Ich and Quarantine Tank Setup Question

[Caleb423]

Hello everybody,
I recently acquired a Hippo Tang, and made an over zealous newb mistake. I did not have my quarantine tank set up and just added it to my display tank. Two weeks later it is showing signs of ich.
Its tank mates are two pajama cardinals, one diamond goby, one ocellaris clown, cleaner shrimp, peppermint shrimp, emerald crabs, hermit crabs, and some snails.
The tang currently just has two or three visible white spots, but I noticed her rubbing up against the rock last night, but not today. She is eating well and acting normal, actually this is the most I have seen her out and about since she was introduced.

In fear of and ich outbreak and loosing my fish, I got on the ball and am currently setting up the new qt. It is:
20g tall
Aquaclear 30 Hob Filter
100w Heater
160gph powerhead

I have added 5 gallons of water from the main tank and the rest was fresh mix. My main question is about cycling this tank (or lack there of).
The main tank uses a dual element hob filter with dual bio filters. Would it be possible to throw one of the main tanks bio elements in the qt aquaclear and replace it with a fresh one in the main tank? Or would I loose to much bacteria and crash the main tank?

Or am I over reacting and should just observe all the fish, and properly cycle my qt?

 

[melypr1985]

actually since your taking all the fish out, I dont think you'll have a problem with a crash. You've got bacteria in your live rock as well. I think that's a good idea to help your QT cycle a little faster. You'll want to get a Seachem Ammonia Alert Badge to keep track of the ammonia as the regular test kits will read false positives when copper is present. I'm assuming your going the copper route here. You'll probably be doing water changes every other day until it cycles completely. Make sure to leave the display fallow for 76 days to completely starve out the ick in there.

One other thing... I'm concerned about all those fish in a 20 gallon tank. Are all they small?

 

[Caleb423]

Thank you for the quick reply Meredith! I was also some what concerned about the size of my qt, but the fish are rather small at this point. Also you are correct, I will be treating with copper.... or at least that"s the plan!

 

[melypr1985]

Thank you for the quick reply Meredith! I was also some what concerned about the size of my qt, but the fish are rather small at this point. Also you are correct, I will be treating with copper.... or at least that"s the plan!

All righty, just make sure there are plenty of hiding places and the diamond goby might appreciate a small container of sand for him to sift through, but make sure it's contained and not a large amount so that it doesn't effect the copper levels much. Keep a very close eye on the ammonia with that many fish in there and make sure to siphon out any uneaten food before it breaks down. You'll do fine I'm sure and if you have any questions along the way we are always here to help! :D

 

[Caleb423]

Just wanted to post an update and ask a couple more questions.

All of my fish are still in the display tank, as the tang has still been doing pretty well with the exception of one spot of ich that showed up last week. And all other fish show no signs.

So instead of throwing my fish in a uncycled tank and taking a chance on them being killed by an amonia or nitrite spike, I decided to cycle the hospital tank. As mentioned above I used some water from the display tank and also put a piece of filter material that had been sitting in my filter for a couple of weeks.

I had a large turbo snail die in the dt so I decided to throw it in the ht to start the cycle. It has been in there for two weeks and my amonia has never came up (using seachem amonia alert badge).

My question is, was using the media from my dt enough to avoid a cycle (even though it was only 2 weeks)? Or is that one snail just not enough to start a cycle?

Thanks!

 

[melypr1985]

Just wanted to post an update and ask a couple more questions.

All of my fish are still in the display tank, as the tang has still been doing pretty well with the exception of one spot of ich that showed up last week. And all other fish show no signs.

So instead of throwing my fish in a uncycled tank and taking a chance on them being killed by an amonia or nitrite spike, I decided to cycle the hospital tank. As mentioned above I used some water from the display tank and also put a piece of filter material that had been sitting in my filter for a couple of weeks.

I had a large turbo snail die in the dt so I decided to throw it in the ht to start the cycle. It has been in there for two weeks and my amonia has never came up (using seachem amonia alert badge).

My question is, was using the media from my dt enough to avoid a cycle (even though it was only 2 weeks)? Or is that one snail just not enough to start a cycle?

Thanks!

Could be either, though with a rotting snail in the tank I would think you'd see some sign of ammonia. Have you tried using a liquid test kit? Try that and see what happens. You could also add some pure ammonia to the tank and see if you get a reading. If the tank can process 2ppm of ammonia to 0 in 24 hours, then you should be good to go with it.

 

[Caleb423]

Thanks again Meredith! I have added some ammonia to the tank and will watch it for the next couple of days. You have been such a help through out this process!