newbie with ick?

[katz]

i bought a true perc and a purple tipped anenome on Dec 22. water was normal - pH 8.2, 0 ammonia, 0 trites, 0 trates, temp 78F. brought them home and acclimated them with a drip. poor nemo spent all day trying to get in the anemone and after nine hours successfully did so.

the 2 yellow tailed damsels seemed to be pretty teritorial and bugged him a bit. on the morning of the 24th saw a 3-4 white spots on the clown. he was gilling a bit and wouldn't eat much. i took the damsels back to the lfs, i had no idea they were so territorial. i looked at a few fish compat charts and says they were ok.

spots were gone on christmas day, he started eating better and looked much more lively. i put him in 10 gal qt anyway and he is eating, looks lively and no spots.

should i start treating the qt tank immediately or wait to see if more spots develop. i noticed the main tank has white tiny organisms crawling around on the back glass by the heater. could these possibly be the tomites waiting for a passerby? i thought once the parasites drop of the fish to multiply, they wait in the substrate. did i take the clownfish out of the tank in time or can he still develop parasites in the qt?

the main 35g tank is fishless. i have the anemone, 3 hermit crabs and some shrooms, 20lbs lr.

please help!!!!!

 

[quarryshark]

The spots on the glass are either pods or worms, not ich.
Good job on getting him to qt. If there is a parasite, it will show in a couple of days. I would wait and see if it redevelops (in case it was debris or something else) and stand by to treat. What is your treatment plan?
If it does develop, I would suggest either cupramine with the seachem test kit, or hypo with a good refractometer (to keep the SPG at treament level .009).
While doing this, keep the main tank fishless (leave invert in the main) for 6 weeks and elevate the temp to 82-83 degrees to speed up the life cycle of the parasite.
If it does not develop, I would still leave the clown in the 10 gallon for the proper 4 weeks qt period and monitor him for any symptoms.

 

[katz]

thanks for the quick response, quarry. i will keep the clown in qt for six weeks because the main tank has to remain fishless for that long anyway. if he doesn't develop any spots within the next week or so, should i put the anemone in qt with him or just leave it in the main tank? i noticed the anemone was much more acitive in the presence of the clown.

another question, would 2 emperor 280's be sufficient filtration for a 90g tank? i have heard that these hob filters are much better than they were a few years ago.

would 2 x 110 w actinic + 2 x 55w compact flourescent be enough light for keeping most corals in my 90g?

thanks for all of the advice
katz

 

[quarryshark]

Please leave the anemone in the main. Inverts are not hosts for parasites and cannot handle the treatment.
the emperor 280 is made for smaller systems and with 2 you will have a flow of about 600 GPH. With the addition of a few maxijet 1200 powerheads you may get by. You really need at least 1000 GPH flow so an upgrade would be better.
You may also want to consider setting up a sump with an overflow system, gives you many more options.
As for the lights, I'm a fish and invert guy and not the best in answering that question, but what is generally suggested is 2-5 watts per gallon. So what you list sounds OK. Someone else may want to chime in on this one though.

 

[melosu58]

I agree on what shark said about the sump. This is a better idea for that size tank. So many different types to go with. I have the wet dry system but there are others,some better than mine. Research this for your tank. You`ll be glad you did. Good luck