Quarantine

[Alzy]

I've had to result in quarantining all my fish due to White spot.
Have not filled the tank with water yet as I have no RO but by tomorrow night it will be.
A few questions please answer them if you can.

1) gonna use copper in the quarantine. Any particular brand to use? I'm located in the UK

2) is PVC drainage pip ok to use for shelter? Or would it contain chemicals that will leach into the water and poison my fish.
*If so what's a good alternative? Don't want to use rock, anything with a rough surface or have a base/bed. as I understand it helps the life cycle of WS.

3) Should I use 50/50 tank/RO water to fill the quarantine?
*what's the best salinity to have, was gonna aim for 1.015 is this best?

4) my understanding of Cryptocaryon irritans is it has a 4 stage life cycle that can take up to 60 days to complete.
Is 8 wks enough or should I give it 12 before I add my fish back into the the display tank which was infested?

Thanks for any reply and any advise.

Keep up the nice work R2R's

 

[Reefing Madness]

#1- Cupramine, .3-.5 test reading
#2- PVC is a perfect shelter
#3- 50/50 water mix isn't going to get you any farther than if you just used RO. The majority of the bacteria in a tank is in the rock and substrate. Only alternative is to cycle the QT tank with a HOB on it.
#4- 8 weeks is plenty of time.

 

[Humblefish]

^^Agree with above, except for 2 minor adjustments:

#3- Set QT to match DT salinity. There is no advantage to lower salinity when treating with copper/Cupramine.
#4- Go 72 days fallow in the DT. In one study done on ich (Colorni and Burgess 1997), it took 72 days for all the theronts to be released from a group of tomonts.

 

[Reefing Madness]

My bad. I should have thrown in there, I'd go hypo if using a qt, instead of going the chemical route.
Agreed, no need tk do them both. Either use hypo or copper.

 

[haleyf1024]

+1 for using hyposalinity instead of copper (which is a mild poison to fish) and have the salinity between 1.009-1.010

 

[Humblefish]

Sorry to sound so adversarial on a Friday, but I cannot endorse hyposalinity for a few reasons: :wink:

1. Difficult to apply successfully. If the SG ticks up even slightly past 1.009 during the 30 day treatment period, all bets are off. For this reason I feel an ATO is a must when doing hypo.

2. Perfectly calibrated refractometer is a must with doing hypo. Since success of the treatment hinges upon reaching & maintaining 1.009 SG exactly for 30 days.

3. Hypo resistant strains of ich have been proven to exist. Study done by Yambot in 2003 - which is referenced in this article by the U of Fla: FA164/FA164: Cryptocaryon irritans Infections (Marine White Spot Disease) in Fish

Over the years, I've read of numerous hypo failures for treating ich on various forums. There's just too many variables in play for it to trusted. Which is a shame, because it is probably one of the gentlest treatment options available for ich - along with tank transfer method.

 

[NeuroticAquatics]

I agree with Humblefish to a degree, but still feel that hypo works and does not subject the fish to copper, which can do damage if not done properly. I've used hypo several times, kept it at 1.010-1.009 and have never had it come back. Not trying to be argumentative, just throwing out my opinion. Both methods should work.

 

[Alzy]

Well I have 4 fish left out of a dozen. All me prized fishkies are dead.

Been treating my QT with cuprazin 3 days into treatment. Same salinity and temp as DT.
What's a HOB?
Gonna keep them there for 6 weeks 7/8 if I can bare it.
Here's the DT befor and now

Have the salinity @ 1.025 and Ph was 8/8.4 last check.
No sand bed, no fish. Less rock.



Thanks for the hints and tips

 

[Humblefish]

What's a HOB?

Hang on back; for QT purposes, a HOB usually refers to a powerfilter. Some utilize bio media (exs. sponge, foam, ceramic noodles) which can house nitrifying bacteria to aid in the break down of harmful ammonia in QT. I personally use an Aquaclear HOB power filter, which comes with a foam insert that I “seed” down in my DT's sump for one month prior to use. Or you can also use one of those "bacteria in a bottle" products like Bio-Spira to seed it instantly. Once seeded/cycled, the bio media can be used almost indefinitely. However, since I do not maintain a permanent QT, I just keep one or two foams going down in my DT's sump at all times so I always have one ready for QT. They are cheap enough.

 

[Alzy]

Thanks for the reply, sorry for my late reply.

I have a fluval 306 box filter rated upto 300L
(1150LH-303GPH US) tanks 100L
4stage filter with a long course sponge down the intake side, second stage is course sponge in the lower box, middle box contains ceramic balls that's "really good" as re commended by LFS. Final stage was carbon packs x2 I removed these and replaced with filter wool.(fine white cotton wool stuff)

 

[Alzy]

Thanks for the reply, sorry for my late reply.

I have a 306 box filter under the tank, 4stage filter with a long course sponge down the intake side, second stage is course sponge in the lower box, middle box contains ceramic balls that's "really good" as re commended by LFS. Final stage was carbon packs x2 I removed these and replaced with filter wool.(fine white cotton wool stuff)

Gonna get this ammonia removing magic foam tomorrow so will replace the course foam with this.

Anything I should/shouldn't be doing?

 

[Humblefish]

Alzy The ceramic balls accomplish the same purpose as the foam insert. Are you having problems controlling the ammonia?

 

[Alzy]

No issues with ammonia as its only been fresh RO/salt mix, 4 days and the tank is Fish only.
Will add in the magic stuff today and post a pic of the pack

 

[miyags]

Won't the ceramic balls absorb the copper. You don't need a lot of flow in QT. Time to rest.

 

[saltyphish]

sorry for the loss. Hope the rest of your fish make it.

Well I have 4 fish left out of a dozen. All me prized fishkies are dead.

Been treating my QT with cuprazin 3 days into treatment. Same salinity and temp as DT.
What's a HOB?
Gonna keep them there for 6 weeks 7/8 if I can bare it.
Here's the DT befor and now

Have the salinity @ 1.025 and Ph was 8/8.4 last check.
No sand bed, no fish. Less rock.



Thanks for the hints and tips

 

[Humblefish]

Won't the ceramic balls absorb the copper.

Ceramic is nonreactive, so any absorption would be minimal.

 

[Alzy]

So here's the magic stuff.

Any info on it would be grea
Looks to have some stuff embedded into the foam?

Bought a test kit today

took me an hour to figure it out and along with my other test kit I came to these figures in my display tank.

PH = 7.8-8.0
AMMONIA = 0-0.25ppm
NITRITE = 0ppm
NITRATE = 0-5.0ppm
ALKALINITY = 6.7-7.0
MAGNESIUM = 900ppm
CALCIUM = 325ppm

I hope it sounds right probably fluffed up the tests.
Gonna retest Saturday and do a water change on both tanks tomorrow. Gonna stop the treatment as it recommends to when the fish show no signs of illness.
As there all dead Barr the two cleaner wrasses then I guess the symptoms have receeded.

I'm using Red Sea salt by the way, any additives I should/shouldn't add? Want my reef to pop now and I'm gonna try the sps/lps while I have no fish.

 

[Humblefish]

Gonna retest Saturday and do a water change on both tanks tomorrow. Gonna stop the treatment as it recommends to when the fish show no signs of illness.
As there all dead Barr the two cleaner wrasses then I guess the symptoms have receeded.

I don't understand this. 30 days of copper/Cupramine treatment is required to eradicate ich/velvet.

 

[Alzy]

 

[Alzy]

Here's the bottle humble