Ick Question Beth?

[cidory]

Anyone who can help please do. I have a 50 Gal Reef setup about 8 weeks old. All was fine until the last 2 weeks, when I began losing fish. Today it was my yellow tang, earlier this week my strawberry basslett. I started setting up a QT at my forst loss because I suspected ICK. This tank has not yet cycled. I am down to a Forefish and a Six line Wrasse. The question is, if I can catch them out should I place them in the QT and let the show tank go fishless for 6 weeks? I am reasonably certain it is ICK , the Tang was showing that deaded salted look yesterday. I have 7 corals in my tank, 1 Power head , a protein skimmer and a HOB Empeoror Filter. My parameters are as follows Sal 1.027, Nitrite 0.0, Amon. 0.0, KH 10, Cal a bit high at 500. If there is anything else you need to know please let me know, The Firefish and Wrasse look healthy at this point , but I know its a matter of time, Please help if you can

 

[beth]

Yes, you will need to treat the fish for ich. Setting up a new tank to treat those fish will not be easy, especially maintaining water quality for the fish. How big will the QT be?? Do you have LR and how many corals?
Check out the FAQ Thread for the discussion on setting up a QT as well as the posts on ICH and Hyposalinty.
I guess I don't have to tell you that you went way too fast in adding animals to a new tank.

 

[cidory]

As for adding fish , just following LFS advice. I do have Live Rock and 6 or 7 corals of the beginner variety , Leathers , Star polyps shroomes etc, 10 Gal QT

 

[beth]

How big are those fish? 10 gal is pretty small even for 1 fish.
LFS is attempting to sell you fish and corals. Thus, don't listen to the LFS.

 

[cidory]

Both fish are very small , my thought is to let the show tank sit for 6 weeks without fish to kill the ick there, right or wrong? I suppose I could get a 20 for QT with not much trouble. My interst is doing it right, I dont want to go through again. All the fidh I have added were realtively inexpensive, however the loss of life is distrubing at any cost. I may have a hard time catching the Wrasse , he is like lightning, LOL. if you can let me knwo on the 6 weeks thing , Ill stop bugging you...at least for today, lol
Don

 

[beth]

Yes, you are going to have to rip your tank apart to catch that fish. Difficult dicsion. You might think about returning your few corals to the LFS for credit, finding a temp home for the LR in a large rubbermaid with some PH's and leave your fish where they are at. You can then proceed with hyposalintiy right in your tank. Are you going to do hyposalinity on the fish? Do you have a refractometer?
Your choice how to handle it, but the above is just an alternative to think about. 20gal LONG is a good choice for a QT as long as you get your fish as juveniles. That is the size of my QT and it works very well. If you set up a new QT, plan on babysitting the QT for the duration as it will not be cycled. Be ready with aged/aerated water ready to go for water changes. Take a look at the QT post in the FAQ Thread for ways to seed the new QT. In your situation, I would also "sacrifice" a small piece of LR to the QT. This will also help seed it. If you don't medicate the QT, you can return the LR to the tank when you are done.

 

[cidory]

I will likely do the Hypo on the QT, if I can catch these fish, Im not up for tering down lots of work if I can avoid it, ICk had to come in with fish correct ?

 

[beth]

Yes, ich is a fish parasite. If you leave one fish untreated, then likely you will get re-infected. So, you must treat all fish.