Did a bad thing. Please QT your fish. Med help

[nervousmonkey]

+1 to what everyone said, @melypr1985 @Humblefish . I didn't want to do it, but I had to pull all the rock and I saved some fish. If it's velvet, you really don't have time to waste, the fish will start dying very quickly. Just take the rock out, catch your fish, put in QT with copper and test the levels of it with a good test kit. Salifert makes a good Cu test kit. Keep your fish in QT for 76 days like the thread says. Acriflavin is a great way to get your fish back on track to health since it'll help heal the tiny wounds left by ich or velvet. Either way, just get the fish out while you can and get them into treatment. There are upsides to running fallow. You get to rescape, you'll probably build a nice population of pods, you can focus on your coral in that tank. Keep thinking positively and you will be fine as well as your fish.

 

[Michael43]

Ok well this is my best case scenario. I am going to take everyone out and do the best I can here. I can't set up QT 10 feet away but I have to hope this will suffice. My frag tank is about 45g. 27x27x15. I have a 2 tier stand 30" long and a 20g long already. Going to go get a 29g tall because it will fit on the stand. I will spread everyone out the best I can amongst the 3 tanks with the best hang on back filtration I can get. I'll do water changes every other day or so and daily checking of the ammonia levels and such. Obviously I will put larger free swimming fish in the frag tank since it has the most space. Upon introduction I'll do the 3 step procedure as noted. Cross your fingers for me guys. If I can get a larger tank to QT to add to the mix I will but for right now to act fast today this is what I'll have to do. Here's a current pic for reference

 

[Brew12]

Ok well this is my best case scenario. I am going to take everyone out and do the best I can here. I can't set up QT 10 feet away but I have to hope this will suffice. My frag tank is about 45g. 27x27x15. I have a 2 tier stand 30" long and a 20g long already. Going to go get a 29g tall because it will fit on the stand. I will spread everyone out the best I can amongst the 3 tanks with the best hang on back filtration I can get. I'll do water changes every other day or so and daily checking of the ammonia levels and such. Obviously I will put larger free swimming fish in the frag tank since it has the most space. Upon introduction I'll do the 3 step procedure as noted. Cross your fingers for me guys. If I can get a larger tank to QT to add to the mix I will but for right now to act fast today this is what I'll have to do. Here's a current pic for reference

Tough decision, but I think it is the best in the long run.

The biomedia in the HOB filters should help reduce the amount of water changes you need to do. Use Biospira or similar product to seed them when you start them up and it is likely ammonia will not be a problem. It is still important to monitor it and be ready to respond. Just feed a little light for the first few days. Also, remember that you need an ammonia alert badge for each tank. Once you add copper you will get false positive ammonia readings on your tests.

 

[Humblefish]

You're gonna hate me, but if those treatment tanks stay that close to your DT then the odds of aerosol transmission are high: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/aerosol-transmission.190292/

 

[Michael43]

Really? I mean I can move the 2 QT tanks but the frag tank with is my main one is hard plumbed. I mean I have unions but there's no where I can go with it. Maybe my garage but some nights are can be well below freezing

 

[melypr1985]

Is the frag tank able to be run independent of the main display? I think you mentioned that they were plumbed together? Do the best you can of course, but try your best to get them a little farther apart.

 

[Michael43]

They are hard plumbed but I have valves to shut it off completely and unions to even I guess remove it all together. This really is a nightmare.. hopefully I make it through and still can like the hobby

 

[melypr1985]

They are hard plumbed but I have valves to shut it off completely and unions to even I guess remove it all together. This really is a nightmare.. hopefully I make it through and still can like the hobby

Looking through this thread might make you feel a bit better about your situation.
Quarantine 40-50 fish from existing 500 gallon reef

 

[Brew12]

They are hard plumbed but I have valves to shut it off completely and unions to even I guess remove it all together. This really is a nightmare.. hopefully I make it through and still can like the hobby

You can get creative to eliminate the issue. I have my QT set up around 3 ft from my DT. I use a small fan when running my QT to blow any water vapor away from the DT.

Maybe you could cover part of the DT with plastic wrap to let light through and drop an air filter over a section to allow air exchange. Or cover your DT with plastic wrap and put a filter over your sump if that applies.

 

[jenreefer]

It is a 300g system. I have 4 setups. This is the newest and have another larger setup being built. I normally take better precaution. This time I got too carried away. It may not be 40 fish but I'd say at least 25. But like 15 are small chromis and anthias etc. but also in here is a gem tang, black tang, polyzona tang, interuptus, joculator, bandit, tinker pair, chrysogaster clowns, candy basslet etc. so not only is it a lot of money but I don't want to see anything happen to these beautiful animals. The intentions for the tank was to be an sps reef. It has a frag tank plumbed to it as well. I only have a couple birds nest frags in it which I'm not worried about and a couple nassarius snails which honestly not sure how many are left after the ichx. So if somehow I could treat the DT I'd much prefer to do that... but doesn't sound like that's going to work

I successfully treated a DT that had velvet with cupramine. I tested almost daily and adjusted as needed. I did not take the live rock out because owner of the tank, thought that would be ugly. I am now trying to get copper out of system, but in no hurry because it will always be a fowlr tank. I lost no fish. If you do go this route, however, be prepared to add copper in the beginning because the rock absorbs, then later I had to do water changes when rock began to let copper out and into the water. All in all it has been a successful experiment and I would do it again in the same situation. I am just not sure if I will ever be able to add inverts back. Funny story though, two nassarius survived the treatment and have just recently re-surfaced from the sand. I was shocked to see them come out. scratching head on that one. I kept therapeutic levels for two months.
message me if you want more details.

 

[Michael43]

Can't find chloroquine phosphate. Who could have it?

 

[melypr1985]

Can't find chloroquine phosphate. Who could have it?

You have to find a vet to write a prescription for it and get it filled at a compounding pharmacy. Diamondbackdrugs.com will fill it

 

[Michael43]

If time is of essence I don't think I'll be able to get this done very quick and I'm on day 4 already of this outbreak. Will cupramine or coppersafe suffice?

 

[Marlon2024]

Just went through this but on a smaller scale. Did fallow for 6 weeks as I couldn't keep the qt running due to space restrictions. AKA the wife. Well I was nervous about putting the fish back into the tank but the 2 fish I put back in thay survived the ich are still ich free a month later. I also added a gladiator clown that I got from Fish Doctor and he quarantines all fish for 21 days with meds and what not so he went straight into display and no ich. Definitely sucks to get ich

 

[melypr1985]

If time is of essence I don't think I'll be able to get this done very quick and I'm on day 4 already of this outbreak. Will cupramine or coppersafe suffice?

Yes. Copper will work just fine.

 

[Michael43]

Can't say I didn't try at least. $500 at petco. Another $200 in meds. Pray for me

 

[melypr1985]

Can't say I didn't try at least. $500 at petco. Another $200 in meds. Pray for me

That's amazing! I wish you the best of luck. Keep us posted and keep asking any questions that come to mind. We will try to help you through this.

 

[NeuroticAquatics]

I think this sounds like Ich, so your odds are much better than if it were Velvet. In my brushes with Velvet, my fish were dead in a matter of days. If you are 4+ days in with no casualties and fish are eating, you are doing okay.

My fingers are crossed for you. I've had two incidents where I lost my entire stock in my 240g. That hurt, but it was not nearly as impressive a list of fish.

 

[Michael43]

Thanks guys. So the fw dip is very important step of this correct? I had a black tang in qt once and saw it had an eye fluke. I did a fw dip for 5 min and after going back in the tank it just swam in circles and was dead the next AM.

 

[Michael43]

Ok so I have ruby reef rally. The long winded version doesn't state the amount of it to use in the bath. And I use the methylene blue in there at the same time correct?