Ich

Reeferwab

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Just gettig back into hobby, so while in process of setting up QT, testing water for the three bigges, NH3, NO2 & NO3, Im killing time coming out on R2R and reading the latest and greatest post. So the one subject that has caught my attention and interest, are fish diseases - especially Ich. In all the years I was in the hobby prior to getting back into the hobby, thank goodness, I never had an outbreak of Ich. Maybe because I relentlessly Quarintine everything before adding to my DT. Never the less...
So as I read through these post, I always find the most recommended course of action is to pull out all fish from DT and put in QT, treat with copper while in QT leaving DT fallow for 70+ days to rid DT of Ich. What a long and stressfull process for fish as well as for the fish keeper. That would scare the begeavies out of anyone with half a brain causing them to think twice about getting into the hobby or just pack everything up and get out of the hobby. Sorry for the tangents, Got to do something while I wait.
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Well it appears to me that In many response's it is assumed that everyone keeps a QT handy in case of such events when a prize fish gets sick.. For many, I would think that isn't in everyones budget or have the added room for a QT. But the thought occured to me, that most probably loose their prize fish because of not having the resources for having a QT which leads me into my question.. If someone doesn't have a QT on hand and takes the steps as described in hopes of saving their prize fish, Where do you get the cycled water to put in the QT? I can only think, that if you have a big enough DT - 100+ gallon, you could pull from the DT as if your doing a 20% water change. That way you have a 20 gallon DT right off the get go.. But then the question that comes to mind is, Doesn't that water already have Ich which potentially just continues the difficulty of helping the fish?

Curious as to responses I get from this.
 

Jay Hemdal

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Just gettig back into hobby, so while in process of setting up QT, testing water for the three bigges, NH3, NO2 & NO3, Im killing time coming out on R2R and reading the latest and greatest post. So the one subject that has caught my attention and interest, are fish diseases - especially Ich. In all the years I was in the hobby prior to getting back into the hobby, thank goodness, I never had an outbreak of Ich. Maybe because I relentlessly Quarintine everything before adding to my DT. Never the less...
So as I read through these post, I always find the most recommended course of action is to pull out all fish from DT and put in QT, treat with copper while in QT leaving DT fallow for 70+ days to rid DT of Ich. What a long and stressfull process for fish as well as for the fish keeper. That would scare the begeavies out of anyone with half a brain causing them to think twice about getting into the hobby or just pack everything up and get out of the hobby. Sorry for the tangents, Got to do something while I wait.
Back to the post:
Well it appears to me that In many response's it is assumed that everyone keeps a QT handy in case of such events when a prize fish gets sick.. For many, I would think that isn't in everyones budget or have the added room for a QT. But the thought occured to me, that most probably loose their prize fish because of not having the resources for having a QT which leads me into my question.. If someone doesn't have a QT on hand and takes the steps as described in hopes of saving their prize fish, Where do you get the cycled water to put in the QT? I can only think, that if you have a big enough DT - 100+ gallon, you could pull from the DT as if your doing a 20% water change. That way you have a 20 gallon DT right off the get go.. But then the question that comes to mind is, Doesn't that water already have Ich which potentially just continues the difficulty of helping the fish?

Curious as to responses I get from this.

The trouble with setting up a QT using tank water is that the vast majority of the nitrifying bacteria are NOT in the water, but living on surfaces. Using existing tank water to set up a QT has little benefit. The very best way to do this is to have a good sponge filter operating for a few months in your DT and then using THAT to establish the biofilter in your QT. You can also move some live rock over, but that poses problems in that carbonate rock interferes with copper treatments. In an emergency, you can use bottled bacteria cultures, but those don't always work to keep the ammonia levels at bay.

The best defense is a good offense, here is our quarantine protocol:

Here is a link to a disease presentation that I made (you need to download the PDF file on the right of the screen:

Jay
 
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Reeferwab

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The trouble with setting up a QT using tank water is that the vast majority of the nitrifying bacteria are NOT in the water, but living on surfaces. Using existing tank water to set up a QT has little benefit. The very best way to do this is to have a good sponge filter operating for a few months in your DT and then using THAT to establish the biofilter in your QT. You can also move some live rock over, but that poses problems in that carbonate rock interferes with copper treatments. In an emergency, you can use bottled bacteria cultures, but those don't always work to keep the ammonia levels at bay.

The best defense is a good offense, here is our quarantine protocol:

Here is a link to a disease presentation that I made (you need to download the PDF file on the right of the screen:

Jay
Was hopeing for a positive response such as this. Love it. Thanks for th links
 

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