QT cycle or no cylce

[shoreliner11]

I sent my two fish with ich to the lfs where they will be running them with copper for a total of 10 days. I am setting up a 10 gallon qt tank right now, but I am unsure if I want to try and cylce it or not. They will be out of there in 10 days and I know thats not enough time to get a cycle going. The two fish are a false perc and a yellow watchman. Both are really hardy but the dilemma remains. What to do? Any help? Thanks.

 

[beth]

You can try a speady QT by seeding it with water from your main tank [if it is good quality], adding a piece of LR, adding a couple of cups of sand from your display, and seeding your filters for the 10 days in your display.
Take a look at the QT info in the FAQ Thread at the top of this forum.

 

[shoreliner11]

The only reason why I am hesitant to do that is for fear of introducing some of the ich from the display tank water to the qt tank. Should I worry about that or no?

 

[shoreliner11]

If I were to take a piece of rock or some sand and rinse it with fresh water would this help at all. The only reason why I ask is cause I know a fresh water bath for fish makes the ich fall off them. If I did it with a rock or sand would there still be beneficial bacteria on it to start the cycle, or will it die as well. I am just really hesitant about getting ich in the qt. Thanks.

 

[shoreliner11]

*bump

 

[shoreliner11]

Come on Beth I know you know the answer to this.

 

[guitarfish]

First of all, when ich attaches to a fish, they can get under the skin; dips in FW or meds don't necessarily get them all off, because they are protected.
Now, if you've got ich in a main tank, and you want to take rock or sand from it and put it into another tank, rinsing the rock or sand can't be any guarantee you're rinsing off the ich. I would operate under the assumption that anything from the main tank is suspect. The main tank needs to go fishless for 4-6 weeks to allow the ich to die off.
As for the QT tank, are you going to use it to treat ich infested fish? If so, I wouldn't worry about bringing in water or filter media that has ich, because it should die off in hypo. However, if you want to use the QT to observe a new arrival, without QT, then I think you need to do a cycle first. I don't know any way around it.

 

[shoreliner11]

The fish are being treated with copper at a local fish store for 10 days. I set up the qt tank on Thursday and the fish come home on the 20th so I don't think I'll have enough time to get it to cycle. hmmmm. I guess I'll just ask for the fish store to hold onto them longer if thats a possibility for them.

 

[shoreliner11]

Well, just before you posted I ran some small rocks from my main tunk under cold water for about 4 min and then placed them in the qt. I am not going to take them out because if there was ich still on them after I put them in the damage has already been done. My question is, if I were to do hypo in a fishless tank is the amount of time the same as normal hypo? Also, if I was doing hypo while the tank is cycling will it lengthen the cycle at all? Thanks for the help.

 

[beth]

Sorry, but I've been pretty busy with the Holidays, work, etc....yadedah.
Yes, it could happen. Not likely though because the parasite will not not have a host for 10 days--thus breaking their lifecyle. Even so, once your fish come home to the QT, you can continue treating them with hyposalinity. Thus, there will be no issue about ich. This is what I would recommend RATHER than keeping fish in an uncycled tank.