Removing fish from Dt due to ICH, need advice on starting my hospital tank please.

[WienerDog]

Tomorrow morning I am goin fishing. First, I am filling up a 55g with a wet/dry filter. My questions are:

1. Can I fill 1/2 of the 55g with my DT water since I am going to be treating it? The other 1/2 filled with newly made salt water, as well as doing very regular water changes?

2. What should I treat the hospital tank with?

3. My fallow 90g DT has a sump with chaeto and some inverts, should I leave them be while fallow for 8 weeks?

Any personal tips you've done or experienced would be awesome. Thanks guys. I am really discouraged as my tank became infected with the very first fish I added. My tank is not strong enough to deal with ich, just too new. The only option is to quarantine my fish aand let the DT fallow.

[WienerDog]

anyone share their experience with me?

[jcw]

Personally, I would just fill the QT with tap water/salt and treat with the chlorine remover, turn the powerheads or cannister on, wait a few days, add the fish, and do subsequent water changes with the ro water.

Currently, I'm doing 2 gallon daily changes on the 55g with RO water.

I really am impressed with how SOME of the fish are taking to hypo. My bellus angel and 3 of the anthias appear to be thriving. The bellus even looks to be growing visibly since I got him after almost being dead from ich and the transfer to QT.

That said, a couple did not do well and died. 2 chromis and an anthias.

I've used copper but probably 20 years ago. Good thing about it is that the treatment period is shorter. However, you're still stuck in QT for 6-8 weeks while the DT is fallow. I've heard that fish lose their appetite in copper more frequently as well. IMO, losing appetite in a QT is almost a death sentence.


No problems with inverts and chaeto in the DT. The life cycle of the ICH MUST include a fish host otherwise it dies.

[WienerDog]

Personally, I would just fill the QT with tap water/salt and treat with the chlorine remover, turn the powerheads or cannister on, wait a few days, add the fish, and do subsequent water changes with the ro water.

Currently, I'm doing 2 gallon daily changes on the 55g with RO water.

I really am impressed with how SOME of the fish are taking to hypo. My bellus angel and 3 of the anthias appear to be thriving. The bellus even looks to be growing visibly since I got him after almost being dead from ich and the transfer to QT.

That said, a couple did not do well and died. 2 chromis and an anthias.

I've used copper but probably 20 years ago. Good thing about it is that the treatment period is shorter. However, you're still stuck in QT for 6-8 weeks while the DT is fallow. I've heard that fish lose their appetite in copper more frequently as well. IMO, losing appetite in a QT is almost a death sentence.


No problems with inverts and chaeto in the DT. The life cycle of the ICH MUST include a fish host otherwise it dies.
So, you believe hypo is the best bet as opposed to cupramine? I will try hypo. I am setting up my tank tomorrow. Should I plan on adding some rock from my sump into the HOB filter? What should be in my HOB filter, ie: sponges, poly, etc.

[jcw]

I think putting LR into hypo might cause some die off and maybe a small ammonia spike which would be bad in QT. If you let it cycle for a month before fish it might work. But the general consensus around here is no LR.

That means that you WILL get ammonia at some point during this QT. Particularly if you quarantine several fish and feed normally.

Always be prepared to do 2 or 3 successive daily 20% changes if the ammonia gets too high. (I say 20% because I'm using a 55g too and a 30-40% single wc is more RO than I can make in a day.)

Also consider using salt that mixes up with as little ammonia as possible. I think Tropic Marin was low. Instant Ocean (which I've been using) mixes with some of the highest amount of ammonia.

Have amquel ready. And a way to use polyfilter and/or carbon if the need arises.

I add zoecon and vitamins and garlic to my food. Probably a waste of time, but it makes me feel like I'm doing something.

What wet/dry filter are you using exactly? Remember the smallish ones at the fish store (whisper, aqueon, marineland) are never going to be good enough for saltwater. Even though they are rated for 70+ gallons.

Do you have another way to mechanically filter the water in your setup? How about aeration? a HOB skimmer would be ideal but costly.

I'm guessing that in a 55g, hypo might be easier. Trying to drip enough copper in a biggish tank might be difficult. I don't know.

[WienerDog]

I think putting LR into hypo might cause some die off and maybe a small ammonia spike which would be bad in QT. If you let it cycle for a month before fish it might work. But the general consensus around here is no LR.

That means that you WILL get ammonia at some point during this QT. Particularly if you quarantine several fish and feed normally.

Always be prepared to do 2 or 3 successive daily 20% changes if the ammonia gets too high. (I say 20% because I'm using a 55g too and a 30-40% single wc is more RO than I can make in a day.)

Also consider using salt that mixes up with as little ammonia as possible. I think Tropic Marin was low. Instant Ocean (which I've been using) mixes with some of the highest amount of ammonia.

Have amquel ready. And a way to use polyfilter and/or carbon if the need arises.

I add zoecon and vitamins and garlic to my food. Probably a waste of time, but it makes me feel like I'm doing something.

What wet/dry filter are you using exactly? Remember the smallish ones at the fish store (whisper, aqueon, marineland) are never going to be good enough for saltwater. Even though they are rated for 70+ gallons.

Do you have another way to mechanically filter the water in your setup? How about aeration? a HOB skimmer would be ideal but costly.

I'm guessing that in a 55g, hypo might be easier. Trying to drip enough copper in a biggish tank might be difficult. I don't know.
I opted against the wet/dry. I am going to use an old AquaClear 70 and I am gonna drop an airstone in there for surface oxygenation. Still really worried about being able to keep up with the hypo treatment. Gonna set the tank up today and see how it goes. I may be able to wait a few days.

[jcw]

Hypo in a 55g is easy. Not enough evaporates to change the spec grav that much.

IMHO, that aquaclear is not gonna be enough on a 55 unless you have 4 of them. I had two of them on a 30g. :(

If price is an issue, I'd do what Sk8R recommends. A Maxijet powerhead ($25?) in a CD case packed with some poly-fil foam.

Did you read her sticky about qt at the top of the forum?

Best of luck!

[Tat2demon]

I did the same thing a month ago but went with Cupramine instead. Other than having to test the copper levels every couple days it was pretty easy.

Its a spare 75g, 2 Marinland Penguin filters, a heater, pvc and some bioballs floating on the top. I dont know if the balls were necessary but I think they helped a lot in the long run. I also have 2 Seachem Ammonia Alert badges. I wasnt sure if I could trust ujust one so the other is just for redundancy. Normal ammonia tests wont work with Cupramine.

The first week or so I was doing daily 20g water changes until my bioballs caught up.

I have about 5 weeks to go on my DT sitting fishless. The 8 week mark was originally going to me May 6 but I added some corals and snails into it 2 weeks ago without QTing them so Im extending it by a couple weeks.

After this, everything will be QTd for 6 weeks and all fish will get a mandatory Cupramine treatment.


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/Tat2demon/Tank/DSC01992.jpg

[WienerDog]

Hypo in a 55g is easy. Not enough evaporates to change the spec grav that much.

IMHO, that aquaclear is not gonna be enough on a 55 unless you have 4 of them. I had two of them on a 30g. :(

If price is an issue, I'd do what Sk8R recommends. A Maxijet powerhead ($25?) in a CD case packed with some poly-fil foam.

Did you read her sticky about qt at the top of the forum?

Best of luck!

I did the same thing a month ago but went with Cupramine instead. Other than having to test the copper levels every couple days it was pretty easy.

Its a spare 75g, 2 Marinland Penguin filters, a heater, pvc and some bioballs floating on the top. I dont know if the balls were necessary but I think they helped a lot in the long run. I also have 2 Seachem Ammonia Alert badges. I wasnt sure if I could trust ujust one so the other is just for redundancy. Normal ammonia tests wont work with Cupramine.

The first week or so I was doing daily 20g water changes until my bioballs caught up.

I have about 5 weeks to go on my DT sitting fishless. The 8 week mark was originally going to me May 6 but I added some corals and snails into it 2 weeks ago without QTing them so Im extending it by a couple weeks.

After this, everything will be QTd for 6 weeks and all fish will get a mandatory Cupramine treatment.


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/Tat2demon/Tank/DSC01992.jpg
Thank you for sharing that with me. If I decide to go cup, I may get in touch with you. Hope you dont mind.

[Tat2demon]

Not at all. Always happy to share my experiences.