Do you treat for Ich in QT, even if there's none?

[DracoKat]

Do you treat for Ich in QT, even if there's none visible on your fish? As a preventative? Or do you only treat if you visibly see something?

 

[kevindo123]

Rule of thumb is QT for 3 weeks if there are no signs of disease then you are good to put into your DT. You do not need to treat the fish with meds if there are no signs of it. Depending on fish (Angels and some wrasses), some people dose prazi pro as preventative for flukes and you can also feed food soaked with focus+metroplex to de-worm the fish for two weeks (feed every other day, follow the label).

 

[kevindo123]

If you follow QT process, you have to do it for all your livestocks. Once you get ich in your DT (like I did) , it is hard to get rid off. Your fish will need to live with ich for a long time.

 

[dragon99]

I have, and will continue to, treat all new fish prophylactically for Ich. Observation is still critical and so maybe it's not the first thing treated, but Ich is not something I ever want to introduce to my DT.

 

[monkiboy]

yes, I treat prophylactically with copper or CP and praziquantel with fresh water baths to determine if flukes are present. symptoms aren't always present on fish carrying ich or velvet so prophylaxis especially with the seemingly increasing populations of velvet going around at the wholesale level really is helpful in providing one's best chances at success.

 

[DracoKat]

thanks all. seems like varying opinions here.

I treated with Prazipro to be safe. not sure if i want to do copper since they're wrasses.

 

[cmcoker]

Use TTM for prophylactic ich treatment on wrasses, no chemicals involved.

I would quarantine 6 weeks minimum, if they came from a medicated system this can suppress signs of disease and it can take a month for ich or velvet to show.

 

[DracoKat]

my LFS said they treat their tanks with copper. so that makes sense

 

[BoneXriffic]

I think it would be smart to treat in qt.

I had velvet take my dt due to not using a qt.. now i have 2 immune clowns and a damsel... consider i gave you those fish and you qt with out treating. They may never show signs of velvet but will carry ot into your dt

 

[Humblefish]

Use TTM for prophylactic ich treatment on wrasses, no chemicals involved.

I would quarantine 6 weeks minimum, if they came from a medicated system this can suppress signs of disease and it can take a month for ich or velvet to show.

^^This. You can also dose Prazipro during transfers 2 & 4 in order to deworm the fish. All other diseases will show obvious physical symptoms during the post TTM observational period. Or if symptoms of velvet, brook, infection, etc. show whilst doing TTM you can add chemicals to the water to treat for these.

 

[melypr1985]

Use TTM for prophylactic ich treatment on wrasses, no chemicals involved.

I would quarantine 6 weeks minimum, if they came from a medicated system this can suppress signs of disease and it can take a month for ich or velvet to show.

+2 combine with prazipro

 

[4FordFamily]

I have, and will continue to, treat all new fish prophylactically for Ich. Observation is still critical and so maybe it's not the first thing treated, but Ich is not something I ever want to introduce to my DT.

x2

Especially if you plan to keep difficult level fish or even acanthurus tangs and more fragile angels you'll want to treat proactively.

Honestly, these days somewhere between 1/3 and 2/3 of all fish are carriers for a parasite in this hobby right now with ich, velvet, flukes, and intestinal worms being the primary culprits. I wouldn't risk it one bit. I've seen ich, flukes, and even velvet not appear on hardier fish in qt to immediately spread to fish after 4 weeks or more of observation on many occasions.

IME many wrasse are especially resistant to even deadly strains of velvet. I suspect that the mucous cocoons they sleep in or the fact that they sleep under the sand keeps their infection minimal and they can build immunity and resistance whereas other fish get a 24/7 onslaught. Many also have very thick slime coats. I've had halichoeres and leopards survive even the worst velvet outbreaks for months without showing any symptoms, short of the occasional scratch in some cases. Some gobies, mandarins, and other fish have varied degrees of resistance as well primarily due to slime coat. As soon as they go in the display tank the fact that they were carriers becomes very apparent and you and your fish are very unhappy.

 

[DracoKat]

thanks everyone! I decided after the second dose of Prazipro, I'll do a low dosage of copper.

 

[4FordFamily]

thanks everyone! I decided after the second dose of Prazipro, I'll do a low dosage of copper.

Low dose won't help it needs to be at the therapeutic dose for 30 days or it won't help do anything but slightly subdue it. It'll still carry it.

 

[DracoKat]

i mean to start low and up it a bit each time

 

[monkiboy]

IME many wrasse are especially resistant to even deadly strains of velvet. I suspect that the mucous cocoons they sleep in or the fact that they sleep under the sand keeps their infection minimal and they can build immunity and resistance whereas other fish get a 24/7 onslaught. Many also have very thick slime coats. I've had halichoeres and leopards survive even the worst velvet outbreaks for months without showing any symptoms, short of the occasional scratch in some cases.

+1, this has been my experience helping reefer friends and in qt as well. there are "sleeper" carriers that won't show symptoms at all, even eight weeks in, then once added to a new system or qt will nuke all the other fish out. not worth the gamble.

 

[monkiboy]

i mean to start low and up it a bit each time

great idea. if asymptomatic, then it's great to get them eating very well prior to treatment then begin upping to therapeutic over a week or so.

 

[4FordFamily]

great idea. if asymptomatic, then it's great to get them eating very well prior to treatment then begin upping to therapeutic over a week or so.

Agree

 

[DracoKat]

thanks they are piggies. I feed them frozen food twice a day and they beg for a second helping, lol

 

[RedoubtReef]

I do prazipro and then move to hypo. Once I'm though that and bring the water back up to normal salinity, I do one more round of prazipro and I'm done so long as no disease/parasite shows up in that process.