Ich in my QT

[joeyswife]

I had 2 fish (a royal gramma and a clown) die in my QT last week. It's a 10 gal with a HOB filter, I seeded the foam block with my DT for over 4 months. I don't have any tank lights, just a glass cover. The RG wasn't eating so I figured he was sick when I got him. I had two clownfish in the tank and they weren't getting along so I thought one killed the other. The lone clownfish was eating and looking happy so I put him in my DT since he had been in QT for 3 weeks. As soon as I put him in I realized he was covered in ich. I never saw it with the lights that were in the room or when I looked at them with a flashlight. I pulled him out of the DT as soon as I could and put him back in QT. He has now died.

Is my DT tank in trouble? I have 1 pajama cardinal and a bunch of inverts so I don't think he's going to be stressed in any way. He's been the only fish for several years.

What do I do with my QT as far as cleaning it out and starting over with new fish? Can I still use the foam block or toss it? Can I use my DT to seed another foam even though it might have ich in it?

I'm so upset because I thought I was doing everything right by setting up a QT only to have everything die and may have infected the DT

Lesson learned, don't skimp on lighting even for a QT.

Jill

 

[shellieca]

Sorry for your losses. I have not experienced ich but my understanding is that your DT is probably at risk since you put the fish in there even for a short time. Everything I have read on here says to slowly raise the temp to 86F, and do lots of water changes. It will get worse before it gets better and to leave the temp up for at least a week after the last spot is seen. Obviously this depends on if your tank inhabitants can tolerate the heat. As for your QT tank, no fish means there's no host for the Ich so you should be able to do a really good vacuum & a water change & be good. Somebody else may have a different opinion or better experience with it.

 

[Hondatek]

Temperature does nothing for marine ich. Treat your remaining fish in qt with hypo or copper. Leave the dt fishless for 8 weeks . Qt everything from now on to avoid this in the future.

 

[Jeremy S.]

Be careful treating with chemicals! They have some fatal effects for Inverts.

 

[shellieca]

Temperature does nothing for marine ich. Treat your remaining fish in qt with hypo or copper. Leave the dt fishless for 8 weeks . Qt everything from now on to avoid this in the future.

Sorry, saw the ich post in the "new post" section & didn't realize it was SW, I should know to check that.