Bought Hippo, Ick 1 day Later, Died This morning....

[bur01014]

So, I lost a fish that I tried hard to save....however, with no qt tank, my chances were low...anyways, after waking up and seeing him dead, I now shift my worries to my other three fish.....flame angel, dwarf fuzzy lionfish, and a clown....they all show no signs of ick and I will be coating their food in garlic extreme...besides this what else do I do? I am worried now.....almost paranoid and am constantly sitting in front of my tank watching their every move, lol. How long should I need to wait to really determine if they don't get ick from the blue tang? How long should I wait until adding anything else to the tank? Days? Weeks? Months? Any advice appreciated, such a frustrating hobby...

Btw, one more worry, which MAY be the culprit.....For the life of me I can't get my nitrates below 20 ppm....my softies seem to be growing, but this couldn't have helped my fish....I do waterchanges once a week, around 10%.....don't have much room, but would a HOB refugium with some macro be worth a shot? Or have little effect on a 55 gallon since they usually only hold 2 gallons or so of water? Thanks....

 

[daugherty]

if you dont treat all your fish in copper or hypo salinity there will always be ich in the tank and any fish you add can die from it. they all have ich right now even if they are not showing signs of it. so if you add another fish that is pron to an outbreak of it like a tang than it is going to happen all over again. treat every fish in qt before adding them to the main tank

 

[Cathic]

Especially since QT's are so cheap to set up, they require no sand no rock, no special lighting, just SW a heater, and something to keep the water moving. QTing is the best way to protect your fish, and your DT.

 

[bur01014]

Okay- looks like I will be saving for a qt tank and trying to keep it hidden from my wife....not sure where I would put it in our small apartment, maybe the bathroom....I better get my net out and start practicing as well, that flame angel may be near impossible to catch in all 100lbs of my live rock...

 

[bur01014]

don't need a filter? or live rock? I should be able to get a heater, water, and larger plastic tub or some sort....5 gallon be enough?

 

[Cathic]

You could get something like a HoB filter, but since you will be QT'ing for only a week or two, and doing water changes, you wont have many parameter jumps. Also, when treating with copper you don't need / can't use Activated Carbon. So this type of filtration is useless.

 

[daugherty]

i would get a 10gal or a 20gal. you just have to do water changes to keep the ammonia down

 

[Cathic]

Id shoot for 15 or 20. walmart will sell you the whole setup for around 30 or 40 bucks for a 20g tank with filter etc.

 

[bur01014]

I got a fairly large sponge filter for freshwater tanks, would that be useless in a sw qt tank? I also have an extra powerhead...

 

[bur01014]

Also further details about qt....

Do i feed them like normal while they are qt?
What is best treatment for ick? where do you get the copper stuff?
Do I put all fish that are newly purchased in here before the main tank? how long? treat for ick no matter what?
Lights not necessary for the fish?

Thanks guys....

 

[BL1]

Also further details about qt....

Do i feed them like normal while they are qt?
What is best treatment for ick? where do you get the copper stuff?
Do I put all fish that are newly purchased in here before the main tank? how long? treat for ick no matter what?
Lights not necessary for the fish?

Thanks guys....

Yes, all of your fish would have to be treated for it. If you bought a new fish and didn't treat it would just bring the ick to all of your other fish. As far as the lights, you can get away with just using the standard lights that come with the hood for a FO tank.

 

[Cathic]

Feed them normal, I like copper treatments for ick aka my recommendation, Coppersafe can be bought at any LFS along with Cupramine or any other copper solution, QT all fish before going to the DT, QT fish already in the DT and let your DT stay fallow for the next 4 weeks at least, Ick is in your DT, keep fish in QT for roughly 1-2 weeks in Copper, and yes treat for ick no matter what. Any light works as BL1 said.

 

[yote]

Looks like these guys got you covered pretty good.
Welcome to the site.

 

[puttycat]

Don't you also need a test kit to treat copper? I remember they used to recommend it years ago. I don't treat with copper but thought I would ask.

 

[bur01014]

Got a 10 gallon ready, now if its filled and have no fish in it...how long can I keep salt water like that? Will I have to do water changes every few months even though it is fishless? I just would rather always have it filled, just in case an emergency occurs....also, I guess I could have it filled and then re-fill each week, using that water as new water for a waterchange?

 

[wontonflip]

You will need to top off w/ rodi, and I'd stick a powerhead in there just for movement. maybe put a lose cover on top or a screen to keep bugs out :D

 

[bur01014]

got class cover and powerhead, will do, thanks for all the input today everyone...lessons learned

 

[daugherty]

i would do water changes every 1-2 days even if it was a little one but use the water from your main tank for the water changes. and yes get a test kit for the copper. but make shure it is for the copper you are using there is chleted and non-chleted sorry for the spelling.

 

[Cathic]

What Daugherty said ^^

 

[dcantucson]

+1 to everyone above.
BTW welcome to the site.