We need help
This may be long...
We have been members for a while now but this is our first post. We are not new to this hobby but at the same time are still learning. We have a 35gal "mean" tank (I'll explain on request), a 160Gal tank which we use to culture our own liverock from Rocky Mountain Tufa, and our display, a 65Gal reef tank which has been home to our two clowns and unfortunately a small collection of fish that didn't survive ich.
A few months ago we ran into ich after introducing a blue hippo. Later we found out the LFS had already treated the hippo for ich but not until we saw it in our own tank first. We removed all the fish and placed them in QT following strict procedures to maintain healthy environment levels and what not. Our clowns were the only fish to survive. We kept them in the QT for a total of six weeks and didn't introduce any new fish to our display for several months.
Now we have a brown powder tang that is covered in ich. We do not want to set up a QT because we don't believe it makes sense. We understand we can't treat our display tank with cupramine and we don't want to but think of it this way: If Ich is caused by stress which lowers immune systems in fish, what good does putting that same fish in a situation where it is forced to acclimate to new environment levels in a tank with a fraction of the buffering capacity as the one it is comfortable in? QT, in our experience equals one stressed fish, no matter how many pvc club houses you make for them.
The other thing that is frustrating is people using the word "proven"; "strategy A is the only proven way." Nothing is proven. You can read posts from 98,2002,04, all the way to today.. they all disagree and agree about the same things they disagreed and agreed about a decade ago. What has been learned?
We have begun increasing the temperature in our display. Is garlic a good choice? Any thoughts on our choice not to QT? Any help would be great. We are not setting up our QT.
Thanks,
Bryan and Shalane
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