It's arrived with a vengeance- help!

[lilly14]

Hey guys,

I've had my 90 gallon tank set up for about 6 months and currently have 2 clowns, a red sea sailfin and a blue tang. Both the sailfin and the blue tang are juenvilles; about 4-7cm long.

When I got home from work today i discovered that my blue tang was covered in white ich spots

I have only had the blue tang for about 3 weeks, he seemed fine, he was eating nori and mysis shrimp and was swimming around happily. He wasnt scratching on rocks or anything.

I quickly set up a make shift QT; im upgrading to a 140 gallon in a few weeks and was planning to use my current tank as the QT but ich beat me to it!

My questions are:

1. The blue tang is already in the QT, do i need to put the sailfin and clowns in aswell? None of them are showing any signs of ich yet.

2. Whats the best way to treat it? I was thinking more of the natural ways, giving the fish a freshwater bath, raising the temp to around 80 degrees, or hypersalinity? However if the copper treatments are a lot more recommended and effective then I will use them.

Because the blue tang is so small Im worried that I have to act very quickly. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Oh and my water params are: Ph= 8.2, ammonia/nitrate= 0, nitrate=0, sg= 1.023

Thanks guys!

 

[FishFrik]

1. The blue tang is already in the QT, do i need to put the sailfin and clowns in aswell? None of them are showing any signs of ich yet.

It's recommended that u QT all fishes and leave ur main fishless for 8 weeks to "get rid" of all ich parasites. They need a fish host to survive.

2. Whats the best way to treat it? I was thinking more of the natural ways, giving the fish a freshwater bath, raising the temp to around 80 degrees, or hypersalinity? However if the copper treatments are a lot more recommended and effective then I will use them.

The best way to treat it is HYPOsalinity. Not hyper XD. U need a refractometer to "accurately" monitor the salinity. Freshwater bath is not recommended as it usually stress the fish out even more. Raising the temp to around 80F is only gonna speed up the parasites' cycle. It doesn't kill them, but it is recommended that u raise ur main's temperature once every fish is out. Copper is an effective way but hyposalinity is better. U can't use AC, and, once any equipment is exposed to copper, it can't never be used in the main tank again. U also have to do more WC's cuz there's no AC to help u with the NH3, NO2, NO3 problem.

Ur parameters are great.

HTH. Im battling ich as well. If u read my post, don't try my method It's not proven to work yet. Im just trying it out cuz i cannot follow the golden QT way. Good luck dude. Ich is annoying!

 

[lilly14]

Hey, thanks for your reply.

Unfortunately the little guy didn't make it

I think the stress of the new tank got to him too much- it wasnt cycled properly.

When I get my new tank I'll definately use my old one as the QT.

What do you recommend to keep in a QT? Just sand? Because if I treat sick fish with copper solutions then it will kill live rock right?

Thanks for your help guys

 

[tmkx3]

Its better to go barebottom in a qt and use pvc pipe for hiding places. Yes copper kills lr. It will also absorb into most of the fake stuff you can buy and the sand. When the copper gets absorb it is hard to keep your levels where they need to be. Did you acclimate your fish to the qt? I'm fighting ick right now too. When I moved my fish to my 55q qt I filled it with 30g of water from my main ans filled the rest with freshly made saltwater. I also moved some of my lr with them. I dripped acclimated them for an hour which, proably wasn't needed but I want to be safe. I let them settle in for 48hrs and then I removed the lr back to the main and started treating with copper. I don't have a refractormeter. You might want to try feeding garlic soaked food for a while it might help.

 

[roka64]

I was advised not to put anything in the QT, other than some PVC, for hiding. Also, there is no need to keep anything in the QT, just feed the QT twice a week, with a little food the keep the good bacteria alive. I didn't heed the advice of a more experienced person and my clown died...