Completely getting rid of ich?

getting a QT set up and want to know a few things about ridding a tank of parasites/other. What is the best treatment for ICH to rid it from the tank. can it get into the rock or harm inverts? how long will i need to QT an effected fish to give the DT time to heal? Also how long to QT a new fish to add to DT?

Is a 10 gal QT suitable to add fish to a 55Gal DT

 

Diet add garlic and vary the diet as much as you can. cleaner shrimp will also help controll it. Do you have inverts? If not you can lower the salinity to 1.020 for 6-8 weeks. I have went as low as 1.018. The fish will be fine, but this would kill your inverts.The thing is you now have ich in your dt tank. If you can't lower the salinity in your dt, then you will have to get a cleaner shrimp, make sure your fish are very healthy before adding to your tank, and try fish wich are not as prone to ich (no clowns-mandrines) This is what I would do. I am sure their are others, who have different oppinions. Hopfully you'll hear from them to.

 

There are a few misconceptions here that need to be cleared up. First of all, lowering salinity to 1.020 or even 1.018 will not kill ich. It may harm corals/other inverts, but will NOT kill ich. In order for hyposalinity treatment to kill ich, you would need to slowly lower your salinity to about 1.010. Obviously this could only be done in a quarantine tank (QT), since if you did it in your display tank (DT) it would kill all your inverts. It would need to be held at 1.010 for at least 3-4 weeks, then slowly raised back up to normal again.

Another possible (proven) treatment for ich is a copper-based medication, such as Seachem Cupramine. This would be used for about 3 weeks in a QT, then removed totally by large water changes. You would need to keep all your fish in QT for at least 8 weeks (absolutely NO fish in your DT to let all the residual ich die out), and after 8 weeks you could re-introduce them.

These 2 methods, hyposalinity or copper, are the only proven methods of ridding your fish of ich. Other treatments have much more iffy results, especially the so-called "reef safe" treatments.

For new fish, if you want to be certain they have no parasites, I would quarantine them with copper for 2-3 weeks and then add them to the tank. If you only quarantine them with no medication, you have no guarantee that they have no parasites hiding to affect your whole tank.

 

thank you. . How about marine velvet. is either one worse to have than the other. is the treatment the same? can it get into the rock or harm inverts? how long will i need to QT an effected fish to give the DT time to heal or get rid of the parasites? Also how long to QT a new fish to add to DT and be sure it doesnt have anything wrong?

Is a 10 gal QT suitable to add fish to a 55Gal DT