Problem with QT tank and Tang

[Bosco83]

Ok so I setup a 20 gallon tank so I could qt my new Powder Brown Tang. In the tank I used a small heater and filter but I also put in a few peices of live rock from my sump tank. I thought it would be a good thing but now my tang has ich and I started reading about how to treat it and found out I shouldn't have put the live rock in there. So now should I remove the rock or just leave it? I am going to try the hyposalinity process and if that doesn't work I am going to dose with copper. I know if I dose with copper I will have to remove the rock for sure. My main question is it too late and now the rock can spread ich to my other fish if I put it back in my sump?

Also do Tang's alway get ich when you put them in a new tank? He was at the pet store I bought him from for a couple of weeks and I watched him eat and swim around very happily with no ich. He still seems happy in the qt tank and he ate today when I fed him. Oh yea I just got him yesterday.

Thanks,
Brian

 

[returnofsid]

The live rock can now transport Ich to your display. Unfortunately, the hyposalinity treatment will kill a lot of the life that's on the live rock, which could lead to an ammonia spike. Since most of the life on the live rock, will die during hyposalinity treatment, I would remove it now, but NOT add it back to your display. You can keep it in a container, with no fish, for 8 weeks and all the Ich that could be on the rock will die. Otherwise, you could treat is as uncured live rock, and put it through a separate curing process.

 

[Bosco83]

Do I have to have a pump running in the bucket with the live rock, and can I use the same pump to pump ro water in my container I use to make fresh saltwater or will ich transfer from the pump at that point?

The live rock can now transport Ich to your display. Unfortunately, the hyposalinity treatment will kill a lot of the life that's on the live rock, which could lead to an ammonia spike. Since most of the life on the live rock, will die during hyposalinity treatment, I would remove it now, but NOT add it back to your display. You can keep it in a container, with no fish, for 8 weeks and all the Ich that could be on the rock will die. Otherwise, you could treat is as uncured live rock, and put it through a separate curing process.

 

[returnofsid]

Ich can transfer on anything, but needs a fish host to live. However, because of the lifecycle of Ich, in order to totally kill it, it needs to be without a fish host for 8 weeks.

Yes, your live rock will need to be kept in circulating saltwater, to keep it alive.

 

[Bosco83]

What if I just remove the live rock and put it in a bucket of fresh ro water for a couple of hours and then put it back in my sump tank?

Ich can transfer on anything, but needs a fish host to live. However, because of the lifecycle of Ich, in order to totally kill it, it needs to be without a fish host for 8 weeks.

Yes, your live rock will need to be kept in circulating saltwater, to keep it alive.

 

[returnofsid]

The freshwater will kill off anything on it that's alive. That dead matter may cause an ammonia spike also. If it's just a couple small pieces of live rock, the dead matter won't amount to enough to cause any problems if your tank is large enough and well established.

However, it would be enough to cause a problem in the 20 QT tank.

 

[Bosco83]

It's only about 4lbs of live rock I had in the sump of my tank that is about 110-120 total gallons with 130lbs of live rock. I would just dip it for about an hour swish it around really good and put it back in my sump. I will just do that and find some other good things for the tang to hide in.

Will some old lava rock be ok to put in with him after a good rinsing?

Thanks for the help
Brian

The freshwater will kill off anything on it that's alive. That dead matter may cause an ammonia spike also. If it's just a couple small pieces of live rock, the dead matter won't amount to enough to cause any problems if your tank is large enough and well established.

However, it would be enough to cause a problem in the 20 QT tank.

 

[returnofsid]

I wouldn't recommend lava rock. It's known to usually contain metals that can be harmful. Any possible metals present might also interact with a future copper treatment. I don't know that this would happen, but I wouldn't wanna take the chance. A QT tank doesn't need any rocks in it. I'd just put a couple 2 or 3" PVC fittings in there. A coupling, or a 45 degree elbow. The less biologicals in the tank, the better. Make sure that Tang get lots of healthy foods while in QT. Red and Green Nori sheets. If you have a small piece of live rock that's covered in algae, in your display, rip the algae off and feed it to the Tang. It'll love it!

4 lbs of dead live rock will cause no problems at all in your tank. Do as you suggested, Dip it in RO/DI water, let it sit for an hour or so, or even overnight. Swish it around and plop it back in your sump.

 

[Bosco83]

I put all the little rocks in a 5 gallon bucket of ro/di water and I am going to leave it in overnight. I don't have any pvc laying around so I just grabbed one of my fiance's glass vases that was sitting on a shelf and rinsed it and put that in. Where can I buy nori sheets at I don't think any of my local fish stores sell it?

Thanks for all of you help!

I wouldn't recommend lava rock. It's known to usually contain metals that can be harmful. Any possible metals present might also interact with a future copper treatment. I don't know that this would happen, but I wouldn't wanna take the chance. A QT tank doesn't need any rocks in it. I'd just put a couple 2 or 3" PVC fittings in there. A coupling, or a 45 degree elbow. The less biologicals in the tank, the better. Make sure that Tang get lots of healthy foods while in QT. Red and Green Nori sheets. If you have a small piece of live rock that's covered in algae, in your display, rip the algae off and feed it to the Tang. It'll love it!

4 lbs of dead live rock will cause no problems at all in your tank. Do as you suggested, Dip it in RO/DI water, let it sit for an hour or so, or even overnight. Swish it around and plop it back in your sump.

 

[returnofsid]

I'd imagine your LFS do sell it, most do. It's dry algae sheets. If not, you can order it online, but I'd be very surprised if any LFS doesn't have it. It's even used for freshwater fish.

Hope that vase isn't lead chrystal...lol.

Make sure to take your time getting your salinity to 1.009. Use a refractometer, instead of a hydrometer. It's important that the salinity stays at 1.009. Above that, Ich lives...below that, fish suffer. Once you get it to 1.009, keep it there for 8 weeks, or at least 2 or 3 weeks after ALL visible signs of Ich are gone and don't reappear. Then slowly bring it back up to the same salinity as your display.

 

[Bosco83]

I'm pretty sure it's just glass it was cheap and I bought it to put some flowers in for her a few years back. I guess I will have to look at my lfs I heard you can also buy it at Safeway in the oriental section.

So when I get the salinity to 1.009 should I be changing out the water every day to get the dead ich out? Today I just use a small hose sucked all the junk off of the bottom of the tank and took out about maybe 1.5 gallons of water and then topped it of with fresh ro/di salinity came down to about 1.017. Then tomorrow I was going to do that again to bring it down the rest of the way. I was reading to bring it to 1.010 does it that little make a difference or just try to get it close to it?

I'd imagine your LFS do sell it, most do. It's dry algae sheets. If not, you can order it online, but I'd be very surprised if any LFS doesn't have it. It's even used for freshwater fish.

Hope that vase isn't lead chrystal...lol.

Make sure to take your time getting your salinity to 1.009. Use a refractometer, instead of a hydrometer. It's important that the salinity stays at 1.009. Above that, Ich lives...below that, fish suffer. Once you get it to 1.009, keep it there for 8 weeks, or at least 2 or 3 weeks after ALL visible signs of Ich are gone and don't reappear. Then slowly bring it back up to the same salinity as your display.

 

[Bosco83]

Some good news He isn't showing any more ich on his body and he is still eating good he also likes his new hiding place. I know this doesn't mean the ich is gone I am still doing the hyposalinity for 4-6 weeks before he goes in the main tank.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Good to hear the treatment is going well.
Read these threads, well worth the time to get basics in:

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27003

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27155

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27022

 

[gotfish]

Bosco, go to your local Safeway/Albertsons or whatever supermarket is in your area. Check the Asian section and you'll find Nori. Try to find dried nori and check the ingredients to make sure it is just seaweed. Don't get it if it has any other ingredient in it. The stuff you buy at LFS's usually costs your $5-$10 and you get about an ounce. You can buy it in food stores for $2-$4 for a couple ounces.

I buy it at a local Chinese market for $2.12 for 3.1 ounces. I put some on a clip in the morning, when I get home and then I shred some and feed it in the evening. I've got 2 tangs and a rabbitfish and that 3.1 ounces will easily last me 6 months.

 

[Bosco83]

I did check Albertsons but I didn't see any there so I went to Reef Mystique and Wil had some. It doesn't actually say Nori on it it says red marine algae with garlic by Ocean Nutrition. I put in a small strip of it and he is tearing away at it. Is it ok to leave the seaweed in there if he doesn't eat it all or should I remove it after a few hours?

I put the rock back in my sump after another fresh ro/di bath, and some mushrooms that didn't fall off are already opened back up lol. There are also some yellow sponges that don't seem to be bothered maybe they will live too.

Brian

 

[gotfish]

In the rare instance that there might be some left in the tank after that long, sure pull it out, but I kind of doubt that would be the case. I put a fairly large chunk on my clip and it takes a little while to eat it, but they do finish it off. Mine at least will eat a little bit, come back a bit later and eat more and so on until it's gone. They're kind of the cow of the ocean if you get my drift. They graze throughout the day

 

[Bosco83]

In the rare instance that there might be some left in the tank after that long, sure pull it out, but I kind of doubt that would be the case. I put a fairly large chunk on my clip and it takes a little while to eat it, but they do finish it off. Mine at least will eat a little bit, come back a bit later and eat more and so on until it's gone. They're kind of the cow of the ocean if you get my drift. They graze throughout the day

Yea I have him in the spare room and I just checked and it's almost gone lol he is like a little cow lol.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

"I put the rock back in my sump after another fresh ro/di bath, and some mushrooms that didn't fall off are already opened back up lol. There are also some yellow sponges that don't seem to be bothered maybe they will live too."

That is a shame as if not already introduced there, there is a good possibility that you added Ich "spores" to your display. Read those threads I posted the links on, there is no substitute for education.

Nori is just a food term for seaweed algae sheets. The fish grade ones you bought are excellent. Can leave it in there or pull it out, your preference.

 

[Bosco83]

I did read through all three of those articles lastnight. I soaked the rock for about 18 hours in fresh ro/di and then I dumped everything dead out and put more fresh ro/di water in and swished them around really good and then added back to my sump. I hope it doesn't add ich I guess we will find out too late now.

How can you test for ich? I was thinking of putting one of my fish in a 5 gallon qt tank and see if it gets ich it's the only way I could think of? That way I could tell if there is ich in my tank already. Not that I want to put any of my fish through stress, but then I would know that I need to treat all of them. I have never had a qt tank before but the only fish I have in there are 2 false perc's, one golden head goby, one yellow watchman goby, and one small six line wrasse.

 

[gotfish]

How can you test for ich? I was thinking of putting one of my fish in a 5 gallon qt tank and see if it gets ich it's the only way I could think of? That way I could tell if there is ich in my tank already. Not that I want to put any of my fish through stress, but then I would know that I need to treat all of them. I have never had a qt tank before but the only fish I have in there are 2 false perc's, one golden head goby, one yellow watchman goby, and one small six line wrasse.

I wouldn't worry about doing this. If you did get ich in the display, it will eventually show up and your fish aren't going to die before you can see signs of it. Just keep an eye on them for heavy breathing or the white specks.