Ich infestation in display tank and QT tips request.

[major_727]

Hi,

[BACKGROUND]

I have been keeping FW fish for over a decade but this past December, I stepped into SW Fishkeeping. I had a 55G freshwater converted to SW tank and I recently sized up to a 120G RedSea peninsula reef tank (LPS+SPS). Last week, I added Ebili Angelfish, Flame Angelfish, Longnose Butterfly fish, Midas Blenny, and cleaner Wrasse into the tank after 10 days of QT. Additonally, at the moment I also have Sailfin Tang, Tomini Tang, Flame Hawk, Fire fish, Starry Blenny and Yellow Tail Damsel (+ lots of CUC, 3 emerald crabs, 2 Cleaner Shrimp, 1 Lettuce Nudibranch). I also had a Royal Gramma, that suddenly got ich (after adding the new fish) and died in the next few days.

Yesterday, it took me three hours to get those fish from the display tank and put them back into the 55g hospital tank. The 55g shouldnt have ich in it since I usually blast that tank to over 95*F for over 72 hours every time the tank is empty. I also used the Hydroplex dip on each fish for 10 mins and ich seem to have fallen off mostly all fishes and added stress guard solution in the 55G before going to sleep. As of today, all the fishes are eating normally and dont seem to be too stressed or hurt from hydroplex dip.

[CURRENT SETUP]

The 120G currently only has corals & inverts in it + UV filtration + 80*F temperature & sand bed substrate + Live rocks.
The 55G currently has all the fish with 30G water in the tank. + UV filtration + Aqua Culture Blue gravels & some artificial decors (not sure what the material is) + 2 sponge filters

[QUESTION/ HELP]
I intend to plan on using the Copper Power Cu treatment for the fishes in the 55G. But my question is that how long should I wait so that I can make sure the ich population in the main display tank is eradicated before adding the fish back? This has led into a paradox since longer I wait for ich to die, longer the fish are in the QT with no proper filtration -so i need to perform more water changes (since there are 11 fish now total). Also, if I wait longer for ich in the display tank to die out, that will leave fishes exposed to higher copper level in the QT tank. How would you address this issue? Any help, tip, or suggestion would be of great help. Thank you.

Also, should I remove the Aqua Culture Blue gravels & artificial decors from the QT tank before starting Cu treatment?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi,

[BACKGROUND]

I have been keeping FW fish for over a decade but this past December, I stepped into SW Fishkeeping. I had a 55G freshwater converted to SW tank and I recently sized up to a 120G RedSea peninsula reef tank (LPS+SPS). Last week, I added Ebili Angelfish, Flame Angelfish, Longnose Butterfly fish, Midas Blenny, and cleaner Wrasse into the tank after 10 days of QT. Additonally, at the moment I also have Sailfin Tang, Tomini Tang, Flame Hawk, Fire fish, Starry Blenny and Yellow Tail Damsel (+ lots of CUC, 3 emerald crabs, 2 Cleaner Shrimp, 1 Lettuce Nudibranch). I also had a Royal Gramma, that suddenly got ich (after adding the new fish) and died in the next few days.

Yesterday, it took me three hours to get those fish from the display tank and put them back into the 55g hospital tank. The 55g shouldnt have ich in it since I usually blast that tank to over 95*F for over 72 hours every time the tank is empty. I also used the Hydroplex dip on each fish for 10 mins and ich seem to have fallen off mostly all fishes and added stress guard solution in the 55G before going to sleep. As of today, all the fishes are eating normally and dont seem to be too stressed or hurt from hydroplex dip.

[CURRENT SETUP]

The 120G currently only has corals & inverts in it + UV filtration + 80*F temperature & sand bed substrate + Live rocks.
The 55G currently has all the fish with 30G water in the tank. + UV filtration + Aqua Culture Blue gravels & some artificial decors (not sure what the material is) + 2 sponge filters

[QUESTION/ HELP]
I intend to plan on using the Copper Power Cu treatment for the fishes in the 55G. But my question is that how long should I wait so that I can make sure the ich population in the main display tank is eradicated before adding the fish back? This has led into a paradox since longer I wait for ich to die, longer the fish are in the QT with no proper filtration -so i need to perform more water changes (since there are 11 fish now total). Also, if I wait longer for ich in the display tank to die out, that will leave fishes exposed to higher copper level in the QT tank. How would you address this issue? Any help, tip, or suggestion would be of great help. Thank you.

Also, should I remove the Aqua Culture Blue gravels & artificial decors from the QT tank before starting Cu treatment?

You should treat the fish for 30 days with copper power. I would also run a praziquantel fluke treatment following that. Then, keep your display tank fishless for at least 45 days at 81 degrees, but 60 days is safer.

If the decorations are calcium based, they need to be removed before treating with copper, otherwise they are fine.

 

[JoeMars]

Lowering the salinity may help as well. Fish can tolerate lower salinity than most inverts(including parasites) can. I wouldn't lower the salinity more than .002 ppm per week though, otherwise it may be too much of a shock.

 

[Lonster00]

Hi,

[BACKGROUND]

I have been keeping FW fish for over a decade but this past December, I stepped into SW Fishkeeping. I had a 55G freshwater converted to SW tank and I recently sized up to a 120G RedSea peninsula reef tank (LPS+SPS). Last week, I added Ebili Angelfish, Flame Angelfish, Longnose Butterfly fish, Midas Blenny, and cleaner Wrasse into the tank after 10 days of QT. Additonally, at the moment I also have Sailfin Tang, Tomini Tang, Flame Hawk, Fire fish, Starry Blenny and Yellow Tail Damsel (+ lots of CUC, 3 emerald crabs, 2 Cleaner Shrimp, 1 Lettuce Nudibranch). I also had a Royal Gramma, that suddenly got ich (after adding the new fish) and died in the next few days.

Yesterday, it took me three hours to get those fish from the display tank and put them back into the 55g hospital tank. The 55g shouldnt have ich in it since I usually blast that tank to over 95*F for over 72 hours every time the tank is empty. I also used the Hydroplex dip on each fish for 10 mins and ich seem to have fallen off mostly all fishes and added stress guard solution in the 55G before going to sleep. As of today, all the fishes are eating normally and dont seem to be too stressed or hurt from hydroplex dip.

[CURRENT SETUP]

The 120G currently only has corals & inverts in it + UV filtration + 80*F temperature & sand bed substrate + Live rocks.
The 55G currently has all the fish with 30G water in the tank. + UV filtration + Aqua Culture Blue gravels & some artificial decors (not sure what the material is) + 2 sponge filters

[QUESTION/ HELP]
I intend to plan on using the Copper Power Cu treatment for the fishes in the 55G. But my question is that how long should I wait so that I can make sure the ich population in the main display tank is eradicated before adding the fish back? This has led into a paradox since longer I wait for ich to die, longer the fish are in the QT with no proper filtration -so i need to perform more water changes (since there are 11 fish now total). Also, if I wait longer for ich in the display tank to die out, that will leave fishes exposed to higher copper level in the QT tank. How would you address this issue? Any help, tip, or suggestion would be of great help. Thank you.

Also, should I remove the Aqua Culture Blue gravels & artificial decors from the QT tank before starting Cu treatment?

Went through this last year when I introduced a new male clownfish to my Biocube setup when the male mysteriously went missing. I quarantined him for a month but stupidly didnt add Copper Power to the quarntine tank ( wont ever do that again). Needless to say, the female immediately got sick although the male didnt and she got ich and died rather fast. I let the tank with all of the corals and invertibrates run fallow for 88 days at 83 degrees to ensure that nothing could be left when I reintroduced another mated pair of Clowns. I just had another incident last week after getting a shipment of Blue leg crabs and snails from Reef Cleaners. I had three baby clowns from that original pair that I was keeping. Exactly three days after introducing the supposedly clean crabs and snails, all three baby clowns died and were all in seperate tanks. Nothing was added or changed in any of the tanks. Im assuming it was Brooklynella (Clownfish Disease) as no other fish have been affected. Now all tanks are being treated with Ruby Red Rally Pro. Cant believe I will have to quarantine a clean up crew in the future. Just assumed they never had contact with fish and were quarantined an appropriate amount of time but they were not. Havent contacted Reef Cleaners . Com yet.