Setting up QT... and general questions about treating fish

helitaiwan963

helitaiwan963

New member
Hey guys,

So my dad just called me about my small hippo tang... it's probably only about 1.5" right now and my dad just spotted 3 little white ich things on it's body...

well i have a 10gal tank and my dad will be going to buy some more water to fill it up tonight or tomorrow morning. It's a bare 10gal and i have a hob filter for it. I told him to cut a piece of 3" pvc piping i know we have in the garage and clean it out and put it in the tank for the fish to hid in.

anyway, does that sound ok for a QT and to be using freshly setup water, not sure if i need a cycle for a QT... but i need to get the tang out of the DT before the ich spreads... I'll have a hob filter for gas exchange/filtration and it's got a little hood with a light on it so the fish isn't living in the dark... would that work or should i put in another powerhead?

Also, what have you guys used as far as medication for treating ich that has proven to work. I haven't looked into how much medication is but something affordable would be a plus too.

Any other tips/advice on treating the fish or setting up the QT would be awesome.


Thanks
Eric
 
You don't need to wait for a cycle and you can use fresh RO. If your HOB hasn't been running and doesn't have biological filtration started you will need to kep an eagle-eye on ammonia and be ready to do wc's (possibly daily) until the bacterial filtration is established. There are only 2 100% proven effective ich treatments, copper and hyposalinity treatments. (Copper is cheap and readily available at your lfs.)
 
so do i go to any lfs and ask for any copper medication for marine ich? Any specific brand? i just need to know as much specifics as possible as i'm not gonna be there in person.

also, what if i just took a old bag of carbon that's been sitting in my sump and put that in the hob, would that help the biological filtration?
 
EricTheRed said:
You don't need to wait for a cycle and you can use fresh RO. If your HOB hasn't been running and doesn't have biological filtration started you will need to kep an eagle-eye on ammonia and be ready to do wc's (possibly daily) until the bacterial filtration is established. There are only 2 100% proven effective ich treatments, copper and hyposalinity treatments. (Copper is cheap and readily available at your lfs.)
Click to expand...

The transfer method is also been proven to be effective.

Copper treatments (if memory serves me right) can be harmful to tangs. Do some research on it before using it.
 
Copper if used properly is only potentially harmful to smoothe skinned fish like sharks, puffers, etc. Some fish are more sensitive to copper but if you utilize the proper therapeudic dose (as low as .2ppm) it won't be an issue. Some fish that are sensitive would be butterflies, angels, and some Tangs as Brenda mentioned (I have successfully treated all with copper).

Hypo is good too but extremly difficult to regulate in most of the smaller tanks that we use for treatment. Just a few hours above 1.009 and the entire treatment could be rendered innefective.

Tank transfer method, well that you would have to be crazy to trust without being able to see the fish, water, and parasite on a microscopic level to see if it actually worked. Just my opinion though.

Whatever you do just don't treat with any reef safe medications, vitamin c, or garlic and expect to actually kill any parasites. You may mask the symptoms but if you are going to use those you might as well skip QT and use those homeopathic remedies right in the DT.
 
SkullV said:
Copper if used properly is only potentially harmful to smoothe skinned fish like sharks, puffers, etc. Some fish are more sensitive to copper but if you utilize the proper therapeudic dose (as low as .2ppm) it won't be an issue. Some fish that are sensitive would be butterflies, angels, and some Tangs as Brenda mentioned (I have successfully treated all with copper).

Hypo is good too but extremly difficult to regulate in most of the smaller tanks that we use for treatment. Just a few hours above 1.009 and the entire treatment could be rendered innefective.

Tank transfer method, well that you would have to be crazy to trust without being able to see the fish, water, and parasite on a microscopic level to see if it actually worked. Just my opinion though.

Whatever you do just don't treat with any reef safe medications, vitamin c, or garlic and expect to actually kill any parasites. You may mask the symptoms but if you are going to use those you might as well skip QT and use those homeopathic remedies right in the DT.
Click to expand...
thanks ted. thats very specific. my dad purchased some copper medication already. now he tried to catch the fish yesterday without luck... so he went to the lfs to buy a even larger net so hopefully we'll have more luck...

he's put the old bag of carbon in the QT already so hopefully the biological filtration will be started already.
 
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