how do i treat incoming fish

[Anthony.Luciano710]

ok so this is a topic i have to start thinking about because im restarting my tank and i dont want to get ich again. i have to QT all incoming fish and treat them with copper. my question is, how do i do this. i know some fish can be very sensitive and i know that a QT tank is usually not cycled so i was wondering, doesn't the ammonia go up and stuff. and using copper or hyposainity, isn't the point of that to kill bacteria so do i have to do like daily water changes to keep the ammonia down and stuff like that.

 

[KathyC]

Exactly how many days have you been treating your current fish for ich?

IMO - you should set up a tank for your incoming fish - AND LET IT CYCLE before you add anything to it. Patience is key here. If you cannot be patient enough to do this correctly, you will be flirting with disaster again.

IMO you should NOT treat incoming fish for ANY illness - unless you are 100% sure they are ill and specifically what illness they have.

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

i dont have any fish now. im rebuilding my whole tank from scratch. im just saying. when i get a new fish i do not want ich in the main tank so i need to quarantine it with copper.

Exactly how many days have you been treating your current fish for ich?

IMO - you should set up a tank for your incoming fish - AND LET IT CYCLE before you add anything to it. Patience is key here. If you cannot be patient enough to do this correctly, you will be flirting with disaster again.

IMO you should NOT treat incoming fish for ANY illness - unless you are 100% sure they are ill and specifically what illness they have.

 

[pweissma]

Sorry about your problems. Fish play a vital part of the life cycle of ich. If you cycle your tank for a month (obviously without fish) then your tank will be ich free. Perhaps wait an additional month just to be extra safe.
I totally agree with Kathy in that you should QT all your fish but only treat if they are sick.
You need to play close attention to water quality in a QT tank. To get your bio filter in your QT tank you can keep a sponge filter in the sump of your display. When ready you can use the sponge in your QT. Instead of a sponge filter you can also use the sponge from an HOB filter such as an Aquaclear and then set up the filter on your QT.
Good luck

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

the whole tank was in hypo salinity for a month then i decided to let someone hold my fish and just rebuild the whole system and recycle it and everything. but if i only treat fish i know are sick. how will i know that the fish doesn't have ich. should i just put them in the QT to make sure it doesnt have within like a week and then if it doesn't put it in the DT and if it does put in copper?

Sorry about your problems. Fish play a vital part of the life cycle of ich. If you cycle your tank for a month (obviously without fish) then your tank will be ich free. Perhaps wait an additional month just to be extra safe.
I totally agree with Kathy in that you should QT all your fish but only treat if they are sick.
You need to play close attention to water quality in a QT tank. To get your bio filter in your QT tank you can keep a sponge filter in the sump of your display. When ready you can use the sponge in your QT. Instead of a sponge filter you can also use the sponge from an HOB filter such as an Aquaclear and then set up the filter on your QT.
Good luck

 

[tentacles]

The purpose of a QT tank is to simply observe the fish for a few
Weeks to be sure that it does not have any parasites that weren't visible when you bought it. Treating with copper is a little tricky, and there's no need to put unnecessary stress on a fish that is healthy. Put the fish in QT (AFTER your main tank has finished its cycle, you're moving way too fast) and just look at it. Worry about hypo/copper if/when you have confirmed a parasite.


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[Anthony.Luciano710]

what other parasites do i have to look for besides ich?

The purpose of a QT tank is to simply observe the fish for a few
Weeks to be sure that it does not have any parasites that weren't visible when you bought it. Treating with copper is a little tricky, and there's no need to put unnecessary stress on a fish that is healthy. Put the fish in QT (AFTER your main tank has finished its cycle, you're moving way too fast) and just look at it. Worry about hypo/copper if/when you have confirmed a parasite.


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[JonnyJ]

Setting up a tank that allows you too observe your new purchase is the best option. But it also takes dedication and a lot of work if you ask me. Especially if your dealing with a small tank. [keeping up with evaporation, temps, waterchanges, levels etc can be difficult.]

Another option is to purchase quarantined fish that are eating. There are vendors on here willing to QT. Dom from Diamonds on the reef is one of them, i can vouch for his livestock and even then ICK is still a possibility.

Newer hobbyists normally have the most problems with fighting ICK. I think getting the hang of running a stable system before really stocking a tank is very important..Stress will be your number one reason for ICK outbreaks. Poor setups, Constantly putting your hands in the tank, temp swings, overfeeding. I can go on and on and on.

I think when tangs are involved its almost guaranteed to happen.

I feed all types of food. if you keep your levels stable, feed a good diet ICK normally will pass and your fish will live.

 

[KathyC]

One month in hyposalinity is not long enough to guarantee that your DT no longer has ich. You need to wait at least another 3 weeks or so.

Do yourself a favor and cycle the tank you will be using for QT'ing. There is no sense in putting new fish into an uncycled QT.

You said you gave someone your fish to 'hold', have they been being treated for ich by that person? Do you plan to put them directly back into your tank when you get them back? (I would QT them again first...)

There are quite a few different parasites that fish can get. 3 weeks in a QT should be enough time for you to observe any issues the fish is having. If you see something unfamiliar to you, then post here and we can help advise you.

Also remember that if you start a QT and (for example) put a fish in it this week..and all seems fine and then in 2 weeks you get another fish (1st fish is still in QT..) you will need to keep that first fish in there during the whole period you QT the second one as it could have been exposed to something the 2nd fish has. Best to QT them either all at once, or one at a time.

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

yes the dt was in hypo for a month and 4 days. when i set up the tang wednesday im going to cycle it with no fish for a month. then when i get the fish back from holding i want to QT them so i do not get ich in the DT. i dont know really know how to explain it... i never want to introduce the ich parasite into the system. so i want to treat all new fish with copper for 2-3 weeks so it gets rid of the ich, then i can put it in my dt without having to worry about ich in my dt. so if a tang gets stressed or something it will not get ich because the parasite wont be in the system. do you see where im trying to get at?

One month in hyposalinity is not long enough to guarantee that your DT no longer has ich. You need to wait at least another 3 weeks or so.

Do yourself a favor and cycle the tank you will be using for QT'ing. There is no sense in putting new fish into an uncycled QT.

You said you gave someone your fish to 'hold', have they been being treated for ich by that person? Do you plan to put them directly back into your tank when you get them back? (I would QT them again first...)

There are quite a few different parasites that fish can get. 3 weeks in a QT should be enough time for you to observe any issues the fish is having. If you see something unfamiliar to you, then post here and we can help advise you.

Also remember that if you start a QT and (for example) put a fish in it this week..and all seems fine and then in 2 weeks you get another fish (1st fish is still in QT..) you will need to keep that first fish in there during the whole period you QT the second one as it could have been exposed to something the 2nd fish has. Best to QT them either all at once, or one at a time.

 

[reefs4life]

I have the fish right now and they look perfectly fine to me

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

good im happy to hear that their doing good. but im more concerned about fish in the future. because i dont want to ever introduce the ich parasite.

I have the fish right now and they look perfectly fine to me

 

[tentacles]

so i want to treat all new fish with copper for 2-3 weeks so it gets rid of the ich, then i can put it in my dt without having to worry about ich in my dt.

Kid, there is no reason to treat every single one of your fish with copper for three weeks while it is in QT. In that same time frame, you can observe the fish for signs of ich. There is no need to spend the money on Cu based medications, Cu test kits, salt for water changes, etc. if you have a healthy specimen. Do yourself a favor and read up on treating with copper. It's not simply adding a few drops of medication to the water and calling it a day.

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

no i will observe it for like a week to make sure it doesn't get white spots from ich then if it does i will start the copper. and i know how to use it. i have the copper bottle with instructions of how many drops per gallon and i have a test kit and i know your supposed to go a little above the rating of the bottle by keeping it at .25ppm or higher but never above .50ppm

Kid, there is no reason to treat every single one of your fish with copper for three weeks while it is in QT. In that same time frame, you can observe the fish for signs of ich. There is no need to spend the money on Cu based medications, Cu test kits, salt for water changes, etc. if you have a healthy specimen. Do yourself a favor and read up on treating with copper. It's not simply adding a few drops of medication to the water and calling it a day.

 

[fishman1069]

You keep saying that you never want the ich parasite in your tank. Have you done any research on ich itself? Fish have parasites naturally, just like us humans. Its the immune system that holds back the parasite. A fish can be in QT for 3 months and then put into the dt and if the water params a screwed up in the DT the fish will get ich. If the fish gets stressed out from another fish, its gonna get ich. You think that setting up a QT is gonna 100% protect you against ich, its not! You have to have a stable QT and the perfect environment for the fish in question, in the DT. HTH

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

but if the paasite is never introduced into the system how is going to get to the fish. im starting this tank from scratch basically. so if i dont have ich right now in the whole tank theres not even 1 ich parasite. then i qt the fish and 1 of them has white spots. so i use copper on it and make sure he ich is gone. then how will it ever get into the dt.

You keep saying that you never want the ich parasite in your tank. Have you done any research on ich itself? Fish have parasites naturally, just like us humans. Its the immune system that holds back the parasite. A fish can be in QT for 3 months and then put into the dt and if the water params a screwed up in the DT the fish will get ich. If the fish gets stressed out from another fish, its gonna get ich. You think that setting up a QT is gonna 100% protect you against ich, its not! You have to have a stable QT and the perfect environment for the fish in question, in the DT. HTH

 

[fishman1069]

Its naturally in the fish at all times. The copper only kills it in one phase of its life( the parasite) Ive seen people get rid of ich just by feeding the correct diet with some garlic in it. It raises the fishes immune system which makes the ich go dormant. Its ALL about the immune system.A healthy, stress free fish WILL NOT GET ICH. So, if you provide the perfect, stable environment for them, there is nothing to worry about.

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

oh ok. sorry i just went like overprotective because i got it for the first time and i lost crazy amounts of stuff trying to fix it. i just worry because im sure i can get rid of it from the fish that are already in the tank by helping their immune system like you said but is it the same with new fish coming into the tank?

Its naturally in the fish at all times. The copper only kills it in one phase of its life( the parasite) Ive seen people get rid of ich just by feeding the correct diet with some garlic in it. It raises the fishes immune system which makes the ich go dormant. Its ALL about the immune system.A healthy, stress free fish WILL NOT GET ICH. So, if you provide the perfect, stable environment for them, there is nothing to worry about.

 

[dj ze]

you obviously still have a lot to learn 3 weeks in copper is not long enough to treat ich and your always going to have some sort of parasite in your tank just by doing water changes your introducing parasites when ever you buy corals if you don't quarantine them there's possibilities of introducing them to . just take it slow let your tank mature and i'm not saying a month or 2 it takes time for a system to get stability

 

[fishman1069]

I think you should QT the new fish that you are EVENTUALLY gonna get, but DO NOT treat for anything, just watch them. If you see any abnormal behavior, then you can put up a post and get some feedback on it. I wouldnt jump into treating anything until you have all the information possible on said treatment. I personally dont have a qt tank and I have lost fish due to ich in the past. If I had the room for one I would set it up. You have to do alot of research and dont always rely on the forums for all your info. Its easy to thro up a post and read the advice but you want other sources also. Reqad up on studies that have been done on ich. Try using wikipedia and read the articles about fish immune systems and parasites. It will help to have a solid foundation on which you can base everyones advice on. Good luck dude