Should I QT my clownfish?

Nelve · Jul 16, 2020

In May of 2019 I set up my first reef tank which was a 20 gallon. After the cycle I introduced two clownfish, 4 small frag plugs and a CUC. about a month later I made the mistake of not doing any kind of QT and I ordered a watchman goby online. It looked fine in the bag and I put it in my tank. Fast forward a few days I notice the goby and my clowns are covered in ich. The goby ended up dying, but surprisingly my clowns survived. Since then the clowns have never shown any signs of ich and nothing has been introduced to the tank at all. No more CUC, fish, coral, anything at all. Is it possible that the ich could still be in the tank dormant after a year of no signs?

I set up a Red Sea Reefer 525 about 2 months ago and it just finished cycling. This time I am doing a QT for anything that goes into the tank, but I already moved my clownfish and 4 corals into the tank not thinking that the 20 gallon could possibly still have ich. Should I move my clowns to a QT tank to make sure the ich dies off? If so how long should they sit in the QT to make sure the ich has died off?

WIReefer · Jul 16, 2020

Nelve said:
In May of 2019 I set up my first reef tank which was a 20 gallon. After the cycle I introduced two clownfish, 4 small frag plugs and a CUC. about a month later I made the mistake of not doing any kind of QT and I ordered a watchman goby online. It looked fine in the bag and I put it in my tank. Fast forward a few days I notice the goby and my clowns are covered in ich. The goby ended up dying, but surprisingly my clowns survived. Since then the clowns have never shown any signs of ich and nothing has been introduced to the tank at all. No more CUC, fish, coral, anything at all. Is it possible that the ich could still be in the tank dormant after a year of no signs?

I set up a Red Sea Reefer 525 about 2 months ago and it just finished cycling. This time I am doing a QT for anything that goes into the tank, but I already moved my clownfish and 4 corals into the tank not thinking that the 20 gallon could possibly still have ich. Should I move my clowns to a QT tank to make sure the ich dies off? If so how long should they sit in the QT to make sure the ich has died off?

It’s most likely the tank and fish have ich still I personally would treat the fish in a qt and get rid of it. You said earlier that the fish were covered in ich? Are you sure it was ich and not velvet?

Nelve · Jul 16, 2020

WIReefer said:
It’s most likely the tank and fish have ich still I personally would treat the fish in a qt and get rid of it. You said earlier that the fish were covered in ich? Are you sure it was ich and not velvet?

It actually may have been velvet, but I just assumed it was ich. I didn't realize how similar the two look. The fish were covered in white dots all over them and the goby died really fast.

New&no clue · Jul 16, 2020

If you plan to QT going forward I would recommend QT and treating your clowns, and letting your tank go fallow for 76/78 days. If you are ready to get another fish, depending on your QT size I would do them all together. This will cut down on cost (don't have to medicate twice) and time.

Big G · Jul 16, 2020

Nelve said:
The goby ended up dying, but surprisingly my clowns survived. Since then the clowns have never shown any signs of ich and nothing has been introduced to the tank at all.

Sorry for the loss of your new Goby. But it's not unusual for clowns to be "the last man standing" in a tank. They seem to be able to withstand the parasites sometimes. And then they are carriers as the parasites tag along within their gills.

Nelve · Jul 16, 2020

New&no clue said:
If you plan to QT going forward I would recommend QT and treating your clowns, and letting your tank go fallow for 76/78 days. If you are ready to get another fish, depending on your QT size I would do them all together. This will cut down on cost (don't have to medicate twice) and time.

I am setting up my 40 gallon QT this weekend. I will go ahead and QT the clowns and maybe another fish at the same time. I appreciate it

.

Nelve · Jul 16, 2020

Big G said:
Sorry for the loss of your new Goby. But it's not unusual for clowns to be "the last man standing" in a tank. They seem to be able to withstand the parasites sometimes. And then they are carriers as the parasites tag along within their gills.

From what I've heard they are very hardy little fishies! I am going to go ahead and QT them and leave my DT fishless to make sure the parasites are no longer present. I would hate to QT and introduce new fish if there is a chance the DT already has parasites in it.

Big G · Jul 16, 2020

Nelve said:
From what I've heard they are very hardy little fishies! I am going to go ahead and QT them and leave my DT fishless to make sure the parasites are no longer present. I would hate to QT and introduce new fish if there is a chance the DT already has parasites in it.

I QT all incoming fish, corals, inverts, macro algaes to avoid problems. It's nice having a boring, healthy tank. But it does take some of the fun out of just impulse buying.