Ich in DT - Looking for Treatment Advice

Thanks OFK. Shows how bad one mistake can turn out :-/ I was thinking of doing what you said. Copper in the 10 for RG and male Lubbock's, rest in hypo.

 

After reviewing your first post again. I would say you have a good plan Marshall.

Personally Marshall I would treat with copper and then ever thing fallow.

I totally agree with the use of a UV, while it will not eliminate the parasite it should help with the severity of future out breaks.

Hypo can be too hard to maintain at the therapeutic value of 1.008 especially if you do not have a well calibrated refractometer. Then you have to bring the SG back up, which is stressful on the fish and must be done extremely slowly.

 

+1 on copper treatment unless you are very methodical and have multiple QT tanks. When you go with hypo, you won't have any biological filter, so maintaining ammonia levels will rely solely on water changes. With that, you can only have 2-3 fish in that 40. Which means you're now maintaining 2 or more tanks in a hypo environment. In addition, because you're relying on water changes (almost daily), you need to be precise on pH and temp of the incoming water to match the existing water. As Coralline mentioned, you have to be very careful coming back out of the hypo environment. I tried this method because I didn't want to try a "toxic" treatment. Unfortunately with my travel schedule, I wasn't able to do a good job with coming out of the hypo and ended up losing more fish to elevating salinity too fast than I did to the Ich in the first place.

I would recommend against leaving your Goby in the DT. It may not be showing any signs, but it very likely has Ich in its gills. It has a decent immunity to it on its external body, but the parasite will still be in the gills and will spread to the others. If you're determined to fully get rid of it and are going to all the trouble of leaving your DT fallow for 8 weeks, I would go all the way with it.

Good luck on this as I know how frustrating it can be.

 

Good advice Cheryl. Thank you very much for your thoughts and input. I think what I will do is treat all fish with copper in the 10gal, then move them to the 46BF, which I will use a UV unit on. All good points on hyposalinity; I do think I could maintain it as I do have a "good" refractometer that I calibrate every time I use it, as well as an ATO, but I do want to employ the least stressful method possible.

Thanks for your help and advice It is good to hear what people have actually tried, and what went right or wrong vs. just what they read on the internet. And yes, either way the Goby is coming out of the 55. I was only saying that I could not keep him in either the 10gal or 40 gal for very long due to the lack of a live sandbed. I am not sure how he will do for 2+ weeks in barebottom tank :-/ The 55 DT will be fallow for 8 weeks.

 

On that note, what UV systems have people used with success? This will be for a 46 gal tank.

 

Bacteria can live at those low salinities. Some die off when you make the switch, which is probably due to acclimation. But their numbers climb again and the tank will be stabilized after the first week or so.

Like with Dr. Tim's, if you go less than 1.007 , you have to switch to freshwater bacteria. But until that number, you are fine bacteria wise.

 

Renee, so are pro-hyposalinity vs. treating with Cupramine?

 

Options I am finding:

Coralife Turbo-Twist 18W (I don't think the 9W is powerful enough, but correct me if I am wrong!)
Aqua Ultraviolet 200+ 15W (assuming the 8W is not powerful enough)
Aqua Medic Helix 11W (again, not positive if 11W is the right size)

Thanks for any help!

 

That's a hard one. I've never actually used copper, but I don't have anything against it. I plan on trying it at some point. I've used Crypto pro and the Ich has never returned. If I was staring at the 3 options right in front of me, ready to go, I think I'd try copper. I've had a couple of disappointments with hypo recently.

 

Just something to think about Marshal. The majority of wild fish are carrying ick though will seldom show symptoms unless stressed. I know alot of people treat all their fish with copper going into the DT for this reason. I myself don't use a QT right now (knock on wood) but have not seen a spot of ick since April of last year when I introduced my black tang. I used a turbo twist UV and it got better within 4-5 days.
I also would strongly suggest reading this concerning garlic, about halfway down the page.
Feeding Angels to Thrive? - Reef Central Online Community