QT procedure - what to do next

[Claus84]

Hi all,

So having had whitespot in my reef which led to the untimely death of Malcolm, my beloved biota mandarin I decided to pull all my fish out and let it go fallow.

Anyway the tank is 30 days fallow out of planned 80, all my fish are coming to the end of 30days in CP and are looking good, however the filter media I used for these QT's has been passed around various quarantines now and originally came from the sump in the infected tank. I would usually start with fresh seeded filter media but I didnt have time given the death of the mandarin and general work/life meaning I can't be having to chase ammonia spikes in QT's all the time at this particular point in time.

I'm conscious that there may be strains of ich present in the filter media which could rear their ugly heads and reinfect the fish after the 30 day CP treatment ends so my question is what is my best course of action before re-introducing all the fish?

1. Re-dose CP for 14 days prior to moving the fish - This is the easiest, less involved approach which appeals at the moment but might it be too harsh on the fish having 2 CP treatments a month or so apart?
   
2. TTM - I have quite a few fish (see below) so this would be a time consuming process involving multiple batches and to complicate things I have a baby due this weekend so time will not be on my side over the next couple of months.
3. I converted 4 saltwater mollies a month ago which have been in QT with my (now deceased) flame angels, they have picked up and are being treated for internal parasites but have shown no signs of any external parasites. I could split these between my other QT's and observe for signs of ich or other nasties as in theory they have never been exposed to this before. This is by far the easiest method but the reliability of it would concern me.

My current livestock is: coral beauty, azure damsels x 3, banggai cardinal, common clown pair, juv majestic angel, juv blueline angel, orchid dottyback, 4 black mollies and the only wc fish in the collection, my kole tang.

Whatever the approach I need to make sure its fairly bulletproof, I did QT everything with CP before moving to my new tank a couple of months ago but was also concurrently running a FOWLR which had whitespot and somewhere along the way cross-contaminated, hence the current outbreak. I really dont want to go through it all again!

Thanks in advance

Nick

 

[ngoodermuth]

Ok, so just trying to get a better idea what you are asking... The filter media in the QT now has been there through the 30 days of CP, correct? Are you planning to transfer now to a fresh QT? Or, are you worried about removing the CP from the current QT and the fish becoming re-infected?

If the fish have been in CP for 30 days, you should be able to remove it with carbon/water changes in the current QT and observe med-free for the rest of your fallow period. If no signs of parasites, during that time... they get to go back into the DT and you are done!

I personally like to give my fish a rally bath during that last transfer as kind of a safety net. It's mild and has both anti-septic and anti-parasitic qualities. But, with 30 days of CP- it shouldn't be necessary...

 

[Claus84]

Thanks for the response, to clarify I'm just concerned that any Ich that may have been in the filter media could reinfect the fish after the 30day CP period is up. Is this a valid concern?
Edit: I did pre dose the Qt with CP before adding the fish of that helps

I'm ultra paranoid as the Ich in my DT was only visible as an occasional spot on my angels but built up in my mandarins gills and suffocated it before I could catch him. So I don't want to to take any risks with the QT.

I can't get rally here in the UK unfortunately, would methylene blue or malachite green be any good?

 

[ngoodermuth]

The chances of ich still being encysted in the tank are low after 30 days of treatment... but not 0%. There is a small chance whatever strain you have, might encyst longer than 30 days (reason behind the 76-day fallow reccomendation). The best way to mitigate this risk is to set-up a second, clean QT (would need fresh media and bio-spira or similar to seed... nothing from your current QT or DT) and transfer the fish from your treatment QT and into the observation QT without diluting or removing the medication first.

At this point (actually, after only 14 days), your fish will be 100% clean, so the risks are purely environmental. Transferring the fish without removing the protective barrier of CP (or copper) removes the environmental risk, and is quite effective.

 

[Claus84]

The chances of ich still being encysted in the tank are low after 30 days of treatment... but not 0%. There is a small chance whatever strain you have, might encyst longer than 30 days (reason behind the 76-day fallow reccomendation). The best way to mitigate this risk is to set-up a second, clean QT (would need fresh media and bio-spira or similar to seed... nothing from your current QT or DT) and transfer the fish from your treatment QT and into the observation QT without diluting or removing the medication first.

At this point (actually, after only 14 days), your fish will be 100% clean, so the risks are purely environmental. Transferring the fish without removing the protective barrier of CP (or copper) removes the environmental risk, and is quite effective.

Hmm a slight complication which I should have made clear is that one of my QT's (coral beauty and damsels) finished 30days of CP a few weeks ago so I removed it, would it be worth re-dosing CP in this tank say 14 days before I plan to put the fish in the DT? The fish would have had a 5 or 6 week break from CP at that point.

Thanks

Nick

 

[ngoodermuth]

I would think it should be ok... but honestly, I've never had to treat with CP twice- so I can't say for sure how much more stressful it would be, or if there are any side effects with consecutive treatments. @4FordFamily and @HotRocks might have more insight...

 

[4FordFamily]

I would think it should be ok... but honestly, I've never had to treat with CP twice- so I can't say for sure how much more stressful it would be, or if there are any side effects with consecutive treatments. @4FordFamily and @HotRocks might have more insight...

I've not used CP twice, but we have used CP and then Copper with no ill effects with CP didn't do the trick (assumedly due to absorption in the media an our current inability to measure it)