treating ich in main tank?

[craazybelly]

i hope someone can help.

so i went to visit my mom and i noticed that she had ich on her coral beauty. she has a 92gl corner tank that i set up for her with around 10 little fishes live rock and sand. some corals but not much. the tank has been set up for aprox 4 month (she recently moved) and installed a skimmer for her like a week ago. now i really dont want to break down the tank to take out the fishes so im looking for an alternative way to cure the ich for her. i was wondering if i remove the little bit of corals she has and take them to a small qt tank that i have (fishes wont all fit in that 10gl qt i have) can i treat her fishes in her main tank by lowreing salinity? please let me know how i can help her. she has had those fishes for about 2 years now and we would hate for them to die. thank you in advance for your help. :twitch:

[MrTuskfish]

Sorry, this is a very common question; but there is no way to cure ich in a tank with inverts/ coral. Its almost impossible to cure in any tank that has LR and substrate. Get a decent QT set up, its a vital piece of equipment and cheaper than the new skimmer. Try Craig 's list. When you cure the ich; use it with all new livestock, or you'll go through this again.

[craazybelly]

well then its settled, im going to have to get my hands dirty on this one. any advice on catching the fishes? i really DO NOT!! want to break down the tank. lol i just set up the darn thing all by myself!! husband not much help. lol

[sandwi54]

you can google for ways to set up fish traps. most people use a half-cut water bottle with food inside to lure the fish, and when the fish goes in take out the bottle and voila!

you will need a larger QT. If all your fish are small, then a 29g is probably enough.

I assume you don't have a cycled biological filter for the QT. If you don't, and if the fish aren't heavily infested with ich, i would wait for four weeks before you remove them into the QT. During these four weeks, put a large sponge in the sump to seed it with bacteria, and use that for the QT when you start the treatment. This way you will have a working biological filter and won't have to do water changes as much. Having to cope with water quality issue and disease treatment can be a big headache so if you can maintain a good water quality with active biological filter, it'll make your days much easier.