Should I be ticked at my LFS about Ich?

[roger saltwaters]

Ok here's my question. I chose to forego craiglist when starting my tank and bought everything new from a local saltwater store. Close to 2000 invested so far. Well.... Long story short... My fish, from this store, have Ich. Should I be upset about this??? Or is this part of the deal?

 

[ScottMyers123]

It happens most fish are stressed out from all the transporting they go through. This is why it is very important to have a QT tank for all new fish and corals.

 

[Duke4Life]

This is just part of it, nothing to get mad about.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Agreed.

 

[Maritimer]

More often than not, there isn't much they can do about it.

They're getting new fish in at least once a week. Even if they drop those fish straight in to a copper bath, ich isn't killed by medicine while it's on the fish - and a great many of those fish will be purchased within a day or three, often on the first day, by folks who come in on "fish day" to see what's new. It would take at least a couple of weeks to eliminate ich by any method - and your LFS can't afford to hold them, heat them, clean them, and medicate them for that long - and still put them on sale at a competitive price.

I consider it part of our role as aquarists to 1) purchase responsibly, and 2) quarantine our new arrivals to protect both them and our existing charges.

~Bruce

 

[roger saltwaters]

So basically you guys are saying, only an idiot buys just one tank. You have to buy two from the get go? I'm not sure what to say about that.

 

[ScottMyers123]

It doesn't have to be anything fancy. You can get a small tank from Petco with the $1 per gallon sale. Then put a heater, some pvc, and a small HOB filter. You now have a QT.

 

[Salt Creep]

So basically you guys are saying, only an idiot buys just one tank. You have to buy two from the get go? I'm not sure what to say about that.

You don't have to do anything. I don't have to clean a cut out before I bandage it up, but if I don't I run a much higher risk of infection.

QTs are cheap to set up. A 10 gallon tank would do in most cases.

 

[pugcrush]

What kind of fish? You sure it's ich? The other big question is does your LFS have a track record - good/bad?

 

[roger saltwaters]

What kind of fish? You sure it's ich? The other big question is does your LFS have a track record - good/bad?

Not sure really. Kind of new to this. But they seem pretty knowledgeable.

 

[roger saltwaters]

And a royal gramma is the main culprit.

 

[roger saltwaters]

You don't have to do anything. I don't have to clean a cut out before I bandage it up, but if I don't I run a much higher risk of infection.

QTs are cheap to set up. A 10 gallon tank would do in most cases.

So it doesn't need live rock, cycling, etc??

 

[ScottMyers123]

Yes you will still need to get the params stable in the QT before adding any fish. You do not have to have live rock but you can, just remember live rock will absorb chemicals when you treat your fish for disease.

 

[vedros74]

You can simply use water from your established tank when you do a water change to fill up the qaurantine tank

 

[Mike in CT]

Most people keep a sponge filter, or some other kind of media in their main cycled tank, so it easy to transfer over to a QT when needed. You can also use bottled bacteria to seed your QT filter, and some people just use large water changes (usually with water from their display tank) to keep up with ammonia in the QT.
Most of us have been where you are. It stinks but it happens.

 

[JPSika08]

Here is a sample of my QT setup,


I would recommend you to treat the fish through TTM, here is the link on how it works:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/spars-tank-transfer-method.209690/

 

[ngvu1]

Not an idiot, but you are taking a chance of not QT'ing your new fish. Even a perfectly looking fish at LFS can have outbreak ich in your tank. :-(

So basically you guys are saying, only an idiot buys just one tank. You have to buy two from the get go? I'm not sure what to say about that.

 

[gus6464]

Here is a sample of my QT setup,


I would recommend you to treat the fish through TTM, here is the link on how it works:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/spars-tank-transfer-method.209690/

How big is that tank?

 

[JPSika08]

How big is that tank?

10 gallons

 

[Bunkinator]

Ich Happens, ...thats all I got to say about that.