just my luck- ich! help?

[Moonstream]

yep- I have ich. it must have come in on my clowns, since all my other fish have been with me for more than six months, for the most part.

In four years, I've never had a disease outbreak of any kind. I've never really used a quarentine tank, either. I know how to set up a basic hospital tank: use the filter sponges from my main tanks, put them in an extra HOB filter, run it on an extra tank with a heater and some PVC fittings of various sizes. I'll be bringing up a 29g for this very purpose later tonight.

my plan is to set the hospital tank up tonight, fill it, put in salt to match the DT's specific gravity, add a heater and match it to the temp of the display, and let it sit overnight. tomorrow, I'll run to lowes and get some PVC fittings and add them and the filter media to the QT, then catch my fish and put them in. I'd be testing ammonia every day, feeding small amounts of mysis enriched with selcon and garlic daily, and keep 5-10g of water with SG matched to the QT tank on hand at all times for emergency water changes in the case of ammonia or nitrite.

I'm not sure how best to treat them, though? I was thinking hyposalinity, because I'm not a huge fan of using chemicals in my tanks, especially harsh chemicals like copper.

my questions:

is the above descibed hospital setup good?

I dont know how to lower the SG, however. how much should I lower it per day/week/whatever, and how much freshwater do I add to achieve that?

also, how much should I raise it once I'm done? and how much saltwater should I add to achieve that?

also, is a 29 big enough for all my fish? if I needed to, I could use my spare 20g as well, though Id really rather keep it to one tank...

sorry for the long winded post, I'm worried about my fishies thanks for any help

 

[albano]

how big is your DT, is it reef... how many/what type of fish...which ones show ick, how are they acting?

 

[duke62]

well since your fish already have ich and your going to set up a hospital tank use the water from your main tank just the 1 time so everything in qt is the same as DT.do not do water changes with tank water just use the water this 1 time.

 

[fishman1069]

I would just feed the diet your gonna feed anyway, in the DT. If you pull the fish your just gonna stress them out, causing there immune system to drop further. I like the idea of QT tanks but only for new fish. I dont think its a good idea to stress a fish any further than need be. JMHO

 

[Moonstream]

sorry, this was a copy/paste from reefcentral, and all this information is in my signature there.

its a 40g breeder sumpless reef. fish are a pair of percula clowns, coral beauty angel, yellowtail damsel, YWG, royal gramma, longnose hawk, sixline wrasse. the angel and clowns are the worse, the sixline and gramma have a few spots, the others dont seem to have any spots, but I'll be treating them regardless. no other real signs other than the spots, maybe a bit of decreased appetite but nothing really noticeable.

I did mean to include I'll be using 10g of old tank water for setting up the hospital tank (I dont want to use more than that due to how small the display is).

to fishman: I don't quite understand? feeding them enriched food isnt going to make this go away, and I can't treat in the display because of the rock, corals, inverts, etc. yes, pulling them will cause stress, and their immune systems might take a hit, but they're all healthy fish besides this (fat, never any other health problems, etc) so my hope is that they'll be able to fight it off. I might have losses, but nothing compared to what I'd have if I kept them in the DT and did nothing, IMO)

also, I plan to keep the display fallow for at least 8 weeks.

 

[albano]

I would just feed the diet your gonna feed anyway, in the DT. If you pull the fish your just gonna stress them out, causing there immune system to drop further. I like the idea of QT tanks but only for new fish. I dont think its a good idea to stress a fish any further than need be. JMHO

+1...if it's a reef tank, it's not worth tearing apart to remove fish....if they're healthy fish, they should survive, if they're not, the meds probably won't help, anyway.
IMO ... QT is important for new fish...Hospital tank for ick is a waste of time.



I prefer the RC avatar!

 

[duke62]

i was going to suggest that but the ich police are in guard waiting for these posts.i for one never QT when i see ich in my setup.i just overdose with GX and let my cleaner shrimp go nuts.i havent lost a fish in a long time using this method.if your fish are eating and are healthy they will get over it and fight the ich by themselves

 

[Moonstream]

well, I was planning to pull some of my fish (angel, hawk, wrasse, maybe damsel, goby and gramma as well) anyways, and re-scaping the rock. this would obviously cause a good deal of stress to everyone involved, as well, and I figure if I'm going to do that, I might as well treat everyone...

the clowns are my highest priority at this point. I've become fairly attached to them since I got them...

also, none of my fish besides my goby allow my cleaner shrimp pair to clean them, so they wont be much of a help...

 

[Moonstream]

so I've decided I'm definitely going to pull everyone and treat them, then leave the display fallow for 8 weeks- I just dont feel comfortable with the idea of doing nothing.

NOTE: I know the risks involved in pulling and treating fish, and while I agree that in some cases leaving them in the tank would be fine, I think that my case has progressed far enough that I need to treat.

 

[motortrendz]

i had ich on 2 of my clowns and non of the other fish in my tank, i pulled them and put them in a qt tank with hypo salinity of 1.009 treated the water with eco labs thera-p and instand ocean lifeguard with halo sheild.(you can get both at petco if you need to) and within 24hrs the ich was gone and fish were doing great.. i stoped the lifeguard after 2 days did a water change on the 3rd and only use the thera-p once a week for the next 4 weeks before returning them to the display.. that is how i do it for any bacterial,fungal or parasitic infection

 

[mandown123]

overfeed mysis as much as they can eat with heavy soak in garlic and selcon.

This worked on my hippo I had never seen such a severe case of ick and she came around and is doing great.

 

[fishman1069]

so I've decided I'm definitely going to pull everyone and treat them, then leave the display fallow for 8 weeks- I just dont feel comfortable with the idea of doing nothing.

NOTE: I know the risks involved in pulling and treating fish, and while I agree that in some cases leaving them in the tank would be fine, I think that my case has progressed far enough that I need to treat.

Good luck. I hope everyone pulls thru. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[Moonstream]

thanks; I know leaving them in the display would probably be better, but I want ich OUT of the tank, and want to know its not going to show up again when I introduce a new fish in the future.

I'll be pulling them later today- treatment will start wednesday!

 

[albano]

but I want ich OUT of the tank, and want to know its not going to show up again when I introduce a new fish in the future.

there is NO guarantee that ick will be COMPLETELY out of your tank...IMO it's ALWAYS there, waiting for that sick/stressed fish...it WILL show up again, which is usually not a problem for healthy fish.