Calling out to those who quarantine...

[AquAttila]

I recently added a gem tang as well as some more expensive wrasse's (i.e. pair of flame) to my 75 gal QT. The process I follow for my quarantine process is:

First Week; 5 - 7 days: make sure all fish eating, reduce any stress from shipping, etc.
Second Week: Prozipro treatment for 7 days
Third Week: begin to dose copper, gradually bring up to 2.5ppm (copper safe) over 5 days.
Week 4 - 10: 6 weeks of copper treatment, continue weekly water changes as well.

Last evening I noticed ich breakout on the gem tang. Fish seems to be eating, but of course I am concerned so instead of my normal QT process, I started to dose copper.

Question 1: talking to some folks, including TSM corals. They start wit prozi vs. copper. Is there a benefit to starting with prozi? I decided to do copper first because of the breakout in ich. Prozi is for de-worming is my understanding.

Question 2: Should I consider adding a UV Sterilizer to my QT? I read mixed info that UV turns copper to toxic level ?? this just seems wrong, and don't believe everything you read online, right? I also hear that the strength of the UV light is not strong enough to kill ich anyway. Please let me know if you had success with copper treatment in combination with UV.

Thanks!

 

[WIReefer]

@Humblefish @4FordFamily @Big G

 

[DaddyFish]

In speaking directly with Seachem tech, they strongly recommend against running UV while treating with copper, stating that it can change the copper in their med to a much more toxic form. In general, UV is recommended to be turned OFF during any/all medication cycles for similar reasons.

However, once you are done with the meds and have extracted them through water changes, carbon etc., I personally recommend blasting that QT tank with UV. Once you go UV, you'll never go back.

 

[4FordFamily]

I recently added a gem tang as well as some more expensive wrasse's (i.e. pair of flame) to my 75 gal QT. The process I follow for my quarantine process is:

First Week; 5 - 7 days: make sure all fish eating, reduce any stress from shipping, etc.
Second Week: Prozipro treatment for 7 days
Third Week: begin to dose copper, gradually bring up to 2.5ppm (copper safe) over 5 days.
Week 4 - 10: 6 weeks of copper treatment, continue weekly water changes as well.

Last evening I noticed ich breakout on the gem tang. Fish seems to be eating, but of course I am concerned so instead of my normal QT process, I started to dose copper.

Question 1: talking to some folks, including TSM corals. They start wit prozi vs. copper. Is there a benefit to starting with prozi? I decided to do copper first because of the breakout in ich. Prozi is for de-worming is my understanding.

Question 2: Should I consider adding a UV Sterilizer to my QT? I read mixed info that UV turns copper to toxic level ?? this just seems wrong, and don't believe everything you read online, right? I also hear that the strength of the UV light is not strong enough to kill ich anyway. Please let me know if you had success with copper treatment in combination with UV.

Thanks!

1) I'd do a prazi bath (instructions on bottle for this) before copper in a separate tank, then do the second dose WITH copper. Of course, this can cause cloudy water but a large water change will aid this IF it happens
2) No, no UV with QT. I can confirm I've tried it before I learned and I paid a heavy price. Also, you may want to increase copper levels to 2.5PPM or higher. I've been having "bugs" get through it at lower concentrations recently.

 

[AquAttila]

Thanks for the response. So definitely will not get UV for my QT! glad I did not do this and posted on this site . I will continue with copper for sure as it is really the only thing I feel works best for ich. I learned the hard way when I did not quarantine and didn't have a QT setup. Trying to treat fish with all sorts of stuff with ich is a nightmare and nothing works. YES, it's a pain to keep another tank running but once it becomes routine for maintenance it's not all that bad.