Originally Posted by Jupoc911
Beth,
How does this sound?
-setup a 10 gallon tank with water from main tank and let it sit for 4 weeks so no ich can survive. then move the mandarin in there and load the tank with cultured pods, live brine, and macro.
-treat remaining fish with garlic until the new tank is up and running.
- then go ahead with hypo
What do you think? i think this will work as long as the fish can make it the next 4 weeks with no problems.
That wouldnt really work, not to mention the fish would probably be dead by then. The problem right now is that ick is on the fish, not that it's in the tank. If you set up a tank that you knew didnt have ick in it, as soon as you put the fish in, what do you think is going to happen. The ick will leave the fish, reprocude, and jump back on. You need hyposaline conditions so the ick cant survive.
I had a flame angel and a clown in a 10 gallon QT when I had ick, they'll survive. What your friend needs to do is buy a refractometer if he / she doesnt have one. They can use tank water to fill the QT. Then over the course of 4-5 days the salinity needs to be lowered to 1.009 and maintained for at least a month (check it daily. evaporation will lower the level of water, but raise the concentration of salt). Then the salinity can be raised over the course of a week to match the tank. Its a long and tedious process, but if done properly it works like a charm.