ick total kill tank uv sterilizer

[barbtrave]

Hi I've been up and running since February. I finally hired a new guy starting his own fish fish service. He comes weekly and stocks my tank. 3 weels ago my entire tank died. Now I have one maroon clown and a new angel that has ick. He has added clarpa algae. He has treated my tank 2 times with chemi clean. He is pushing a UV sterilizer for $200.00 he bought . He says that is the answer to ick , bacteria etc. Should I buy it?

 

[steve-s]

No, UV's do not "cure" parasite problems. At best you end up with a reduction in the theront levels but it is quite rare if ever it would completely eliminate C. irritans from the tank.

Your best course of action is remove all the fish and treat in a <<quarantine tank>> with <<hyposalinity>> if you have a refractometer or failing that Cupramine also in a QT. As long as a fish remains in the system, the life cycle of the parasite will continue. As well, all future additions should go through the QT process to eliminate adding problems to your display and keeps it parasite free.

A decent 20 gal long and appropriate equipment + the refractometer would cost less than $100.00 and be a guaranteed long term investment.

Cheers
Steve