ICH!!! need help with QT

[cwby416]

I just bought two fish today(sunday) one yellow tang(only 3 inches) and a yellow/white clarkii clown. I guess I learned the hard way not to add fish with out a QT.

My yellow tang has started to show white grains of ICH all over it within 8 hours of purchase.

I have corrals, two shrimp,100lbs lr, 6" DSB, Leather, xenia, and a LTA, so copper is out! my total fish inhabitance is one yellow tang, one clarkii and two scooter blennys. the tang and one scooter blenny are the only ones with ICH so far.

I have gathered from all my searches that I need to get all the fish in a QT and get the Salinity down to 1.009. Wait 30 days then re-introduce to the main tank.

My biggest question is what to put in the QT? I can get a 10 or a 20 gallon tank from a buddy. do I need any lights? filter? Powerhead? LiveRock (that I would toss after the 30 days of coarse)? how long do I have to put one together??

any help is greatly apreciated


~Randy~

[Minnreefer]

While I agree that a QT tank is one of the most efective ways of taking care of ich, have you tried garlic and or a cleaner shrimp? We have had very good luck with the garlic and cleaners. I would recomend doing a search for garlic and read this thread http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/sh...threadid=3830.

As far as your QT goes, all you need is a small tank10-20 gallon and some type of basic filter, heater and something to let the fish hide a bit. I would recomend using water from the main tank to start. HTH

Jon

[Alice]

I'd go for a 20 gallon if you could, tangs don't take well to confinement but if it's a small one and you provide hiding places (PVC pipe or even one of those cutesy plastic or ceramic caves) and keep the tank in a dim, low traffic area, the tang may tolerate it all right.

You'll need to treat with copper or formalin to a theraputic level, you'll need to do frequent water changes that includes scraping all surfaces areas of the tank with a razor to help remove any ich "cysts" before they can hatch. You might want to look at trying the hyposalinity technique too. A quick search on the web, TRT and RC will give you all the info you need and then some

All in all, if you could, I'd try to feed the fish heavy on garlic in the main tank and see if they can kick it. If your water conditions are right on and you keep the stress as low as possible, they may be better off in the main tank than in a QT. Tang's are very susceptible to showing ich when placed in a new system; he may be able to ride it out.

Keep a log though, of the days and amounts of ich the fish are showing. If it seems to be cycling to 20-30 days w/out ich and then breaking out for a week or so, you've got an active population going on and you'll need to remove all the fish to QT's for 4-6 weeks to get rid of it. Ich can't live in a tank if there are no hosts.

Good luck Randy!

Alice

[cwby416]

Good news, I woke up to find all ICH spots gone from both fish!!! I am going to go to the store to get some of the Garlic extract right now and start soking their food in it. Hopefully I wont have to deal with it agian.

On a good note, I totaly forgot about my LTA I bought yesterday. It is in the process of splitting!!!!! wohooo!!!

thanks everyone,

~Randy~