every fish i get seems to die from ich within a week

[blackthunda77]

every fish i get seems to die from ich within a week or two. this is really starting to bug me, and my wallet, im doing everything i possibly can like take someimtes more than an hour to acclimate, feeding anti parasitic foods, water params are perfect for fish, everything is at 0 even nitrates are below 1 ,my corals are doing great and growing. i try to keep temp to not fluctuate mor e than 1-2 deg, i dont know what else to do. the only thing i dont have is a quaratine tank. im guessing that is a must? the only thing im woried about is if it will make a diff, if my fish die so rapidly(my tomato clown was fine 2 days on the 3rd day when i turned on the lights he was FULLLLLLLL of ich like he was playing in the sand, 2 days later hes dead, my pink skunnk clown.....didnt even really show signs of ick till yesterday morn, and by night, he was dead also.)is a Q tank going to help?? if they die so rapidly, wont they just do the same in the Q tank? someone please help, gimme soe info on how to set a Q tank up and what med ication to add to it. thanks

 

[fishfreek]

The Qtank will allow for easier medication. It will also allow the fish to if they do come down with ich to do it in a tank other than the main tank.

It sounds like your having a real issue with ich. I would suggest running your main tank for 4 weeks with out fish. This should allow the life cycle of the parasite to run its course. With no host the parasite cant live.

Whats the water temperature and salinity of your tank?

Our articles area has a great article on setting up an inexpensive q tank.

 

[blackthunda77]

ok thanks but also, can the parasite live if they are not affecting my cardiinal, thats the only fish ive had in there for a while and hes been ok no signs. can they still like in him and not affect ihim?? in any event, im i the process of setting up my QT and catchin my cardinal to put him in there for a month.

 

[reefrunner69]

Some fish can aquire an immunity to the parasite, but they will still carry it, keeping it's lifecycle going. The only way to be sure it is gone is to remove all fish from the system for 4 weeks and treat all the fish that were subjected to the parasite, IMO. With your cardinal in a QT, it should be a simple matter to treat it with hyposalinity to be certain the parasite is gone.

 

[blackthunda77]

when doin a hypo therapy, can i keep my QT at that level all the time? even when bying new fish?? meaning in the future, can i put them in the QT if the salilinity is only 1.009? or will they get too much of a shock, or will drip acclimatng them be enough to transfer them ok?

 

[reefrunner69]

you would want to lower it over the course of a couple of days, so it would be too much for the fish.