need some help - QT fish

[JonnyJ]

Here's my situation.

My tank has ick, every fish was qt'ed except for my most recent addition... a mandarin and "surprisingly" he has introduced ick into my tank. Was a foolish mistake by me but its time to fix it before i lose any fish. Some people let it run its course but i really dont want to have to worry about ick killing or tormenting any of my fish.

I have a pair of young clowns, a midas blenny, a mandarin,pair of masked gobies, and a tiger blenny.

The midas blenny, clowns, and mandarin are showing signs of ick, spots and darting off rocks which started about a week after the mandarin was introduced. The others are very small and i cannot really tell if they have any signs of ick but its definitely in the tank so i will have to remove them all and let the tank go fishless for a while.

The plan is to remove all the fish, going to have to break down my tank to do so since these little guys are nearly impossible to catch and still might be very difficult since they live inside crevices.


Is there anyone out there that would be interested in QTing the fish for me? does anyone have a qt set up already that would be interested?

Im really concerned about the fish, especially the clownfish since they were a gift and i really wanted to give them a better home. I wouldn't mind compensating and cover salt,medication, or giving frags of what corals i currently have.

If you know me you would know im not being lazy, I am truly lucky i even have my tank. i just really cannot have another tank, im half way out the door in my mothers house as it is. Been saving to get out and should be within the next 4-6 months. I live with a warden that could complain just about anything and i dont want to cause any problems. I currently am not aloud to have a ro so i have to buy distilled or ro from a store and not allowed to mix or have salt at the house lol and another tank would totally be out of the question.

I figured i would post here and see if anyone could help me before i just offer all of the fish for adoption so that someone else could treat them and give them a good home.

 

[dj ze]

if your system is well matured i wouldn't worry to much just put garlic ,selcon & vitamin c in da food and regular water changes and you will over come the ich also put a drop of garlic per gallon direct into the tank thats the way i deal with it in my tank and it works like a charm

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

You list of fish does not match medication too well. You should ask whoever that can take care of your fish to hypo instead.

 

[INNEED]

Yup hypo is the way to go... But ur gonna have to sell all your corals....

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Most importantly are any of your other fish showing signs of ich? If not then don't do anything. Feed with garlic extract to boost their immune system. Treating them right now may be more stress on their system and could be more problematic.

 

[JonnyJ]

The two clowns, mandarin and Midas are the only ones who are showing signs. The other guys aren't out much. The masked goby pair hang in the back in a crevice and the tiger blenny is like a rocket.

I feed pe mysis,brine, and rods food soaked in fresh garlic everyday.

Was going to buy garlic extreme and selcon but I figured qt with meds or hypo would be my best bet.

The tank isn't very old a few months. I don't do much maintenance. I like leaving the tank be. 5 gal changes every two weeks. Overkill skimmer etc

I'm a firm believer that ick will just keep coming back and I really don't want to deal with this all the time.

The rock and substrate were from a different 5 year setup.



And I wouldn't attempt hypo in my dt. Would still remove everything and hypo in a hospital tank.

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

To me 4 out of 7 fish have ick is bad. The other ones that you can't see very well may be infected also, just that you can't see well.

Adult Clownfishs usually are very resilient to ick, if they show ick, that usually means your tank is full of ick.

 

[JARRETT SHARK]

To me 4 out of 7 fish have ick is bad. The other ones that you can't see very well may be infected also, just that you can't see well.

+1, some fish are hard to see if they have it until they are floating

 

[JonnyJ]

juvenile clownfish, small

going to start trying to trap them tonight.

 

[adamt]

If you really believe in "leaving the tank be", why would you break it down completely? Most of the fish you named arent going to do well in qt thats medicated. You stand a better chance of keeping those fish alive if increase your water changes, and keep feeding the fish good food to keep their immune systems up. Even if your going to take all the fish out of the tank to medicate them then theres no reason to break the tank down. Leave the system running with no fish until the ich in your tank completes its life cycle, if theres no hosts it will go away eventually. Good luck with it... I know how frustrating ich can be.

 

[JonnyJ]

Thank you all for the replies. I've been doing marine tanks around 6 years. Not my first run in with ick but my first that is going to be hard to treat. My situation at home and these tiny rock dwelling extremely shy fish.

Adam, when i said breaking down i meant removing the rock just to catch the 3 small gobies and then put the rock back. Prob won't be able to catch them without doing so.

I was planning to leave the tank fish-less for a full 8 weeks to insure I don't have a reoccurrence.

This has been going on around 2-3
Weeks now and i have been feeding a wide range of food soaked in garlic. I will be adding selcon and vit c to the mix but my goal is still to get them out and qt them

Plenty of people on here that I have known for years let ick run it's course. The difference is that they have around 5-10x the amount of water volume than me. Some even more, and some run uvs and dont mind if they lose a fish or teo. This was a thought at one point but leaving 7 fish in a 30 gallon tank with ick present doesn't at all go along with my theory of letting the tank just be. There's no escape from the ick and it's getting worse. Don't want to wake up to floaters.

I have read and sat in on a lot of discussions involving ick and have strong feelings against leaving the tank be. I plan on adding more fish and don't want any future problems or outbreaks if they can be avoided.

Thank you all for the heads up on medicating. I have no experience with medicating so I wouldn't have done it without researching.

Going to set a few traps and hypo salinity who I can catch this weekend and place them in a friends system after treatment.

It's only frustrating because the 3 gobies live within actual rock crevices and not to mention the fact I could have avoided it.

 

[KathyC]

Best of luck to you Jonny, your point of view on this is very thoughtful and IMO in the best interest of your fish.
Do let us know how it is going.