Hospital tank set up advice, please comment on plan

[Gooly001]

Hi Tony,

This is my regement for treating ich once I detect it.

-90 gallon QT with Prizm Skimmer (crappy skimmer but works ok for QT)
-IO salt mixed with fresh RO water at 1.018
-Cupramin dosed according to directions for Angels and halfed for -Tangs/Bflies
-Koralia 1050 power head for water movement and aeration
-2" PVC cut to length. PVC is easy to sanitize after the QT period. Don't waste money on LR for QT because most meds will make the LR die and add nutrients to the QT system.
-Mark water level on the QT tank so that you know how much to top off on salinity daily
-If you notice red wound marks on the fish after/during the copper treatment it may be an infection so Methelyene Blue can be added to disinfect. MB is very difficult to overdose so you can use it generously. Just make sure you run an air stone and discontinue skimmer usage
-Temperature should be around 78 degress. Most people recommend upping the temp to make the ich cycle faster but my opinion is to stabilize the fish in the QT before stressing them out by forcing the ich to multiply
-Salinity at 1.018 does not kill the ich but allows the fish to reserve energy from having to work on osmosis. The cupramine will kill the ich over the course of the treatment.
-Getting the fish to eat is the most important thing here. If the fish eat during QT they can battle the disease. If they don't eat after 4-5 days then I find that their chances of survival are greatly diminished. Feed lots and keep water changes up if you do.

Paul

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the replies.

So no to the Aquaclear then? Just water changes every 2 days in an otherwise filterless tank? Should I add a small powerhead for water movement or find an air pump and air stone?

Do I understand correctly that you recommend both SG down to 1.018 and cupramine at half-dosage for butterflies?

And potentially methylene blue? How do I know if this is needed?

Man .. I am totally out of my depth here.

Here is the the thing: they really don't act as if they have ich. No scratching, no loss of appetite. But they are covered with white dots, they look like they have been salted. This comes and goes. I have a UV on the tank as well but it must be completely ineffective (the lamp needs replacing and it's not one I can get locally - it's an AquaUV 57w). It must be ich .. if it was something else wouldn't they be more affected?

They are in the tank by themselves, maybe 2 or 3 snails and a golden dwarf eel. I have been meaning to move the 3 into a new FOWLR I've been setting up but it's nowhere near ready. Once the new tank is cycled I can move the eel over, he's not affected by spots at all. I'm assuming maybe eels have more tolerance/immunity against ich?