I made a big mistake, and now my QT is ruined

[Seahorse man]

I was at petco looking for a heater on Friday afternoon, and saw a little bangaii cardinal. I have been looking for bangaii's for a while and decided to purchase him. I looked at him, and he looked healthy and swam fine, but the glass was coated in a little algae, so I got him. They wrapped him up in his plastic bag and then put him in a black bag too. I make the hour and a half transit back to my house, acclimate him, them put him in the tank. I keep my QT glass spotless at all times, and when I popped him in there, I could see what I purchased. He had fins that were torn to shreds and was coated in white spots(not regular bangaii white spots). I quickly tried a freshwater dunk, but he started thrashing around after about 45 seconds, so i put him back in the tank. I woke up next morning to find him dead, as I was expecting.

Was this just regular marine ich? Or was it something different? Or was it a mixture of problems?

Another thing is my QT has 2 chunks of live rock that have now been contaminated, along with the rest of the tank. Is there a way for me to kill of the ich while not killing the live rock?

I'm so confused!

 

[Robink]

Easy way is to just leave the quarantine fishless for 76 days (or a few more,just to be safe). Whatever parasite it was will die.

 

[Seahorse man]

Easy way is to just leave the quarantine fishless for 76 days (or a few more,just to be safe). Whatever parasite it was will die.

Oh, that will make it easy! Thank you!

 

[Palyzoa]

I believe you will need to let the QT tank go fallow (fishless) for 72 days to kill the cycle of ICH. Im not a expert tho so maybe someone else will chime in. @Humblefish

 

[Dr. Reef]

it could be ich or velvet. either way you can leave the tank without a fish for 10-12 weeks and parasite will die off.
on side note i never recommend live rock in a treatment tank. it will absorb medication and release nastys making dosing impossible. use ceramic rings to harbor bacteria and they dont absorb.

 

[Del’s Reef]

Easy way is to just leave the quarantine fishless for 76 days (or a few more,just to be safe). Whatever parasite it was will die.

^This.
Now some will say to just bleach the LR, then exchange it for rock in the sump.

 

[Alexcus simon]

I would get some natural parasite remedies to treat your fish in the qt tank. Make sure you're drip acclimating, but sometimes there is nothing that can be done. I wouldn't have freshwater dipped it so soon as it was already stressed out to begin with, I would have tried to rehabilitate it and get it to eat for a few days and then start treatment.

 

[melypr1985]

it could be ich or velvet. either way you can leave the tank without a fish for 10-12 weeks and parasite will die off.
on side note i never recommend live rock in a treatment tank. it will absorb medication and release nastys making dosing impossible. use ceramic rings to harbor bacteria and they dont absorb.

Agreed ^^

The other way is to break down the QT, sterilize everything, let dry for a few days, then set it back up. Throw the rock away or let it dry out completely for a few weeks and do something else with it. PVC elbows work great in a QT.

 

[Seahorse man]

Will boiling the LR kill everything and make it clean rock?

 

[melypr1985]

Will boiling the LR kill everything and make it clean rock?

Don't boil it. In fact, NEVER boil live rock. Ever. At all. That's how people end up making their entire family sick and sending them to the ER. Simply let the live rock dry out for a couple weeks, then use it elsewhere. Boiling should never be an option.

 

[Seahorse man]

Don't boil it. In fact, NEVER boil live rock. Ever. At all. That's how people end up making their entire family sick and sending them to the ER. Simply let the live rock dry out for a couple weeks, then use it elsewhere. Boiling should never be an option.

Oh, I've never heard that before!Thanks For spreading the message!

 

[Seahorse man]

I had a blue leg hermit in there to, will the parasites get him?

 

[Humblefish]

I had a blue leg hermit in there to, will the parasites get him?

No, corals/inverts can remain during the fallow period.

 

[Dr. Reef]

everything else can stay except fish. ich needs a fish host to go through one of its stages. without fish host it dies over time.

 

[305rob305]

Easy way is to just leave the quarantine fishless for 76 days (or a few more,just to be safe). Whatever parasite it was will die.

In your opinion, I had some ich in my Dt. I have all fish on my qt with Cupramine. So I jacked up my Dt's temp to 86 and running my uv light as well. Can I have it for 30 days instead of the 76?

 

[Tahoe61]

In your opinion, I had some ich in my Dt. I have all fish on my qt with Cupramine. So I jacked up my Dt's temp to 86 and running my uv light as well. Can I have it for 30 days instead of the 76?

Only if you want to live dangerously.

If you've gone to the trouble of QT'ing the fish you might as well complete the process using established methods rather then speculation.

 

[305rob305]

Only if you want to live dangerously.

If you've gone to the trouble of QT'ing the fish you might as well complete the process using established methods rather then speculation.

I didn't want hear that! But yeah same thing I was thinking. Thanks

 

[305rob305]

One last question, I'm going fish less for 76 days but how long should I keep the cupramine in the qt? 21 days and then observe? Thanks

 

[305rob305]

Only if you want to live dangerously.

If you've gone to the trouble of QT'ing the fish you might as well complete the process using established methods rather then speculation.

One last question, I'm going fishless for 76 days but how long should I keep the cupramine in the qt? 21 days and then observe the restof the time? I'm also gonna treat them with Prazi since I have the time... Thanks

 

[Tahoe61]

@Humblefish

I am not current on medication protocol, so I am tagging the big guns.