Now more fish have ich, help

[aharrow]

Hello to all, I have been reading about the hypo and hospital tank procedure etc. And am following that based on the boards expert advice. My butterfly came down with ich and stopped eating. It has been about three days since he hasn't eaten. The first two days there were not outward signs of disease but considering he is a huge eater I knew something was wrong. Long story short I got the hospital tank up and running with the display tank water. Put the butterfly in the QT tank and over the past 24 hours have been lowering the salinity with a refractometer. I am down to 1.014 and lowering. The water params for the QT tank:
temp 78
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
ph 8.2
Params for the display tank which has been up and running since Feb 03.
temp 78
amm 0
nitrite 0
ph 8.2
salinity 1.021
My problem is this: I understand the procedure for the hypo for the butterfly. My problem is now my tang and damsel fish both have ich. My bluering is fine for now it seems. But I cannot do hypo in the display because of the live rock correct? And if not can I put all three of these fish in a 10 gallon tank for 3 weeks? That seems like it would kill all three of them. Please any suggestions needed soon. And to top it off I have to leave town for this weekend. My wife would kill me if I even suggested changing our trip for my son's birthday in order to save a few fish.
And I already know that my fish will outgrow this tank. I have a 150gal that I am purchasing by summers end so don't tear me up. Thanks in advance. I am getting frustrated at this point as this is my first salt tank and I am having serious doubts about getting a larger tank if I can't keep one this size.

 

[aharrow]

The other two fish just came down with ich signs this morning as they seemed fine yesterday when I started this process and moved the butterfly to QT. So what to do now. My QT tank is down to 1.012 salinty. I can't just put the other two sick fish in there can I, with the salinty that low? And will the three of them in there have problems with the size of the qt, bioload, etc? IN regards to the big tank, Even if I did remove all the live rock from my display I still have a healthy angel in there. What would lowering the salinity do to him even if I could get all the live rock out? It seems that the easiest process if they can handle it is to put all three in the QT and leave my angel and live rock alone. Can all three survive in the qt and I already know the alternative of leaving them in the big tank so it might be for the best to try. Thanks in advance.

 

[aharrow]

All infected fish are now in the QT tank. I don't think the yellow tang is going to make it from the transfer. I acclimated them for over an hour. But I figure that because the salinity is so low they can't handle it. Learning experience chalked up. The butterfly and damsel I don't know about they are swimming very slowly and won't eat at all so we will see. The salinity by this evening I should have down to 1.009 and we will see what happens. However I do not have a good feeling about it especially since I have to leave town on Friday. The tank should be at 1.009 today and I have strict instructions to my friend to measure and feed minimal and get up anything that is left over food. However I have little confidence. Thanks for all the help and any suggestions on what to feed them? I usually rotate, mysis, brine, veg flakes, and formula one. Thanks

 

[beth]

Don't lower the salinity any more today. Let the fish that you just transferred over try to recuperate from this trauma. Rushing the drop in salinity is not going to address the ich problem any faster any way. Just leave things as is and wait to see if the other fish recoup from the shock.
Also, check you water readings as I'm sure you are going to have a major bioload problem now. You're best and safest option was to move the LR and keep the fish in the main tank for treatment. If you want help, then be patient and wait until you get the advise before jumping into something that is not advisable. Hyposalinity, or any ich treatment for that matter, is not going to be effective until after the parasites drop off the fish, thus rushing the treatment is pointless.

 

[aharrow]

Thank you Beth,
I understand that patience is the best action, but when all of a sudden it looks like my entire fish population is going to be wiped out or infected I got a little nervous and panicked. Moving the LR is not an option. I have no containers to put it in.
In regards to the qt tank What do I have to do to make sure the bioload doesn't kill them. Water changes every day or every other day? I will check water params everyday to make sure.
Also what about the display tank? If nothing affects my angel is the disease still in the water? So four weeks down the road, assuming the hypo works and I put the fish back in the display will they be affected again? Thanks and I will try and be patient, I just got a little freaked out.

 

[beth]

The whole process is pointless unless all fish are treated.
How much LR do you have?

 

[aharrow]

I have about 60 lbs of live rock. The problem is that two of the pieces are really big and don't fit in any containers I have. If if do the hypo on the tank, The live rock dies correct? What happens to dead rock that the bacteria reproduce on? Doesn't it become live rock again eventually in an established tank? If so couldn't I just let the live rock die, then let it re-establish and become live rock again or does it not work that way? Thanks.
Just came up from the tank and the butterfly is gone. The damsel and tang seem to be swimming around much more though. I checked the angel in the main tank and he looks good and ate like crazy a few minutes ago. But then again the tang and damsel looked fine yesterday and then this morning really bad. I am going to check the water params in the qt tank. Thanks

 

[beth]

No, you don't want to kill off the LR. It will never be the same. It would cost you more to replace LR than to just get a larger QT, or like Terry suggested, get a rubbermaid for your LR. One of those square containers that are long rather than tall.