BrendanH
Aquarium Advice Activist
Hi All,
My newly-acquired Kole Tang has come out with a lot of spots and rapid breathing so I strongly suspect it is ich (thank God for quarantine tanks !!! ). Last night when I noticed the problem I got some advice from my LFS which may or may not be the best. The result was I treated the QT with Greenex. Since then I have been reading about Hyposalininity and Copper treatments. A lot of people here favour hypo as the sole course of treatment if my understanding of other topics is correct, yet I have also been reading some advice from Bob Fenner in which he recommends Copper treatment in tandem with a lowered salinity ( maybe 1.016 ). So what do you guys recommend I do ? FYI - the QT is pretty bare with just some inert deco in there such as a fake plant and an ornament to provide hiding places. I'm running some live sand in a filter bag in the AquaClear Mini filter for bio.
So here are some specific questions :
1. Hypo or Copper ? (or both ??)
2. If Copper should I strip the greenex meds with carbon ? (I have an activated carbon cartridge that came with the AquaClear mini filter - how long would it take to strip all the greenex ?
3. Also if Copper, I know that will kill the bacteria in the live sand so I have read that I would need to frequently do water changes to control the ammonia/nitrite buildup. How much and how often would I need to change ?
4. How long do I treat (again I've seen many differening opinions on this).
Thanks a lot for your help folks ! Let's hope the Tang makes it ....
Brendan.
My newly-acquired Kole Tang has come out with a lot of spots and rapid breathing so I strongly suspect it is ich (thank God for quarantine tanks !!! ). Last night when I noticed the problem I got some advice from my LFS which may or may not be the best. The result was I treated the QT with Greenex. Since then I have been reading about Hyposalininity and Copper treatments. A lot of people here favour hypo as the sole course of treatment if my understanding of other topics is correct, yet I have also been reading some advice from Bob Fenner in which he recommends Copper treatment in tandem with a lowered salinity ( maybe 1.016 ). So what do you guys recommend I do ? FYI - the QT is pretty bare with just some inert deco in there such as a fake plant and an ornament to provide hiding places. I'm running some live sand in a filter bag in the AquaClear Mini filter for bio.
So here are some specific questions :
1. Hypo or Copper ? (or both ??)
2. If Copper should I strip the greenex meds with carbon ? (I have an activated carbon cartridge that came with the AquaClear mini filter - how long would it take to strip all the greenex ?
3. Also if Copper, I know that will kill the bacteria in the live sand so I have read that I would need to frequently do water changes to control the ammonia/nitrite buildup. How much and how often would I need to change ?
4. How long do I treat (again I've seen many differening opinions on this).
Thanks a lot for your help folks ! Let's hope the Tang makes it ....
Brendan.