Ich, Hospital Tank Questions

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Bubba12

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So, I noticed last night two of my eight fish have ich. I plan to set up a QT and leave the DT fallow for the 76 days. It does not appear to be severe, the fish are still eating and behaving normally except for some rubbing on the LR. My question is do I have a day or two to get this done? I have all the equipment ready, but time is my issue. Making the 40 gallons of water and preparing the tank is going to take a couple days because unfortunately I have a busy work schedule. Also, do you recommend using stability or prime time to help with ammonia issues in the QT, as I do not have a precycled filter to add to the tank. Would adding a piece or two of LR from my display tank help seed the tank? I realize I would not be able to put these back in the main display.
During this the 76 days, do I continue the normal maintenance schedule on my DT (weekly WC, light feeding for inverts), and will I be able to continue adding coral? Is there anything I need to do differently with the DT? Also, any suggestions on catching fish? Only thing I can figure is I am going to have to pull most of the LR out.
 
WWC
Yes, I believe you have a couple days if it is indeed ich. Dont put any live rock in your QT. It will absorb the copper and leach it back out making it difficult to keep the levels in the therapeutic range. Stability is good... you can soak your filter sponge in a bowl with the stability for a couple hours before putting it in the filter which will give the bacteria time to settle into the sponge. Then you put the sponge in the filter and pour the rest of the water in the bowl into the filter as well. Plan to do frequent water changes for the first week or two at least. NEVER use prime with copper as it can turn the copper very toxic!
You can add coral to the DT, but I suggest being careful with this towards the end of the fallow period. It's a risk that you could introduce ich into the tank this way. If done at the begining then even if there is ich on the coral, there are no fish for it to latch onto in the tank so it just dies. Feed the DT lightly on occasion during this time to keep your bacteria levels normal and keep up with your normal maintenance.
I had to pull all the rock out of my tank to catch my fish. Drain the water level down to about half way (maybe more) and use that water to keep your rock in while catching the fish. It's going to be a big mess, but it will get back to normal again. Good luck and keep us posted!
 
Do you recommend a light on the QT tank? Also, is the anything in my display tank that I could use to help seed the tank (filter sock, algae from the fuge, etc...)?
This is going to be a PITA!!!
 
AS
Bubba12 said:
Do you recommend a light on the QT tank? Also, is the anything in my display tank that I could use to help seed the tank (filter sock, algae from the fuge, etc...)?
This is going to be a PITA!!!
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You'll probably have to do water changes anyway, even if you added something from the DT. I wouldn't though, just use the stability like I outlined. Keep an eye on your ammonia alert badge and do a water change anytime it reads anything but yellow. It will cycle after a bit and you wont have to do water changes as often. If your really worried about it, you could use your filter sock or a sponge of some sort thats been in the sump, but no macro algae or rock.
 
Tidal Gardens
I picked up some Cupramine on the way home from work on the advice of the LFS. I am not ready to start yet, but is this what you recommend? The bottle says use for 14 days, but I have read about people treating for 30-45 days. I'm confused.
 
I use it. just raise the levels slowly.... slower than the bottle recommends if you have sensitive species in the QT. Treat for 30 consecutive days and make sure the levels never drop below .35 with .5 being the target.
 
Sounds like you have a plan. Just be ready for water changes. Dose your new water to the same level as your tank water when you do the water change. This prevents a quick drop in cupramine levels and the chance of it not being effective.
 
Chewy.com
melypr1985 said:
You can add coral to the DT, but I suggest being careful with this towards the end of the fallow period. It's a risk that you could introduce ich into the tank this way. If done at the begining then even if there is ich on the coral, there are no fish for it to latch onto in the tank so it just dies. Feed the DT lightly on occasion during this time to keep your bacteria levels normal and keep up with your normal maintenance.
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Be very careful doing this. This is how ich ended up in my tank. Coral brought it in and boom. So good to add at beginning of fallow period, but any new coral/invert and I'd restart your fallow clock to be safe. All additions to my tank in the future will be given a QT period. I'm in week 3 of tank being fallow myself :(

Also I've had very good luck with the instant ocean Bio-Spira to quick cycle a tank, I tend to get both nitrite and nitrate production within 24 hours of addition telling me both types of nitrofying bacteria are present and in good viable numbers in the product, this is with about 0.2 ppm ammonia detectable. Have not used the Stability before so can't comment, might be just as good. One time I tried Dr. Tim's one and only it had very low numbers of viable cells and well within the usable date and took 2 weeks to see ammonia decrease and nitrite and nitrate to show.
 
It certainly is a risk. I'm in the process of building a coral QT.... only problem is getting the glass cut for it. Waiting on friends of friends to get some time for a favor
 
melypr1985 said:
It certainly is a risk. I'm in the process of building a coral QT.... only problem is getting the glass cut for it. Waiting on friends of friends to get some time for a favor
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Petco's $ per gallon sale is going on right now, I believe. Not gonna get a tank any cheaper than that.
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
Humblefish said:
Petco's $ per gallon sale is going on right now, I believe. Not gonna get a tank any cheaper than that.
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and I may go ahead and buy one. I really just want to build my own AIO tank for it. doing both wouldn't hurt though...
 
Tidal Gardens
melypr1985 said:
Yes I did. It's impressive and clean looking. My plan was to turn my old broken 75 gallon into a small AIO coral QT. It would certainly be less of a pain in the tush to just get an aio tank instead of building one :)
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It's a shame you aren't closer to your old stomping grounds. There's a guy here in Monroe selling tanks (new & used) dirt cheap. I just bought two brand new 40 breeders for $50 (for both). Would have cost me $80 at Petco right now, even with the sale price. :rolleyes: He's selling used 20 longs (drilled) for only $5.
 
Humblefish said:
It's a shame you aren't closer to your old stomping grounds. There's a guy here in Monroe selling tanks (new & used) dirt cheap. I just bought two brand new 40 breeders for $50 (for both). Would have cost me $80 at Petco right now, even with the sale price. :rolleyes:
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Dang! That's a good deal :) I think I'll talk to the Mgr at the shop and see what kind of deal we can strike for a small aio. Apparently we can get deep discounts on tanks. Lots of options right now.
 
melypr1985 said:
Dang! That's a good deal :) I think I'll talk to the Mgr at the shop and see what kind of deal we can strike for a small aio. Apparently we can get deep discounts on tanks. Lots of options right now.
Click to expand...

Try for a 29 gal Biocube (or whatever you can fit/afford).
 

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