Ich/velvet in reef. need advice!

[Jjd531]

hello I recently picked up a purple tang, within the last month, that now has ich in my 65 gallon reef. I realize reef safe medicines are a waste of time and copper treatment is best.
First im curious if the purple tang could have had ich/velvet and been stressed and gotten it again and if it'll come back after I medicate all the fish? I have a yellow tang that harasses him a little. But let me start off by saying they're small/med and I have plans for a 125 but could this be the cause of its ich? From stress? They are very well fed, seaweed, oceanone flakes daily, and frozen food.

Here is my course of action as of now please steer me in the right direction.
Im not taking any half measures, im going to medicate all the fish. Im going to set up 2 20 gallons to separate the fish into put an hob on the tanks, no substrate. I plan to keep them QT'd for a month, no fish in the display. Is this enough time for the parasite to die in the display? I know there's no treatment other than removing hosts for the parasite so will this be enough time to medicate the fish and clear the display of ick?

And oh my lord for the love of everything holy there is gonna be a DEDICATED quarantine tank after this.
Thanks in advance, Jesse

 

[Tamberav]

Display needs to be fish free for 76 days and you need to be sure not to cross contaminate.

 

[Jjd531]

Display needs to be fish free for 76 days and you need to be sure not to cross contaminate.

Wow, okay, was not expecting that 76 days. From what I read after the parasites are dropped from fish they hatch in hours would they really need that long to die off without hosts in the water? What are the logistics of keeping a qt up and running that long with little to no live rock? What do you suggest for filtration? As in can I get these 2 QT tanks set up in 2 days with live rock and or my hob from my sump? Also by cross contaminate you mean Don't add water from QT to the reef or visa versa correct? Obviously I wouldn't want copper in my main reef display.
Also would any equipment I use be viable for use on the reef again after? Such as my HOB given I clean it and replace media and sponges? Also does bacteria not die off from copper treatments? Do filters work correctly or will frequent water changes be a must?

 

[Tiki Reef Joshua]

Go to the fish disease forum and read the stickies. All laid out for you.

 

[Tamberav]

Wow, okay, was not expecting that 76 days. From what I read after the parasites are dropped from fish they hatch in hours would they really need that long to die off without hosts in the water? What are the logistics of keeping a qt up and running that long with little to no live rock? What do you suggest for filtration? As in can I get these 2 QT tanks set up in 2 days with live rock and or my hob from my sump? Also by cross contaminate you mean Don't add water from QT to the reef or visa versa correct? Obviously I wouldn't want copper in my main reef display.
Also would any equipment I use be viable for use on the reef again after? Such as my HOB given I clean it and replace media and sponges? Also does bacteria not die off from copper treatments? Do filters work correctly or will frequent water changes be a must?

45 days might be ok but longest ich cycle was 76...raising temps can speed it up but depends on what corals you have. It depends how much risk you want to take.

By cross contaminate I mean nothing shared that has not been sterilized. This means buckets... refractometer..tubing... Frozen foods..your hands...etc.. also some evidence that QT needs to be at least 10 feet away from the tank.

Bacteria does not die off but rock absorbs copper so you need to use something else like sponge media or such.

There is a lot of info stickied in the disease forum of how to QT and treat with copper and such. There is a lot that can happen to screw it all up so I suggest reading them as you don't want to start over.