Originally posted by Cubano
About a week ago, I placed my Percula in a hospital tank because we was covered with ich. The tank was medicated with coppersafe and sure enough within a few days the clown was recovered and looking better than ever. I would have left it in the hospital tank for a few more days until I tested the water. The amonia was a high as it could be and nitrites were also very high. Given what I saw, I took the clown out of the hospital tank and into my display tank where it seems to be doing just fine. Where the readings high because of the copper safe? Is it better to leave a fish in such toxic water because it is been treated? I would like to know before I risk another fish.
The fact that your clown had ich in the display tank means the parasites are still present in your main tank. THe main tank needs to be cleared of fish for 4-6 weeks to break the ich cycle. If no host fish is present then the parasites die. Keep a close eye on the clown as well as the other fish in your main tank.
Has another fish been picking or stressing the clown? What are your water paramters? Did you just add the clown to the tank?
The reason I ask is poor water quality and/or stress can often trigger an outbreak of ich if the parasites are present in the main tank. WHile these conditions do not cause ich...they can produce an oppurtune enviornment for the disease to take off if the parasites are present in your tank.
As for the QT tank....if the readings were that high you probably did the right thing.
You may want to do a serch on hyposalinity as an alternative to treating ich.
The readings were high because of the lack of an adequate biological filter. Copper can damage a bilogical filter.....but I am not familiar with the product Coppersafe and if it will damage the biological filter. Personally, I would not palce another fish in that tank until you can build a biological filter to support the fish placed in the tank. JMO
