About to upgrade tank, possible ich, what would you do?

[lotekfish]

First a little background- I had previously kept a nice mixed reef tank running for about 7 years before some life changes forced me to take a break. Now I've settled down again and decided to get back into it, but this time I said I would keep it small and simple. 10g tank, so sump or skimmer, water changes only. So that's how I started a couple of months ago. I cycled the tank and added a neon goby and a royal gramma a couple of weeks ago, and I made the rooky decision not to QT.

Oh, and then Petco had the $1/gallon sale so I bought a 20g long that I'm converting into an AIO, 'cause that's how things go.

My plan was to transfer everything from the 10 to the 20 and keep the 10 for a QT for future fish, but then a few days ago I noticed a white spot on the side of the gramma. I had had a crazy week so it might have been there longer, and there might have been more, but didn't notice. My wife and daughter said there was another spot on the tail but I didn't see it. Now a few days later it's gone and the gramma has been otherwise healthy and eating and so has the goby. So not really sure what it was, if anything. If I didn't have the 20g ready to go I would probably do nothing but watch and wait, but since I'm about to transfer things to a new tank I'm having a dilemma. I have a few options as I see it:

1. Keep everything as-is in the 10g and watch and wait. I know this doesn't really prove the existence of ich or not but at least the fish won't be stressed.
2. Move everything including the fish into the 20g and hope I don't have to dismantle everything to get the fish out if ich pops up. This seems like the overly hopeful option.
3. Transfer the rock and sand to the 20g and leave it fallow for 72 years (joking) or whatever the current opinion is, keep the fish in the empty 10g with the active filter running. Wait and watch.. for how long? Also doesn't prove anything conclusively.
4. Like 3 above but proactively treat for ich with copper or tank transfer method. I know this is the only way to be 100% sure the ich is gone (if that's what it was) but I've never put fish at risk with proactive treatment before. I used to just QT for 4 weeks and then add to DT.

So, what would you do?

 

[Diesel]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-quarantine.189815/

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fish-and-treatment-guidelines-with-chart.283450/

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ich-eradication-vs-ich-management.188775/

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-dos-and-don’ts-of-quarantine.203898/

 

[Maritimer]

I recently did exactly the same thing on a larger scale, upgrading from a 65 to a 220.

Chose option #4.

~Bruce

 

[LuckyPhil]

Option 4.
I did TTM and left the DT fallow.
Just another tip, get all the corals/inverts that you want or plan to have and count the fallow time from the last wet item you introduce.

Worst thing would be to treat and finish the fallow period and then introduce a coral a month later to find the parasite back into your tank.

 

[lotekfish]

Option 4 it is. Last night was the fourth night in a row I spent reading about treating ich. I'm still not crazy about the idea of using Cupramine but since I don't know for sure it was ich I'm not sure it's worth doing the tank transfer method. I thought also about now being the time to add new coral to the fallow tank, so maybe there is a bright side to this. I'm also planning on adding another couple of small fish, goby or blenny, to the 20g and thinking maybe I should get them now too and put all four fish through QT with cupramine at the same time. I'm a little worried about that- having four newish fish in a 10g for a month with little in the way of hiding spots other than pvc, but maybe worth the risk instead of monitoring copper levels for two 30 day periods.