I found a dead Bartlett anthia in my DT today and looked to have ich. Noticed a few spots on my chevron tang. I immediately started catching all my fish with a fish trap. Caught all but 5 and one of them is a fire prawn goby. Not sure how I will get him out. Still in the DT is 1 Bartlett, leopard wrasse, tamarin wrasse, blue sapphire damsel, fire prawn goby, and orange spotted goby. I've had a 40 gallon QT tank was set up just in case and it's loaded with assorted PVC pipes up to 3" for the two juve tangs I have. All in all I believe I have 15 fish to QT and a few are wrasses. One is a expensive magma wrasse, pintail wrasse, and a pink streaked wrasse. I'm scared to death about doing this and am worried I'll cause more stress on my fish since I don't really know what I'm doing here. I have three different types of copper and was wondering what would be the best for the fish list I have. I'm guessing as soon as I get the last fish in the QT tank I can ramp up copper to therapeutic level for 30 days. After that Im lost. My QT tank has a sump with a brightwell bio block that was seeded with micrbactor7 and then has been running for a few weeks and is cycled. I installed an ammonia badge and so far the fish look like they have adjusted to the new tank and PVC. I know there are several experts here regarding quarantine and I can use all the help I can get. I'm running a small skimmer in the sump until I get all the fish in there and then I will shut it off after I add the copper. I plan on keeping the DT fallow for 80-90 days just to be safe. I have an ATO on the QT and have 50G of SW prepared for water changes. There is a 150W heater and I will add another power head aimed towards the surface for agitation and has exchange. Can someone tell me the best copper, time line and then what to run after I remove it from the system as secondary medication. I won't be able to get the other fish out until after I return from a business trip later this week. I'll ask my wife to make sure the fish in QT are fed well, with out over feeding and possibles fouling the water. Any help,is great appreciated. Lesson learned and no fish
into the DT until after a standard QT regiment going forward. Thank you very much in advance. JP
I've had very good luck using Seachem Cupramine. It's a safer form of copper, imo. But you should get the Seachem copper test kit and test daily. The test kit is meant for their own form of copper. A great pair.
A sump isn't really necessary on a QT tank. Just a hang-on mechanical filter with some bio stuff. The sump just means more meds and is tougher to get the right amount.
As for the wrasses, what I did was put a small amount of fine aragonite in a small area on the side of the tank just enough for them to burrow. Because I wanted mine to be as least stressed as possible. And while the small amount of substrate will absorb some copper, it won't be much. That's what the test kit is for. You slowly raise the amount over 2-3 days and it instructs you how. Plus, if you do any maintenance water change during the month you're going to have to make sure you add back the amount of copper that was removed. It's easier than it sounds.
After the copper is done for a month (and STRICTLY held at the recommended levels), do a large water change (like 90%) to make sure you suck out as much of the ich that hasn't hatched, scoop out the little area of aragonite and replace with fresh, and add some carbon to remove all of the copper (remember, no carbon during med treatment). Seachem also makes Cuprasorb that will suck up the copper as well and it's color changing to know if there's any copper present and to know when it's exhausted. Just an extra option. You don't have to do that big of a water change, I just don't like taking chances.
The secondary med I would then use is Prazipro. Two rounds of that. It will take care of any Flukes, worms, or internal parasites the fish may also have that went unnoticed. The treatment is short and 2 rounds takes roughly a week. Important to aerate the tank during treatment and do another large water change per the instructions.
Then watch the fish for 2 additional weeks for any signs of bacterial infections. It may be a good idea to keep on hand Kanaplex, Metroplex, and Furan-2 if you notice a bacterial outbreak. Those 3 antibiotics will cover the gamut of bacteria, but will wipe out your biological filter. That's why you're doing this in QT in the first place.
If the antibiotics are needed, you just have to do more frequent water changes to keep the ammonia low, which your Seachem badge will help monitor. Personally, I don't even keep a cycled QT just for the reason of using antibiotics.
But being you're going away, I would try to get the copper set beforehand, but your wife will have to test daily. Because if the levels drop below the necessary amount it won't be as effective. Bad timing that you're starting a process this involved and have to leave. But the instructions are very good for Cupramine and its test kit. I had to treat my display with Cupramine (before any inverts) and now have shrimp and snails that do fine in the same tank, all disease free.
This is the process I do BEFORE adding any fish to the tank
. You obviously recognized your mistake. You usually don't need such a big QT if you're treating one or two fish at a time when you buy them. It's also a good idea to keep these meds on hand in case you need them in a pinch.
