Quarantine fish with ich

[Justincasha]

Hi guys i need some help . About 2 weeks ago I bought a fox face( rabbit fish) which after 4 days in the QT showed up some white spots, about 5 days ago I bought a hippo tang which is in a separate QT,this one had also showed up 1 white spot aswell.now my concern is about the best way to treat these fellas before Moving them to the DT.I was hoping to use seachem paraguard or use the tank transfer method, my question is,should I treat them individually in separate QT or can I treat them both in the same tank?

[Deinonych]

I prefer tank transfer method for treating cryptocaryon, as it is about as close to 100% effective as you can get. You can treat them both in the same tank(s) provided they aren't too large. I use 20gal tanks for TTM personally.

[Justincasha]

No they're quite small actually. So I will start this procedure tomorrow, is it a must to transfer this fish every 3days in the mornings? Thanks for your replies

[Deinonych]

It doesn't have to be in the morning - you just need to make sure that transfers occur within 72 hours of each other. Transfer on days 1 (initial transfer), 4, 7, 10 and 13 (final transfer).

[Justincasha]

The only thing I can't seem to understand when it comes to this parasite life cycle is: I buy a fish that is perfectly fine with no ich parasite visable, put it in a quarantine tank with 100% ich free water and between 1-3 days ich is visable on the fish! What is going on there? How come the fish have ich in 1-3 days?! :-/

[HumbleFish]

Originally Posted by Justincasha

The only thing I can't seem to understand when it comes to this parasite life cycle is: I buy a fish that is perfectly fine with no ich parasite visable, put it in a quarantine tank with 100% ich free water and between 1-3 days ich is visable on the fish! What is going on there? How come the fish have ich in 1-3 days?! :-/

The "white spots" you see are not the actual parasites (which are invisible). It is excess mucous building up around the "entry points" where the parasites burrow in. In your case, it sounds like the fish was only recently infected with trophonts... so not enough time had passed for mucous to build.

[Deinonych]

Because they were already infected when you purchased them. The feeding stage is usually 3-7 days, and ich doesn't have to be visible to be present. Understanding the life cycle is the key to defeating this pest. TT exploits the life cycle by preventing the formation of cysts and subsequent reproduction. More info on the life cycle here:

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fa164

[Justincasha]

The link isn't working bit I read the ich life cycle here... http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.php I found it rather confusing buying a fish with no visable 'mucus build up' putting it in my qt and between 1-3 days I get visable white spots... Kind of what's going on here? :-) bow it's more clear, a few hrs at my lfs (because i buy fish few hrs after they receive a shipment) was still enough for ich to infect the fish. So tank transfer the fish together from tonight, five times should get me ich free fish right?
Thanks for your help guys

[Deinonych]

Yep. Nice thing about Tank Transfer is that it's pretty much foolproof. Just be sure to transfer every 72 hours and sterilize all equipment between transfers and you're good to go!

[Justincasha]

Taking into consideration that I work on shift basis, it's not always possible to transfer at EXECTLY 72hrs, is a few hrs before or a few hrs after still good? The 72hrs are there so that the parasite will do its feeding stage on the fish and will drop to move on to the next process in its life cycle right?

[Deinonych]

The minimum time frame for excystment is 72 hours. That is, if a trophont drops off the fish and encysts right after transfer, you have a minimum of 72 hours before it replicates and releases new infecting organisms. So if you have vary your transfer time, do it sooner rather than later. You are trying to prevent the free-swimming (theront) stage from forming and reinfecting the fish.

[Justincasha]

Thanks again for your replies. Appreciate your help.