new tang has ich

[elan]

A new (2 days) powder brown tang has ich. I guess it didnt handle the stress of coming into the tank from the LFS.
I have a 135 reef tank with mostly soft corals except for a tourch and a bubble coral. lots of snails and crabs, and 4 shrimp (which i havent seen in a while)
for fish, I have the following:
one eyelash goby
two sailfin gobys
three firefish gobys
two peculia clowns
7 blue/green chromis
and the infected powder blue tang
At this point, i do not have a QT tank set up. I do have a 50 gallon tank which i can use but it is empty and will probably take at least 3-4 weeks till i get the water to cycle, and i am not even sure if i can add all my fish in that small of a tank for weeks.
Is my best option to let the ich take its course till my QT tank cycles? or to hypo my main tank?
With all the live rock i have, it will probably take weeks to get all my fish out using a fish trap (if they even work) or a major project taking out all the rock to get to the fish.
for hypo, i am a little confused. are my corals safe with hypo? or will they suffer during the month or two i will end up hypoing the tank?
Also, during a hypo, i understand I want the salinity to be 1.009.... but due to evaporation, how stable does it have to be at that salinity? can i keep it around 1.007 to 1.010? or it really has to stay at 1.009?
Also, if i am going to go with the QT tank? is it best to hypo it, or use a copper based medication?
and last and most important, how much time do i have, in days and hours, to leave all the fish in the main tank? (J/K)... seriously.. how long do fish usually last with ich? can they die in a few weeks? or does it usually take months to kill em?
thanks in advance.

 

[beth]

Originally posted by elan
Is my best option to let the ich take its course till my QT tank cycles? or to hypo my main tank?
Read the FAQ section in the thread stickied at that top of this forum. It provides info on what you need to do with an uncycled tank. By adding filter pads, etc., to your main tank for a few days you can establish a quick filter for your QT. This will not provided a well established tank, but it is better than going completely clean.
With all the live rock i have, it will probably take weeks to get all my fish out using a fish trap (if they even work) or a major project taking out all the rock to get to the fish.
Yep, you'll have to take out the rock, then get this fish.
for hypo, i am a little confused. are my corals safe with hypo? or will they suffer during the month or two i will end up hypoing the tank?
You can not use hyposalinity in anything but a strickly FO tank. That means no inverts, live rock, live sand, corals, shrimp, NO INVERTS period.
Also, during a hypo, i understand I want the salinity to be 1.009.... but due to evaporation, how stable does it have to be at that salinity? can i keep it around 1.007 to 1.010? or it really has to stay at 1.009?
To be effective the water needs to be maintained at 1.009. Evaporation is that big of a deal if you are topping off daily. Use a refractometer to measure salinity or a quality glass hydrometer. Do not maintain the water at lower salinity levels as this will be harmful for fish.
Also, if i am going to go with the QT tank? is it best to hypo it, or use a copper based medication?
The choice is yours. Good luck keeping an uncycled QT from going sour using copper! Hyposalinity is safe and effective, so why not use it?
seriously.. how long do fish usually last with ich? can they die in a few weeks? or does it usually take months to kill em?
There is no answer. A weaker more delicate fish could die with the first round of it. A stronger fish could go thru a few rounds before dying. Hopefully, die out is not an option you are considering.
Now is the time for you to take the next step in this hobby. Set up a QT that you will use for all new incoming fish, thus avoiding this disaster in the future. Good luck!

 

[elan]

thank you beth!! I wish i got some different answers, but i know honesty sometimes hurts...lol...
i am settup up the QT today and will use some of the bioballs from the other tank to help with the cycle.....wish me luck..

 

[elan]

just checked up on my tang.... interesting enough, about 80% of the white dots have dissapeared. the bumps on his body have subsided considerably......
if, he continues his improvement, and no signs of ich remain, would you still suggest hypo right away?
I plan on setting up a QT tank but will hold off with the imergency setup in order to establish a better invironment in the QT (I am expecting delivery of a RO/DI unit and would also like to set up the tank on a proper stand with lighting but this may take months)
Nothing in my main tank has changed. I have been introducing Kent's Zoe by including the solution in the water the brine shrimp are kept. I feed the brine shrimp with the Zoe bath to my tank, and i did a double dose during feeding to help my other fish gain strength over this situation. i do plan on going back to the recomended dosage with another double dose in 3-4 days.
All water paramaters are good
ammonia, nitrite, phosphates, iron, and chlorine are 0
Salinity is 1.023
Calcium is 410, Alk 13
pH 8.2 and
temp is 79
Thanks in advance for all your help.