That Darn Ich!

Sure enough the first time I didn't quarantine my fish came down with ich. Or at least I assume so by the spot on my tang's fin, and my puffer looks like he had salt sprinkled on him. My question is can I set up a small quarantine tank to keep these guys in & dose them without it having been set up previously and cycled? I've got a biowheel HOB filter that might have some nitrifying bacteria on it that I can transfer to the quarantine, and have thought about transfering some of the sand bed in the hopes that it also had colonies. Maybe some of the live rock? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

 

Cant wait to see what the pros say here.......will be interesting!

 

i would research this more, but i heard puffers are sensitive to copper since they have no scales

 

obviously the puffer thing may impact how you treat this, but you can start with garlic dip for the food.

 

Hmm, that would be bad. I'll see what I can find. Thanks!

Do you think they could survive an uncycled new quarantine tank? I've heard of people that only put them together when they get new fish.

 

a puffer like your avatar now as its probably to big for most qts to take the load and not get dangerous levs of ammonia.

but if push comes to shove you can always put like 5 airstons in it and do a triple dose of prime every couple of days.

 

Since the immune system and defenses are already down, I don't think it would survive an uncycled tank. For now, just try the garlic food dip like sostoudt stated above. Also, add some vitamins to the diet.
HTH

 

the problem is that the ich will still be living in the dt for weeks after you treat those fish, so quarentine now may not be a great option. You can try raising the temp of the tank for now and if you aren't already can try to use some garlic on the food, hopefully these will help raise the fish's immune system and help fight off the ich.

Best of luck,
Jake

 

I wouldn't transfer sand/rock if you'll be using meds like copper since it can pull the meds into it.

Do you have some sponge material in your current filter setup you can take from to start the QT tank (besides your biowheel)? Also, may be a challenge to get the cycle going because you'll probably be doing frequent water changes, which delays the cycle, at least that's what I experienced setting up my QT tanks.

 

@Fish76: Good point about the copper! I don't have any other sponge or host materials in my filter besides the filter cartridge.


Have any of you guys used garlic before? How do you use it? My puffer refuses to eat flake so dropping on flake is probably out. Can I dose the tank directly?

So, raise the temp, and supplement with garlic & vitamins. Would hyposalinity and/or freshwater dips be worthwhile or do you think that would stress him out too much?