Quaranteen tank/ICH/new fish opinions

Discussion in 'Fish Tank Brands and Kits' started by Jeffrey750, Apr 19, 2007.

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  1. Jeffrey750

    Jeffrey750 Astrea Snail

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    Hi all, i've just started ich attack treatment two days ago. I just lost my 6 year old maroon clown.. Question being is that I only have 3 fish now in my 55 gallon reef now. I'm wanting another fish or maybe even two to finish. I do not use a quaranteen tank, I just don't have room for another tank. Would anyone agree to add the next fish at the end of the ich treatment while there is still meds in the tank or should I wait till everythings all clear? Seems like it took me monthes to get my water crystal clear and now it's dark brownish cause of the meds, wish me luck!
     
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  3. omard

    omard Gnarly Old Codfish

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    Whooh...slow down...sounds like your current tank is a quarantine tank now.

    Recommend you don't add any fish till you are sure ich problem solved, then maybe after some serious water changes. & all water params check out.

    Did you recently add other/new fish before outbreak?

    Good luck,

    OmarD :worried:
     
  4. a1amap

    a1amap Astrea Snail

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    I agree slow down. Is this a fish only tank? There are some cool options if it is.
    I recently received a fish from a fellow reefer and it is the only fish that I didn't QT. Never again. I had ick in my mane tank from this fish. After 6 weeks of QT in Hypo-salinity and an antibiotic for a secondary infection on my Hippo Tang. I put them back in the main tank. A 10 gallon qt tank is a small investment to ward off a big problem.
    Needless to say I would not add these new fish. Even after you finish the ick treatment, if you didn't get it all, ick can re-appear. I would wait an additional 4 weeks after you finish your ick treatment to be sure its gone. A lot of fish die from ick and/or the treatment. Why throw money away and gamble with the new fish.
    Al
     
  5. Black_Raven

    Black_Raven Scooter Blennie

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    It will be a big mistake if you dont remove your fish from your tank and treat them appropriately. Plus your main tank will never be ich free if you dont leave it fallow for 10-12 weeks and sometimes this does not work as ich can remain dormant. Remove your fish and raise the temp to 82-83F and leave the lights off as much as possible and let it go without fish for 10-12 weeks.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 23, 2007
  6. Jeffrey750

    Jeffrey750 Astrea Snail

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    I guess there's alot I don't understand about a quaranteen tank. They say transporting fish is stressful, new surroundings which breaks down ammune system. Bring home fish stressed out from already fish store stressed out, put in small tank. Fish is better for a number of weeks and you stress him out again? As for reef, what about corals? They need light. Quaranteen tanks don't use light? Do I quarenteen every frag I buy? When starting and building a reef tank how many quarenteen tanks do we need? ICH lives in water with fish, which float in the same water as these frags and corals we buy. The only things i've added in the last few month's were frags of coral which I place in by hand after acclimating, using no water from fish store. Month's ago I did leave the tank fallow for about ten weeks due to ich and set up a quarenteen tank which was succesful. Do most people quarenteen corals? Raven, you say ich can remain dormant? So after qarenteeing? Do they wake back up? Will I infect the fish when putting them back in? Me all confused, Does ich only host on fish? Or can they host on snails, shrimp and anything else that lives in our live rock? Any input is greatly appreciated, Jeff
     
  7. Black_Raven

    Black_Raven Scooter Blennie

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    Ich only infects fish. Ich can be dormant in live rock and substrate and any changes in the tank or adding new fish can bring them out of the dormant state. It may also be in a state of equilibrium where just a small amount of the organism is active where the fish can fight it off. But any stress in the tank such as adding a new fish makes it more virulent and causes an explosion of ich reproduction. I dont believe that putting fish in a small QT tank stresses them out any more. In fact, I do a FW dip on all my new fish and then QT for 2 weeks. I've also begun to treat with low dose copper or Life Guard with Halo Shield. I've never lost a fish due to this process and I keep rather difficult fish like Moorish Idol's, Copperbands, Powder Blue Tangs and Flag Fin Angel. I've also stopped buying live rock and now only buy dead reef rock so I dont introduce any other parasites. Once you go through a parasitic infestation and lose hundreds of dollars of live stock you become very paranoid about introducing any thing into your tank.

    Check out Wetwebmedia, Aquarium, Pond, Marine and Freshwater Fish, reef tanks, and Aquatics Information and do a search for marine ich or crytocaryon.

    As far as corals are concerned, it is not a bad idea to QT them as well as they can introduce other parasites. All you need is a 5g tank and a small PC light for corals. I dont QT my corals but I've been thinking about doing so or doing some sort of dip on them before introducing them to my tank.
     
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  9. Jeffrey750

    Jeffrey750 Astrea Snail

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    That's funny you mentioned live rock, That was the last thing I added. I grabbed some really small pieces at 5lbs just to fill in and hold some corals. That's what also introduced me to the asterina starfish-which is now a little dried out-lol. Thanks for the replies