller of the fish ending up with a small nip or tear in his tail fin, and now he's staying near the bottom of the QT and seeming to fight to stay up right (and not tilt to the side). I have a lousy feeling we will be coming down to a dead fish tomorrow morning.

I feel like we made the fish far worse than it was. Now it not only has Ich, but looks in no shape to fight it. Now I know why people want to treat the whole tank (and for me it wasn't having to tear apart and reassemble half the LR). Would it have been better to net the invertabrates? (cleaner shrimp, sand sifting star, red leg hermit crab and fighting conchs which I doubt we could find....oh yes and the Mandarin) than go through this again? I'm asking because of course there's a good chance that the others may become afflicted - though I hope not since we caught it quickly.

Thoughts?

 

[George Gouveia]

if you would use copper on your main tank it would be incredably difficult, if not impossible, to remove the remains after you had finished the treatment.
So removing your fish was the most intelligent move, keeping the infected fish in your display tank would only propegate the disease more.

Regarding your QT, does it have PVC piping were your fish can hide?
Also keep an eye on the water quality (PH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate), you can also dose vitamins (vitachem, for instance) to the water to increase your fish immune response, and do water changes atleast every 2nd day. (about 10/15%).

These are my suggestions, atleast for now. if i remember anything else i'll let you know.

 

[StephM33]

Thanks for the advice George. Unfortunately both fish were dead when we came down this morning. I'm going to have a really tough decision to make if the other fish develop signs of the disease.

Steph :-(

 

[Hattie B]

Hi Steph,

Sorry for your loss. Can you post those pictures?

Are you sure it was ich? Seeing that the fish passed rather fast overnight, I am not sure you had ich.

Ich can kill fish but it usually does not over 24 hours or even a week.

However, there are some diseases that do cause death that fast.

 

[StephM33]

Hi again,

Actually I didn't think that the Ich killed them, I felt that we probably stressed them out when we terrorized them by chasing them around the tank. One of them was noticably lilting to one side by the time we got them inot QT. I was surprised that they both died so quickly...but I guess one can never undermine the effect of stress.

Today, two days later, there may be one spot on the Coral Beauty and two on the Blue Hippo Tang. Honestly, I can't tell. When I look at them from a particular angle it looks like there might be something there but neither of the fish have spots as clear as those that were on the Butterflies.

Was there something that I read that was a vitamin supplement that could boost fish immune systems? I'm not sure if it was a food additive or something added to the water. I'm sure I read something but now I can't find it. Suggestions?