cycling QT?

[brent595]

I had to setup a quarantine for my hippo tang who has ick. I bought a 30g container and took one of my filters off my main tank since the hippo was the only fish in there with inverts and put in on the QT. I also got a good bit of the water from the main tank to cycle. I threw in a couple shrimp to help speed it along. It has been about 3-4 days and the amm. and the nitrite are off the chart. I don't think my hippo has too long left. What else can I do to speed up the cycle. The pad has been in the filter for about 4 weeks now. Should I just pull off the pad from the frame and put on another with new carbon. Will this help or hinder?

 

[beth]

Trying to set up an emergency QT is very troublesome. You really can not cycle an emergency QT, as it takes too long. What you need to do, is prevent the tank from cycling at all.
What kind of container are you using? I would do a major waterchange, do a good deal of carbon filtration and add a few cups of substrate from your main tank in to the QT. No more cycling. What you will need to do, is PREVENT a cycle. That means daily water changes, vaccuum up waste, etc.
What method of treatment are you going to use?

 

[brent595]

OK. I am using a 30gal Rubbermaid Storage Container. So I need to empty the water in the Qt as it has very high amm. and Nitrites now, and siphon a good bit of main tank water into the QT and keep it from cycling. I think I can do that. I am going to do Hypo, but the hippo is breathing very rapidly and has lodged himself between two rocks and is not coming out to eat or anything. I have a refractometer that should be here in a few days, so I guess I could go ahead and start dropping the salinity down. I just feel like the transfer to the QT will finish him off.
How much water do you recommend changing each day to keep it from cycling? About 10% with the syphon?

 

[beth]

Can you leave your tang where he is and just put your LR in the rubbermaid, or do you have inverts?

 

[brent595]

I went ahead and put him in the QT. He actually livened up a bit when I moved him. He seems to like the QT. I took the artificial decor out of my freshwater tank so he can hide. I have a good many inverts and two condis and some coral. I also have two Linkia starfish. Are these considered on the invert side when referring to ick or will they also host it?

 

[beth]

If the fish is breathing normal and has acclimated well to the QT, then begin lower the salinity in the QT.

 

[brent595]

Well I checked all water parameters about two hours ago & just checked them again to make sure before I went to bed and he was already gone. It really upsets me and almost makes me want to take it all down and sell it.
I know my water conditions were good and to be ick it killed him very, very fast. When I removed him from the QT and looked closely the white spots were inside the skin not like parasites on the outside. Almost like he just died from bad water conditions. Are there other elements in the water that I do not know to test for yet? I will list my tests and water conditions below. The only thing that I didn't do that may have contibuted is not using RO/DI. Please give me your opinion on the importance of this. I just used tap water with chlorine/chloramine remover. The water was 8.0 straight out of the tap and I used Kent Super Buffer dKH to raise it to 8.2 over two days.
Temp 78
SG 1.025
PH 8.2
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 25
KH 13 (is this also the same thing as Alk, or what is difference?)
O2 5.5mg/l. (6.5mgl should be 100% at Temp78 and 1.025)
I have a 75g reef tank with 75lbs LR, 75lbs LS, 2 Whisper 60 Hang on the back filters, 2 Rio 800's (filters and PH's move about 300gph each), NO Fish now , Blue Linkia, Orange Linkia, 2 Sally Lightfoots, 2 emeralds, 5 peppermints, CBS, Purple Nudibranch, 2 Feather dusters, 2 Condi's, Orange Tree Sponge, Red Ball Sponge, 15 Astrea's, 5 Scarlet Hermits, 5 Blue Leg Hermits.
I do not have a skimmer, but did not think it was needed and worth the money with just that one fish. Opinion?
Also how long will it take my tank with no fish to get rid of the ick or whatever it is in it? And will the starfish host it?

 

[brent595]

^

 

[beth]

The key to healthy fish is to QT first....before the fish ever goes into the display. Also, I am of the opinion that the QT should be a tank, not a rubbermaid container. I know Terry and many other say that the containers are fine, but I just feel that they are stressful for fish and they don't let you see the fish so you can assess the problem.
Ich can kill fast if the fish has had the problem for awhile or if the fish was stressed to begin with.
The answer is to have a QT set up, cycled and in good condition before you ever get a fish. Then QT the fish when you get it.
You need to check with your water company to see what is in the their water. Personnally, I feel that reefs really need high quality RO/DI water which you can buy in bottles at the store or you get your own system and install it. However, if bad water was going to effect something, it would be your inverts first.
How long did the hippo have the symptoms? Did you just get him? It is possible that he had oodium rather than ich, which would account for the rapid death?
Take my advise, and set up a good QT system.

 

[brent595]

He was a fairly new fish. I had him for about a month.
I am going to go ahead and get me a 20g glass QT tank and keep it running, and I bought a 10g today to make me a fuge to lower my nitrates, and I just ordered a new 6-stage RO/DI about an hour ago. So I will have everything looking good before I add anything else. I really liked that fish. It makes me sick that I didn't do this before.
Do the starfish host ick?