Quarantine entire DT

[aaron23]

@Humblefish
Thank you for all of the great info you've provided for QT'ing. I've diligently read through your stickies and have a few questions to ask.

I purchased new fish a few times over the past several months and ich is bothering me more than my fish that are infested with ich.

Current tank mates 40 gallon NUVO:
1x 3" midas blenny
1x 3" rosy wrasse
1x 1" neon goby
1x 1" yellow assessor
3x 1" blue streak cardinals

I want to QT all of my fish at once. I'm purchasing a 16gal NUVO as a QT.
Question:
1. Is this way too many fish to put into a 16 gal nuvo?
2. Will my only concern be to do more frequent water changes to keep parameters stable?
3. We can use the Display tank water for water changes? Since the QT is medicated, do we have to use fresh mixed salt water each water change after the first initial setup?
4. lastly, all of these medications, dont they kill off all of the bacteria on the sponges?

I was thinking of purchasing ceramic balls placing them in my display and then using them for the QT. I will pick up an ammonia alert and i will go through 3 types of medication on all fish as a precaution.

-prazipro, cupramine or chloroquine phosphate, and maracyn two.

Can you think of any questions I'm missing lol

Thank you again.
A

 

[alyee5]

As for the QT protocol, I would avoid using anything from the infected DT in the QT. Fresh saltwater and seeding with bottled bacteria would be the way I would go. I guess one could argue that if the fish are infected it would be ok to take bioballs and water from the DT to start, but certainly don't use the DT water for subsequent water changes for sure. IMO the 16 gallon tank would be too small for all those fish. You will have to QT them for up to 76 days or so as you keep the DT fallow I'd want a larger QT to keep things more stable.

As for the medication part, I'll leave that to the experts on this forum...

 

[aaron23]

thanks for the reply alyee, im limited for space living in a 300 sqft apartment in NYC. the 16 gal nuvo has two corner slots i can use ceramic laden bacteria balls inside and then on top i can use and dispose of filter floss. its an all in one unit with a glass lid and return pump. i dont have to worry about buying anything else which is why i decided to go with that size.

But if the water is being treated with medication, all of the ich for example would be dead? It wouldnt matter if the water is coming from the infected display tank?

 

[alyee5]

oops...just noticed you were directing your questions to @Humblefish...:D

 

[aaron23]

im open to listening to everyone lol not just humble fish :) @alyee5

 

[alyee5]

My understanding that copper treatments both need correct levels of copper concentration and duration of the treatment...if you have to do a waterchange with infected water during the treatment period...this can essentially reset the clock...let's see what the more experienced say...

 

[bif24701]

@Humblefish
Thank you for all of the great info you've provided for QT'ing. I've diligently read through your stickies and have a few questions to ask.

I purchased new fish a few times over the past several months and ich is bothering me more than my fish that are infested with ich.

Current tank mates 40 gallon NUVO:
1x 3" midas blenny
1x 3" rosy wrasse
1x 1" neon goby
1x 1" yellow assessor
3x 1" blue streak cardinals

I want to QT all of my fish at once. I'm purchasing a 16gal NUVO as a QT.
Question:
1. Is this way too many fish to put into a 16 gal nuvo?
2. Will my only concern be to do more frequent water changes to keep parameters stable?
3. We can use the Display tank water for water changes? Since the QT is medicated, do we have to use fresh mixed salt water each water change after the first initial setup?
4. lastly, all of these medications, dont they kill off all of the bacteria on the sponges?

I was thinking of purchasing ceramic balls placing them in my display and then using them for the QT. I will pick up an ammonia alert and i will go through 3 types of medication on all fish as a precaution.

-prazipro, cupramine or chloroquine phosphate, and maracyn two.

Can you think of any questions I'm missing lol

Thank you again.
A

I'm going to save you a heck of a lot of trouble, since you know you have ich (crypto). I suggest doing hypo. It is far and away the best treatment for crypto, less stress full, less guessing with medication levels, less testing, effective!, and you can use prime or safe for ammonia control (though I would limit this to emergencies). (Corrected/edited the following: 16 gallon would be adequate.)

Control/test your salinity at 1.008-1.009 with a trusted calibrated refractometer.

 

[aaron23]

I'm going to save you a heck of a lot of trouble, since you know you have ich (crypto). I suggest doing hypo. It is far and away the best treatment for crypto, less stress full, less guessing with medication levels, less testing, effective!, and you can use prime or safe for ammonia control (though I would limit this to emergencies). Try to find a larger aquarium if possible.

the new blue streak cardinals have fin issues too lol

 

[bif24701]

the new blue streak cardinals have fin issues too lol

What kind of fin issues?

 

[aaron23]

their fins are kind of tattered. and my rosy wrasse is missing a piece of his back tail

 

[bif24701]

their fins are kind of tattered. and my rosy wrasse is missing a piece of his back tail

That doesn't necessarily indicate another disease

 

[aaron23]

That doesn't necessarily indicate another disease

understood but better to treat all at once than to miss it and regret it later?

 

[Humblefish]

Hypo is a good treatment for ich, but it doesn't always work. One reason is hypo resistant strains of ich do exist (study done by Yambot in 2003.) Another reason is difficulty in execution: You must use a perfectly calibrated refractometer while doing hypo and an ATO is advisable in order to always keep the SG @ 1.009.

 

[aaron23]

Hypo is a good treatment for ich, but it doesn't always work. One reason is hypo resistant strains of ich do exist (study done by Yambot in 2003.) Another reason is difficulty in execution: You must use a perfectly calibrated refractometer while doing hypo and an ATO is advisable in order to always keep the SG @ 1.009.

@Humblefish

Is it okay to do the full 3 medication treatment on all of the fish? As a precaution as well?

Any questions for me before I begin seeding my ceramic? Anything I should be aware of?

This is my first QT and my only hand full of times treating fish and with not much success. So I'm just a bit worried about removing them from DT for so long

 

[bif24701]

@Humblefish

Is it okay to do the full 3 medication treatment on all of the fish? As a precaution as well?

Any questions for me before I begin seeding my ceramic? Anything I should be aware of?

This is my first QT and my only hand full of times treating fish and with not much success. So I'm just a bit worried about removing them from DT for so long

There is an one article some where demonstrating ich surviving every know treatment and procedure. Hypo is the one with the least of all the problems associated with the other treatments.

 

[bknapp]

I would think instead of seeding your ceramics in DT water I would seed them in freshly mixed salt water with a good amount of a bacteria product such as Dr. Tim's would be a safer/better alternative. And I would lean towards copper over hypo (unless you can get some CP) and I would use a chelated copper such as Mardel Copper Safe (Amazon carries it) especially with a wrasse in the mix. Just remember while treating these fish they need 30 days in therapeutic range 1.5-2ppm with chelated) and the DT needs to remain fallow (adding no new livestock) for a minimum of 76 days.

Be sure to have an ammonia badge and a power head to help add oxygen via surface agitation. Add the copper slowly, it takes me almost a week to get to full therapeutic range. However, if the fish quit eating that could cause an even longer delay.

I keep a white board over my QT where I keep important notes, such as addition dates, dosing dates, water change dates and most importantly the test results. You're going to have to be deligent with the copper testing. And if you do water changes while treating with copper be sure to dose the new water with copper BEFORE addition to the QT.

Its definitely a test of patience but it'll reward you in the long term, best of luck.

 

[geemanaz]

Watch BRS new video good tips
But got say all tanks have Ich no matter if you OT or not. It will get in your tank some how best is to keep water clean and feed fish

 

[bknapp]

Cyrpto isn't there unless you put it there.

 

[aaron23]

@bknapp thank you for the write up. It's much appreciated. I will do this very diligently and hopefully it'll turn out just fine.

I'm wondering, after doing 76 day QT, can you run some kind of cuprisorb or something to that effect to remove the copper maybe with several weeks of DT water changes and make that QT into another tank?

 

[aaron23]

@bknapp lastly, if fish stop eating do you pause the treatment and...what do you do? Try feeding different types of food?