jbird82

I am new to the realm of keeping a slatwater tank (new to keeping a tank all together) I have a 2 month old standard 55 gal tank with live rock and live sand. My water has been perfect but I keep ending up with dead fish. I have come to the conclusion that I have an ICH problem in my tank, or so I believe. I just killed a tomato clown and 5 blue chromis within 3 days of purchase,bringing a total of $300 in fish gone in like 2 months. Its starting to get frustratin to say the least Now I know I have been doing it wrong without a quarantine tank, so I plan on setting one up before purchasing more fish. My real question is how long does it take for the Itch in my tank to cycle so that I am safe to introduce fish? I have read about cranking up the temp in the tank to speed up the process, but will that affect my live rock, snails, and hermit crabs, as they are the only living organisms I have left. Please help.

Jason

Mike

Hi jbird - as you've already found out, you definitely need to use a quarantine tank for saltwater fish. Putting them in bare bones quarantine for several weeks (3-6) will allow you to treat them for any parasites/diseases that come up. It is cheaper to treat them in a QT tank since there is a less volumn of water and it makes it easier and less expensive to do the frequent partial water changes that are required for sick or diseased fish. They also can build up their strength from less competition for food than they may get in the main tank.

Also, putting any new fish in qt for a month or so will allow your main tank to lie fallow and hopefully rid the tank of ich. Even if it doesn't completely get rid of the ich after a month or so, you fish should be much stronger after being in a qt tank and better able to fight off the infestations/diseases. I'd also recommend looking into getting a cleaner shrimp or two. Smaller fish may not let them clean, but fish 3 inches plus should let them perform their cleaning function.

Once you get your qt up, feed them a high quality diet, perform frequent partial water changes and watch them closely for any signs of disease. Treat as needed.

Quarantine Tank Setup

Mike

Also, cranking up the temp in your display tank to 82-84 degrees F is not a bad idea. Just be sure to increase water movement/surface agitation to help keep the dissolved oxygen levels up for the inverts in the tank. You live rock should do fine with this temp range. The higher the water temp the less dissolved oxygen it'll hold.

jbird82

Mike,

What setup should I use for a qt tank? How many gallons? Define bare bones? What do I need?

Thanks for the response.

Mike

the size depends on what's going to be quarantined. Generally 10 - 30 gallons should do for most smaller species. Agansoo responded to the bare bones and equipment needed question in the other thread.


Mike

bmRboY

I too am experienceing the Ich! I'm thinking of turning up the temp but in this case, I might damage my soft corals... If I go with meds, It might have the same effect.... What about UV filtration? is that any good?

Mike

The UV Sterilizer will not really help with your ich probs (may be a slight improvement) - a UV should help with minor algae problems but they can be hard to fine tune (slow flows) for treating parasites such as ich. I'd get the remaining fish out of the main tank and into a QT for several weeks/months of treatment.

samged

i think i got the ich too... but i do have anemones and star fish.... wud it effect them if i increase the tempreture.... and what kind of medication should i use, to cure this ich...... thanxxxxx

reef freak

Mike would probebly gave better advice, but hey, I've got advice of my own! lol

Don't stress the fish(Medication can do this, and moving to a QT will do it too)
Keep params stable
Feed garlic and vitamin based foods (Formula One works great)
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Thats it. I did this and my tangs ich was gone in 3 days.

IMO, I would only do QT as a last resort.

samged

ppl i got this almost microscopic flees like things swimming around my tank... Only can be seen when u switch off all the power heads n filters... Basically when the water is still... Seems like they r multipin.... Pls help

Mike

Reef geek - but what if you have live rock and inverts in the tank? Some meds could wreak havoc on inverts.

I believe that the best policy for saltwater hobbyists is to put ALL new arrivals into qt for several weeks, possibly longer. Chances are they will come down with something and it's much easier and less expensive to treat them in a qt tank than in a larger display tank. It's easier to do more frequent partial water changes in a smaller volume of water that a qt can provide. You also have a better chance to get them eating something (which can be difficult to do with many marine fish species) without competition from tank mates in the main display tank. Also, if your qt tank parms match the main tanks parameters I don't understand how that would be more stressful on the fish by moving it into a qt tank where you can treat it effectively and get it eating.