Copper and/or Hyposalinity and QT filtering?

[1979fishgeek]

hi

I’ve got a terrible outbreak of ick and been trying Polyp Lab Medic at full dose but it’s having no effect. I have no choice but to go fallow for 96 days and treat fish separately.

My plan is to strip my two connected tanks down removing everything to a paddling pool so I can get the fish out and put the fish into the 300l tank and corals inverts and live rock all in the 700l. They currently both share a 400l sump. My query is how do I filter the 300l tank safety? Taking into account treatment? A Course of copper then hyposalinity while tanks fallow? Or just a Copper dip then hyposalinity so no traces of copper get in displays? Or just hypo? There’s loads of large Tangs and I’m worried about the huge amont of waste they produce, particularly a large Mata, Desjardini and Powder blue who poop bigger than me! They are smoothered in spots and it’s a bad strain of ick.

I worried how I’m going to filter ammonia waste.... what to do?

Use the sump which contains live rock and if I do, do I then chuck away the live rock if I’ve used copper ? But then the sumps contaminated? So do I just put the liverock rubble in the 300l?

If I go the hyposalinity method which is safer, will the bacteria be distroyed on the live rock?

Should I copper dip the fish, then put them in for hypo treatment? So no copper gets in any part of the system?

What should I do?

 

[1979fishgeek]

Copper not Cooper! Auto correct! Gahhhh!

 

[Humblefish]

First step is to read this: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-quarantine.189815/

And then ask me any questions you still have, after reading it.

 

[1979fishgeek]

Thanks for the link. Very useful.

My worry is the number of fish and the size of fish I need to QT, a HoB Filter and sponge is just not going to be able to house enough bacteria to filter the waste. I need to QT the following:

Mata Tang -8 inch
Desjardinni Tang - 10 inch
Powder Blue Tang - 7 inch
Mimic Tang x 2 - 5 inch
Orange Shoulder Tang - 4 inch
Spotted Mandarin x 2
Sixline Wrasse x 2
Melanurus Wrasse
Leopard Wrasse
Chromis x 2
Bangaii Cardinal x 22

I only have a 300l and a couple of 100l tanks I can use for this lot.

It’s going to be a nightmare trying to control waste without live rock, as I only have a external filter filled with Siporax and some live rock rubble from the sump.

Protein skimmers going to be useless in hyposalinity and if I use treatments I need to be careful of it soaking into the live rock.

Might be possible if I just do hyposalinity and drop the SG slowly so filter bacteria is not killed off?

 

[Humblefish]

@1979fishgeek If you are sure this is Crypto (and NOT Amyloodinium), then treating with hypo might be the way to go: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/hyposalinity.247596/

The die-off to the nitrifying bacteria in your LR should be manageable, and their populations will bounce back once they have adjusted to hypo conditions.

 

[1979fishgeek]

@1979fishgeek If you are sure this is Crypto (and NOT Amyloodinium), then treating with hypo might be the way to go: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/hyposalinity.247596/

The die-off to the nitrifying bacteria in your LR should be manageable, and their populations will bounce back once they have adjusted to hypo conditions.

No I’m 99.99% sure it’s not marine velvet, although the spots have become very numerous and could be confused for amyloodinium they have taken a few weeks to build numbers, I would have thought if it was velvet I’d have rapid fish losses earlier on and rapid signs of infection. Plus there have days where the fish look parasite free where I hoped the Polyp Lab Medic was effective, but I think they were just dropped off as part of the ick life cycle and during the night the white spots free swimming stage attacked the fish in ever increasing numbers. I think it’s a very persistent ick attack.

 

[1979fishgeek]

@1979fishgeek If you are sure this is Crypto (and NOT Amyloodinium), then treating with hypo might be the way to go: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/hyposalinity.247596/

The die-off to the nitrifying bacteria in your LR should be manageable, and their populations will bounce back once they have adjusted to hypo conditions.

I really appreciate your help with this, I have a 550l framed swimming pool coming on Sunday for stage two removing all the inverts, I’m currently filling every available container with new water..stage one! Going to be epic amont of work but I’m determined to restart in a parasite free system, (without substrate as it was getting old) with a permanent QT in my garden room for verythimg new! I’m convinced this ick came into the system on some new coral frags which I stupidly did not QT or dip! I’m kicking myself at my complacency. Feel like a idiot!