Treating ich - what about DT while all fish in QT?

[nothing]

I have a fairly new tank, 30 gals, 45 lbs of live rock, 60 lbs live sand and some zoos. I also have about 12 snails and about 25 crabs, I just invested in a QT tank which I'm cycling now having discovered and diagnosed one of my clowns as having ick.
I have two clowns, two three stripe damsels and one yellow tail. As soon as QT is done cycling I'm going to give all fish a freshwater bath and then transfer all to the QT and begin copper treatment with kent marine xtreme garlic supplement in the food. As of right now, all fish including the one I believe has ick are all eating very well still.
My question is, will my crabs and snails be OK without any fish producing waste or will the lights produce enough algae growth that everything else will be fine for 4-6 weeks?

 

[geridoc]

The fact that your tank is fairly new may mean that there may be insufficient detritus to support your scavengers and others. Perhaps you should put a small amount of food in the tank a few times a week, but not too much, and monitor ammonium levels. Now, on to the next item, your treatment plan for your sick fish. I have used copper many times over 30+ years, and in the past few years have tried hypo, with great success. I am now a firm believer in hyposalinity - all fish tolerate it well, it is very effective, and doesn't poison the fish even a little. Take a look at Beth's sticky at the top of this forum for information about how to do this. Follow the directions closely, especially about the use of a refractometer and the control of pH, and your fish will do fine.

 

[mie]

I am in week three of hypo with my gold stripe maroon clown and he looks great no more ick. but i was under the impression that the reason for doing the freshwater dip, which has to have perfectly matching ph and temp of the dt water should only be done to a heavily infected fish?????????

 

[nothing]

I know public aquariums make common practice of a FW bath as part of their quarantine process which EVERY fish goes through prior to being introduced to the aquarium. It's my understanding that it does absolutely no harm to the fish to give them a 3-5 minute freshwater dip.... someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[1journeyman]

Freshwater dips can be very stressful. Make sure to match pH and temp.
Feed your clean up crew a bit of food.
Also, what kind of clowns? Sounds to me like you have a lot of potentially aggressive fish in a small tank.

 

[nothing]

Originally Posted by 1journeyman
Freshwater dips can be very stressful. Make sure to match pH and temp.
Feed your clean up crew a bit of food.
Also, what kind of clowns? Sounds to me like you have a lot of potentially aggressive fish in a small tank.
The Clowns are Ocellaris, all fish were introduced together so I haven't had any problems everyone gets along famously but I realize they are all "aggressive". We finally got the old tax return back and I think we're upgrading to a larger DT, might as well just do that while the fish are all in QT.