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2 new clowns, one has ich.

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clean cleaning clown corner filtration firefish fish gallon heater inverts live percula pump red remove rock salt saltwater setup tank tanks temperature top wanted water changes
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edacsac

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I'm reading that copper and hypo salinity are the only "good" options. I'm not ready to muck around with my salinity. My first water change was almost a disaster.

So if I use copper, what is the absolute minimum I need for a quarantine tank? I have no spare parts, tanks or anything and would have to purchase all of this hopefully in time to treat my fish.

Also, if you treat fish with copper, it sounds like it could be dangerous to your display tank if you put copper treated fish back in?
 
#3 ·
I really like hyposalinity for fish with ich. I take them down to 1.009. You can bring them down quickly but once cured, raise the salinity very slowly.

Raising the temp will speed up the ich life cycle so this also can help. Copper also is a treatment.

I do this for all new fish I get just as a prevention, also helps reduce their stress etc as they adjust after being moved.

This obviously is a QT ONLY treatment and not to be done in a display tank with LR, LS and inverts.
 
Discussion starter · #5 ·
So hypo salinity and temperature alone can take care of ich?

tanglovers said:
I really like hyposalinity for fish with ich. I take them down to 1.009. You can bring them down quickly but once cured, raise the salinity very slowly.

Raising the temp will speed up the ich life cycle so this also can help. Copper also is a treatment.

I do this for all new fish I get just as a prevention, also helps reduce their stress etc as they adjust after being moved.

This obviously is a QT ONLY treatment and not to be done in a display tank with LR, LS and inverts.
Click to expand...
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
Sweet! Thank you!

I just broke down my cherry red shrimp tank (much to the delight of the tetra in the main tank where I moved them) amd wiped it down. Will this tank be ok just rinsed out, or do I have to do any major cleaning to it before I setup the 4077?
 
Discussion starter · #8 ·
I tried to make some 1.009 water with leftover 1.024 water I had from when I set up my tank. I played and tested, played and tested, and after removing some and adding all of my RO water, I could only get it down to 1.016. I have to wait until tomorrow to continue.

One clown is looking pretty rough with all his fins folded in, but the other looks great. No spots, fins all out. I think the sick one has been getting picked on by the healthier one.
 
Discussion starter · #9 ·
I removed the one fish that appeared to have ich and put him in the 10 gallon tank even though the salinity is still at 1.015. I hope I did the right thing. In the tank he's in it's dark, I can't see any spots and now I'm second guessing myself. He's all perky in the tank by himself and his fins aren't down anymore.

He is getting picked on though. I fed a little bit of flake food, and the other clown kinda gets in his way and chases him out. Neither one of them care for rods food. I'm betting on the other fish being stronger and not coming down with ich? I don't think they'd both do well in the 10gal.

I hope I don't kill them with all the turmoil I'm putting them through.

If he is getting picked on, will that eventually stop or will I have to keep them seperate indefinatly? I didn't want to maintain two tanks for any extended period of time. Right now I have a 200w heater (for preparing water) and an air pump in the QT tank. I'm shooting for 82 degrees, and when I get more RO water tomorrow, I'll drop down to 1.009 for 3 weeks.

Also, how do I feed and manage a QT tank with no filtration??
 
#10 ·
Hi

QT tank

Yes no filtration .... feed lightly

Dont worry about the water for a few days

Air as in air pump into the water via a air stone , the meds remove the oxegen from the water

Dude I would never worry about doing 'something'

You needed to do it , your fish was going to die

You are freerolling ....

(not dark , but no tank light either)

J
 
#11 ·
maintain the QT tank with small water changes, with each change syphon all the detris off the bottom of the tank. Poop and rotting food out, clean water in, and you should be good for a while. I would keep the temp in the 79-83 range if at all possible. It you have any type of cover you could put in there for him.. plastic plants, anything non-toxic he could hide in, that would help calm him down. Best of luck
 
#12 ·
We are in the same boat as you, only with firefish. We just got them on Tuesday (a pair) and one of them has 5 spots of ich on it. Just wanted to say "Thanks" for posting your question, and to those who have responded. It saved me from having to post the same question. I do have one question, though:

HOW LONG DO WE KEEP THE SALINITY DOWN???
Thanks.
 
Discussion starter · #13 ·
Well things aren't as sweet as I hoped, and I'm not sure a QT tank was the best choice.

I was going to do the first small water change today, and noticed him at the top of the tank sort of sideways, but swimming. I did an ammonia test and levels where lethal. So I did a 5 gallon water change and got the ammonia down. He's back to hiding in the lower back corner of the tank.

The patient hasn't eaten anything since I setup the tank. I'm going to get some garlic juice this week. I went to the grocery store, but found none.
 
#15 ·
The lowered salinity will kill the ich pretty quickly, it will take nowhere near a month.

Check the nutrients often, the fish are under enough stress with the hypo...you may need to do a water change daily to keep nitrates and ammonia down - they should be zero. But add the new water slowly - a drip would be best:)
 
#16 ·
Also for an FYI, it's a good idea to use Selcon, it is a liquid and just soak some food with Selcon and tank water in a small container, then feed your fish. It really helps with fish issues, my male percula clown had fungal mouth a really nasty bout with it, all I did was use Selcon and it went away. Please use the suggestions in this thread and you might want to add Selcon to help.

Dan
 
Discussion starter · #17 ·
I'd like to get this fish back into the main tank, or he is going back to the store. Will this selcon stuff help outside of a QT tank?

I did a 5+ gallon water change yesterday when ammonia was above 3.0, and it certainly wasn't a drip. I tested afterwards and somehow I was in the 0 range. I take a look this morning and he's lookin all bad again. Started an ammonia test before I got in the shower and it's over 1.5.

I have lots of work and testing today, and won't get home from work until after 10 tonight in the very least, I'm out of RO water (would normally get some from great lakes when they open on Thursday) and I don't know what to do. This poor guy is like a full time job. I'm affraid to feed him at all now that I can't manage ammonia in the tank. Although without any filtration or bacteria I don't know how I expected to in the first place.

The other fish in the main tank is looking great though. Thats why I think the other guy would have a better chance in the main tank. At least the water quality is good in the main tank.

I'm not even sure this guy has ich in the first place. I didn't see spots at the LFS. The only time I seen white spots is when I got him under my tank light, which is pretty intense. Now he is in a bottom shelf tank and I can't get enough light by him to even see if he still has spots. I do see one of the original spots by his mouth, but maybe it's just a spot and he doesn't have ich?

I'm going to call the LFS and see if they will except him back. I don't care about the money, I just don't want him to suffer under my poor QT tank care.

Thanks replies everyone!
 
#18 ·
Hopefully the LFS will take him back. If you put him in the main tank, you put all of your fish at risk. There are chemicals that will neutrize the amonia, which will help you QT tank.

Selcon is vitimans and is a good idea to soak your food in it and then feed all of your fish with it. Keeps them healthier and brings out color as well, garlic also helps. I realize it is a PITA to do that, but I think you will be rewarded if you do.

Dan
 
#19 ·
We did a quick drop in salinity (from 1.026 to 1.021) in just a few minutes (I took out a bucket of water, replaced it, waited 10 minutes, took out another bucket of water, replaced it, waited 10 minutes, took out the last bucket of water, replaced it). We also noticed that one of our firefish (the one with the ich spots) was kinda swimming at the top of the tank, biting at the top of the water, and that the other one was picking on it. We went to Petco and bought a plastic "fish keeper" cage to put the more agressive one it with a rock. The ich is GONE, and the less agressive fish is swimming by the "fish jail", wanting his/her buddy to come play. We decided to just keep them like this (one in "jail", one out of "jail") for a week or so, then we might let it out and see what happens.
 
Discussion starter · #20 ·
The patient has died...

I'm pretty pissed, and it's quite possible he wasn't sick in the first place. From talking to others and watching the little guy, it seems his marks could have been from being picked on and not a disease at all. He was looking pretty good and I wasn't worried about him a bit. Just trying to raise the salinity to get him back in the main tank. then he just disappeared and I found him dead behind a pvc tee I put in for him to hide.

Why did he die? I barely managed water changes every 3 days, and I never got the salinity above 1.017 for some reason, even when I charged to get him back in the main tank. From what I've read, only go up .002 a day, so I tried to reach that but always came short. I'm going to test the parameters in the QT tank sometime this week to see what happened.

I know one thing for sure, I believe I would take on a 180+ gallon tank any day before I'd try to manage a 10 gallon tank without filtration ever again. When I decided to get into salt water, I asked myself if I could handle another tank with weekly water changes. trying to find time to heat, mix and change water every day was unattainable for me.
 
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weimers75
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