Crypto

[Zach Smith]

So I have my dt that I noticed yesterday my sailfin had crypto today its definently worse. My clowns now have it as well. I have inverts and coral as well. I'm in the process of moving and really dont have a place to setup a hospital at the moment. My question is if I did ttm can I put all the infected fish in the same tank as long as I am transferring them every 72 hours. What are some other reef safe options.

 

[artieg1]

If you are certain it is ich, I personally would wait until you moved, there is no rush (unlike, say, with velvet). I'd focus on the long term goal, which is to have a DT free from crypto. And that takes time and care (fallow, separate fish treatment, etc., you seem to be aware of the protocols, but you can find them in the stickies).

 

[DLHDesign]

My question is if I did ttm can I put all the infected fish in the same tank as long as I am transferring them every 72 hours.

Assuming the tank is large enough; yes - you can run all your fish through TTM in the same tanks at the same time, assuming you follow the 72hr rule. The goal is to "outrun" the lifecycle of the parasite, and the number of fish don't really matter during that.
The considerations are more about the rate of ammonia growth and tank aggression. Either/both of those can cause problems during TTM (or any QT, really...).

 

[Zach Smith]

i ended up setting up a 29 gallon. with some pvc. im going to do a combo of copperium idk if that is spelled right.. and ttm. i pulled all fish. so foxface lo about 5", small clown, lawnmower, firefish. I know it is not ideal but its what i can do at the moment

 

[DLHDesign]

29g for the 4 fish listed should be fine for the duration of treatment.

I would suggest either doing copper (raised slowly and held at the correct levels for the proper duration) OR TTM (with a second set of gear to ensure easy/painless swaps). Trying to combine both methods does not really help (they each target different periods in the ich lifecycle, so they don't really "stack" all that well to provide a better result). At least; it doesn't help to a high enough degree to make the risks and challenges worthwhile.

 

[Zach Smith]

So currently at .25ppm copper. Was going to get it to .5 by day 3, then moving forward with the ttm maintaining the levels at .5 if that makes sense

 

[Zach Smith]

Ttm alone will not cure velvet. Copper will however. I just figured instead of fighting ammonia I would do ttm

 

[DLHDesign]

It's not clear what copper product you have; is 0.5ppm the treatment level for what you are using?

For me, it's always been a balance between "fighting ammonia" and keeping stress levels low (both the fishes and mine). Moving from one tank to another is stressful on the fish (and me), which can be detrimental to their recovery if they are in a critical state. "Less stress vs. constant med exposure" is generally a selling point of TTM because of the lack of copper, but you won't be enjoying that benefit, so that's kind of moot.
In terms of the ammonia battle; not over-feeding the tank, cleaning out uneaten food, and removing detritus has usually been enough to keep ammonia down for me. I found that the cleaning and care taken doing these tasks also gave me ample opportunity to observe the fish more than I might without such tasks.

One option you could use is the "time reduced copper" treatment. This involves a standard copper treatment, but instead of a full 30 days, it lasts 14 days and is followed by a transfer into a new tank without copper and all new gear - just as if you were doing TTM, but only once.
You can get the outline for this process (along with some other good treatment options to tackle other problems) here.