Should I worry about removing dead fish?

[Ella_e]

Now I know this sounds bad, but due to an ich outbreak coupled with a saddleback clown killing everyone, I am left with my one yellow Coris.
Although I found the bodies of two fish, I am left with the bodies of an engineer goby, 1/2" tang, and (2) 1" clowns somewhere in the tank. Unfortunately I cannot find them. I moved a few rocks around and nothing. (Its been tough with time-constraints to remove everything) Its been about 2 weeks and my water is testing 0 in nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia.
My anemones, zoas, feather dusters and flame scallop don't seem to be affected.
Should I be worried and try to find the bodies or assume that the hermits took care of it?

 

[Ingy]

I'm sure somebody already found those bodies. Your clean-up crew did their work.

 

[mr funktastic]

i would probably do a few water changes over the next week. your nitrates will most likely be quite high with all the decay and excess "food" in the tank.

 

[Ella_e]

Thank you for replying! I went all paranoid and spent two hours today taking out all the rock and cleaning and etc. And...found no dead bodies. I feel a bit proud of my clean-up crew. I feel like I have a totally functioning ecosystem now.
And I found the big hermit with an anemone on his back!

...all I have to do now is decide on a new stock list.

 

[mr funktastic]

you may want to remove your remaining fish and quarantine them for about 4-6 weeks. you need to let the ich runs its life cycle in the tank before putting the fish back in or it will come back.

 

[Ella_e]

I have one yellow coris wrasse left (never affected by ich).
I wont be adding anyone in for a long time due to school demands. (2-3 months)
If I leave just him in there, the ich cycle will continue? (He would be the host I am assuming)

 

[mr funktastic]

Unfortunatly yes. If he is in there it will allow the ick to keep living. It has to be deprived of a host through a life cycle to kill it off. It may not have it yet but if its in the tank it may spring back up. Even weeks later. That's why you need to quarantine for so long. I hate ick

 

[Ella_e]

I hate ick too. Its suck a pain to deal with. I tried to quarantine my fish for a while, but I do not have the patience and I always feel so guilty of depriving them of the main tank and making them stay in a 20 gallon with no sand and pvc pipes. I blame the mean clown for the mass die off though, only one fish was visibly affected by ick.
I will try to catch him and then quarantine him (or give him away) and let stupid ick go through its cycle. And try again.

 

[TheTodd]

It stinks to do, but you're left with an Ich-free tank and that makes it good for future additions. Everything out there agrees that just because the fish does not show anything does not mean it does not have it. If one fish had it, its in there and will remain until it has no host.

 

[huma-huma]

keep in mind thats its fairly common for Ich to host in the gills of fish, therefor making it rather hard to visibly detect by us. the only 100% tried and true way to rid your tank of ich is the method that Funk recommended. just wait it out. also please (for yourself and the fish) dont attempt any commercialized ich remedies... they arent 100% effective

 

[Holygral]

I hate ick too. Its suck a pain to deal with. I tried to quarantine my fish for a while, but I do not have the patience and I always feel so guilty of depriving them of the main tank and making them stay in a 20 gallon with no sand and pvc pipes. I blame the mean clown for the mass die off though, only one fish was visibly affected by ick.
I will try to catch him and then quarantine him (or give him away) and let stupid ick go through its cycle. And try again.

remember if you give him away, you will possibly infecting another reefers tank, if you five him to your lfs, you will still be infecting anyones tank that buys him.

 

[Ella_e]

Hmm it would be very mean to infect someone else. I guess in with the pvc pipes he goes.
He likes to hide in the sand, can I buy him new sand for the quarantine tank?

 

[STP wellsophyllia]

Quarantine tanks can really have anything in it as long as its clean. Make sure if you buy sand or crushed coral for your fish... Wash it first! Put it in a large bucket and hit it with regular water to get all the milky stuff that gums up filtration systems and shoots nitrates sky high. If you have the quarantine just for fish then feel free to treat the quarantine with trace copper. (and let the sand that you wash drip dry so you dont get too much tap water in your quarantine system)

 

[marsh]

I am not sure if this is proper QT procedure or not, but I keep all the plastic decor I amassed with previous tanks, hobby hand-me-downs and craigslist tank tag-a-longs and make a rather proper QT in a rubbermaid, plus I use silk flowers and greenery from the 75%off rack at the fabric store

 

[STP wellsophyllia]

Remember to clean, boil, and clean! Lol.. Avoid antibacterial soap and if you use any soap make sure you get it ALL off!!

 

[marsh]

Remember to clean, boil, and clean! Lol.. Avoid antibacterial soap and if you use any soap make sure you get it ALL off!!

Yep exactly! Don't know why I forgot to mention all the deco in my QT gets zapped and boiled and vinegar-soaked and scrubbed again with bleach and hours of fresh rinses and baths in tubs out on the patio

I add live plants that I toss after for some nitrate removal, also to help seed the cycle. I use a whisper 10i or 40i internal filter, cheap refills and boil-able up to the wire including the "comb". I use whatever media (sponge, ceramic rings, even plastic plant to keep it moving) and toss the brand refills with Carbon that mess with meds

Excuse this wonky attachment having photobucket iPhone issues

 

[STP wellsophyllia]

Haha! That setup is awesome. Gotta love DIY it should do the job until your ich problem blows over. Just test your levels every other day to make sure nothing spikes.

 

[STP wellsophyllia]

I would avoid having too many plants in there though.. If it is salt water you may get salt creep really fast with too many plants and your salinity levels will drop and kill fish!

 

[marsh]

^^very true and thanks for pointing that out! I actually had those freshwater plants in that QT for a Betta, forgot this was SW the op was inquiring about. Not sure if chaeto would have a similar benefit??

 

[Ella_e]

My quarantine tank ( 20L) is usually not set up (I only use it for severe problems) and between problem everything is bleached. I usually use the 20 gallons from my main tank and use an Aqueon 50 filter with my own cartridge (I use just the cut to your own size polyfiber) The only things in there are pvc pipes but maybe Ill buy him a decoration of some sort so that I wont feel like I am depriving him of anything.
I will have to go buy the little guy some sand so that he wont feel stressed out.
I am so glad I can put sand in there! I read on somewhere that you shouldn't use sand in a quarantine tank.
If I use a copper treatment I should throw out all the sand and porous materials, right? I used copper only once before and I threw everything out afterwards due to paranoia.
Also should I treat him with copper even with him not showing symptoms? I plan on leaving the show tank fish-less for two months, so should I treat him now or towards the end of two months?