I'm thinking way to much moving and added stress on the fish.
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125gal.Fish Only (Born on 11/25/06)
75gal. Reef Tank (5 yr old)
20gal.Tiny's new home
30gal. Extra high FW angel tank ( 16yr old )I traded for this
5gal. Food tank
At this point the fish would be in QT already. No chasing around to catch. With water parameters identical then it's a simple swoop and into the new tank. Over in a matter of seconds. How stressful can that be?
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150 gal Custom. Born 5/7/07. 50gal, 29gal, 20gal Sumps. 30gal Frag Tank. ETSS 800 Skimmer, Deltec APF600 Skimmer. PFO Solaris Lighting on Display and Frag Tank
My reef is almost 5 years old and I never had an ick outbreak until recently. In the past I never used a QT tank and got lucky all those years. Now I'll always employ the one month quarantine period for new fish. The culprit for my recent outbreak was the new addition of a powder brown tang. It pretty much spread it to the entire tank. Catching all of the fish went somewhat smoothly, but the last fish, a small bicolor psuedochromis, forced me to break down most of my LR. Then after moving them into the hospital tank I ended up losing that psuedo as well as a coral beauty that was the age of the tank. The powder brown tang died before getting around to moving the others.
So, now I've got a large yellow tang and two percula clowns left in the HT. The perculas are also tank veterans and a good size too. I started the hypo process more than a month ago along with copper dosing (I know I should have done just the hypo first, but the case was so severe I was afraid I'd lose them all). They turned around, started eating and looking healthy and looked as though they might be ready to go back into the display.
However, one clown started not eating. After a couple days its breathing became labored (it's not ammonia and I have plenty of aeration). I started a 5 day antibiotic regiment thinking it was an internal infection since no external parasitic signs were visible. When that failed to help I noticed the other clown flashing. This told me the ick wasn't gone yet. After testing for copper and finding zero levels, I decided to redose copper. So, unfortunately I'm looking at another two to three weeks or so of this scenario again.
The only culprit I can think of is the vacuum. After reading through most of this thread I never saw anything about sterilizing vacuums, algae clips, nets, etc. I remember from the freshwater days you should always soak your nets if they're exposed to ick. Since I never used one of those nets I can only blame it on the vacuum or algae clip. All along I kept thinking I should wash them in the dishwasher or something, but was afraid the soap/phosphates couldn't be good. And I thought that if the water dried on the vacuum then the parasite can't live in such a state. Apparently I was wrong.
Do you guys have any advice on how to sterilize those "accessories" or if it's really necessary for SW? I really don't want to buy a new vacuum every time I do a water change. It's frustrating considering I even went to great lengths of cutting up large pads of filter floss for something to clean the algae off the glass and discarding after every use.
Also, since the display tank has been without fish for at least a month, how long am I looking at for this second QT cycle for the fish? Another full month?
So, now I've got a large yellow tang and two percula clowns left in the HT. ...
However, one clown started not eating. ... After testing for copper and finding zero levels, I decided to redose copper. So, unfortunately I'm looking at another two to three weeks or so of this scenario again.
...
Do you guys have any advice on how to sterilize those "accessories" or if it's really necessary for SW? ...
Also, since the display tank has been without fish for at least a month, how long am I looking at for this second QT cycle for the fish? Another full month?
When you use copper, you should test the water at least once a day, every 12 hours is even better. If the copper level is low, it must be brought back up. Do the math and add just enough copper to get back to the effective treatment level. You'll find that copper can precipitate out rather quickly, especially when you first begin treatment.
A FW dip will usually kill any parasites on equipment. If it's something that you really need to kill everything, you can use a bleach solution, but then you must soak it for several days in FW, until you can no longer smell the bleach.
Yes, once the QT has been a problem, you usually need to start counting again from 0.
I had an "Ich" outbreak after I over loaded my tank with fishes. 24 fishes in 1 32 gal, lol! Poor fishes, had to fight for territories. The reason why I got away with this because I have 3 refugiums. A 30 Gal, 10 Gal and 5 Gal. Half of my fishes died because of the Ich infestation.
I got rid of it after I purchased a UV sterilizer. I'm using 15Watt UV Sterilizer running 24/7. Also, I added 2 cleaner shrimp and 1 fire shrimp. The Ich started disappearing and now my tank is Ich free. I also have a chiller and heater to keep my temp stable and set at 78 degrees.
Also, I used Marine-Fish Vital to increase my fishes immune system and appetite. Also, soaked their food with vitamins, Hufa and garlic (GVH Fish Food Soak).
BTW, even if all your fish dies, the Ich stays in the water. Ozonizer is powerful on removing those stuff. I used it before back when I had my 250 gal reef but I had to stop using it. It kept giving me a headache even if I turned it lower.
I never learned my lesson, I started adding fish again. I now have 16, lol!
I missed my Swiss Guard, lol! What a waste!
Also, stay away from live Brine Shrimp. Use frozen ones instead and just soak it with vitamins.
Last edited by ReefNoobian; 06-19-2008 at 10:31 AM.
Reason: add for info...
Generally you need a tremendous amount of UV to kill ick. It is extremely unlikely that a 15w UV unit would be powerful enough to kill ich, at any reasonable water flow rate. Most likely your fish got better because of improved conditions. In oher words, a lot less fish.
Personal I feel that products like Marind-Fish Vital are a complet waste of money, but they are not going to hurt anything. It should be pointed out that Marc Weiss has refused, many times, to disclose any real informations about any of their products. Because of this, many people consider all their products are questionable.
Ozone has it's own set of problems. Like UV, it takes a lot of ozone to kill ick. Ozone is tricky to use. because it's extremely dangerous if free in the air. Ozone should always be used with a skimmer, and the water and air comming from the skimmer must be passed through carbon. Most likely you didn't do that correctly, and thus the headaches.
Having used both UV and ozone in the past, I can say that both have their place, but neither is very good at disease control, when used at typical recommended levels.
On brine shrimp. Live brine shrimp isn't necessarily bad. It depends on the source. However, brine shrimp, live or frozen, is considered a poor food today. It's ok to get a new fish to feed, or as a treat, but for long term success there are many better foods.
Use UV Sterilzer
Linear Mode
