QT question

[Baldy]

Hey all,

Not sure if i should even really be asking this but here goes.

Ive got a 75g reef tank thats got ich. i added a kole tang as well as a solar fairy wrasse lately. everything was ok until the kole had an outbreak. it went through the first cycle and dropped off the fish entirely. i pretty much knew that it was going to come back in a week or so, and now here i am, and its coming back.

I have a large kole tang, medium foxface, flame hawkfish, 2 clowns, solar fairy wrasse, and matted filefish. and i only have a 29g QT.

should i risk 8 weeks with all fish in QT, or try letting the ich run its course? i dont have the ability to set up a larger QT atm unfortunately.

[Aquattro]

Unless you have a fully functioning bio filter that can handle all those fish in 29g, I'd try the garlic route and let them fight it off. Even with a filter, I'd probably not put them all in that small of a tank.

[Baldy]

That's what I'm worried about

[daniella3d]

If you really want to get rid of the ick, you could put them in quarantine tank in hyposalinity but you would need to put a lot of cured liverock. This would be your biofilter and avoid ammonia during the hyposalinity treatment. Hypo does not kill the biofilter in the liverock, so there is no cycle really. I did this often and no problem. Liverock must be fully cured and free of coral of course. The type of liverock that we keep in a sump is often ideal.

Catching the fish is usually the problem. During quarantine, only a very small light is needed, no need to have a strong light.

[Baldy]

I thought the dieoff on the live rock would put the system through a cycle?

[Aquattro]

A 29g tank full of rock isn't going to leave a lot of room for all those fish. I just see that as a disaster in the making.

[Baldy]

So if i were to buy a bigger tank for a QT, i have 2 choices. either buy a 180g now which is what i was planning on moving up to, or buy a 55g or close to for a dedicated QT. I want something that is big enough to QT tangs in the future. maybe not full size, but would a 55g or another 75g be big enough to QT larger tangs for 8 weeks? im planning for the future here, and a 180 is a lot of salt to be doing regular water changes on as a QT

[chi]

Tangs are notorious for ich outbreaks. Qt the tangs. And when you reintroduce it back to maindisplay. Use utmost caution and the best acclimation procedures (minimal stress, low light, drip acclimate . Etc etc). Borrow a uv sterilizer or purchase one or increase water change frequency. They help in addition to regular water changes. Hopefully it can fight off the ich.
The ich lifecycle is really a hit or a miss. Some people have 99.9% success rate for 8 weeks of fallow tank. But some with only ten days of fallow. Then there are the poor bastards who waits for that 99.9% 8 week fallow period and still get hit with ich. Then there are people who gives them garlic and vitamins and they appear to gain "immunity". Ich is always going to be there wih the garlic and vit method. Its as us living along with the common cold. No biggie
But in my experience. Garlic. Fallow for two weeks and uv with 10% water change twice a week rid of it entirely.

Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk 2

[Baldy]

I checked with bog als and I can get a 55 for a decent price. Have a canister filter and heater, light, ECT already so I think on going to get that and qt all the fish and do hypo. Let the tank go fallow for.12 weeks just to be damn sure. I i just have to decide if a 55 is big enough or if it's worth the extra 125$ to go with a 90. No 75s in stock unfortunately.

[George]

Originally Posted by TheNewGuy

I checked with bog als and I can get a 55 for a decent price. Have a canister filter and heater, light, ECT already so I think on going to get that and qt all the fish and do hypo. Let the tank go fallow for.12 weeks just to be damn sure. I i just have to decide if a 55 is big enough or if it's worth the extra 125$ to go with a 90. No 75s in stock unfortunately.

If just for QT, I will buy the 55 g. 55 g and 90 g have the same length. save the $125 for other things.
Good luck!

Originally Posted by chi

Tangs are notorious for ich outbreaks. Qt the tangs. And when you reintroduce it back to maindisplay. Use utmost caution and the best acclimation procedures (minimal stress, low light, drip acclimate . Etc etc). Borrow a uv sterilizer or purchase one or increase water change frequency. They help in addition to regular water changes. Hopefully it can fight off the ich.
The ich lifecycle is really a hit or a miss. Some people have 99.9% success rate for 8 weeks of fallow tank. But some with only ten days of fallow. Then there are the poor bastards who waits for that 99.9% 8 week fallow period and still get hit with ich. Then there are people who gives them garlic and vitamins and they appear to gain "immunity". Ich is always going to be there wih the garlic and vit method. Its as us living along with the common cold. No biggie
But in my experience. Garlic. Fallow for two weeks and uv with 10% water change twice a week rid of it entirely.

Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk 2

There are different strains of marine ich. Although their life cycles are basically the same, the time spent on tomont stage (the reproductive stage) is different from strain to strain. And the strains infecting our fish have longer and longer tomont stage over the years. I remember when I first started marine fish many years ago, the recommended fallow time is 4+ weeks, and then 6+ weeks, and then 8+ weeks, now 11+ weeks.
I don't recommend just letting marine ich running its course. And I don't believe in letting our fish suffer with marine ich over and over again. There are proven ways to get rid of marine ich in our tanks. Garlic, vitamin, UV are not the ways.