What a surprise, got burnt again

[jamal-188]

Well I should know better, something bad happens to 90% of the fish I buy. I got a whte cheek tang and a gold stirpe maroon clown 2 weeks agao as part of my graduation present. I have them in a 10g Q tank for 15 days, they were eating and seemed incredibly healthy. So last night I decided to put them in my main tank a week or so early. When I woke up my white cheek tang was covered in ick and the marron clown had about 5 spots. Guess it's off to the hopsital tank and leave the main tank fishless for another 4 weeks

[quarryshark]

Sorry to hear, I know its been rough for you lately.
How long was the main left fishless? Maybe it was still in the main.
I hate to tell you this but 4 weeks is on the lighter side of a fallow period. I would suggest more like 6 week.

[jamal-188]

It wasn't from the display, I haven't had a case of ick in there for probably a year. I though the life cycle of ick was 3-4 weeks? I usually keep it fallow for 4-5 just to make sure...or the two times I've have to do so. I know I should really error on the side of caution but it's sooo hard, especially when I haven't had any fish in my display tank for over a month.

[quarryshark]

I know its tough to keep the fish out. I kept my tank fallow a while back for 5 weeks and it still came back.
IMO the 4 week rule is becoming obsolete. From studying the many threads of problems with parasitic treatments, its seem the better success have been the folks who kept their main tanks fallow for 6 weeks or longer.

[SeriousDude5]

Well looks on the bright side at least they didn't die. And if they were a present I would want to keep them alive because there free of course! The best things in your tank are the things you didnt pay for

[swissfish]

would it help to hook up a uv serilizer to the main to kill ick faster?

[cmor1701d]

Ich is not in a free swimming stage for very long so a UV is not going to do much. Raising the temperature is supposed to quicken the life cycle. I would still go with 6 weeks fallow in the main. I'm about to bite that bullet myself. My FoxFace low has a couple of parasites on him.

[thepirate]

quick question......do you guys have hospital tanks, quarantine tanks in addition to your main tank and sump????

if you do how and where do you keep all of these surely each one would require lighting and filter systems??

do you quarantine all of your fish prior to putting them in your main tank?