Ich infected, quarantine tank needed

J

joshuacohenjc

Reefing newb
My regal/hippo tang got ink (ive had him for about a month already), its difinetly a minor case, he has maybe 10 spots, 5 on each side ( very small dots compared too pics and visor online) he has been scratching ( only after feeding time, not sure why). I've been using garlic with the mysis shrimp. It doesnt look like any other fish have it but my yellow tang and my Bicol angel (as well as the regal tang) are always at my cleaner shrimp. I have a UV sterilizer that I would run on the same timer as my lights (12 hours) ive been running it 24 hours a day since I discovers the ich. I have coral so I cant add copper. I want to quarantine my fish but do I have to remove every fish, or just the sick one. Would I be able to fit 10 fish in a 20 gallon quarantine tank. (regal tang, yellow tang, flame angel, Bicol angel, 4 ocelaris clowns (2 orange, 2 black, all tank bred), six line wrasse, red mandarin.
I also have a cleaner shrimp, a blood red shrimp, crabs and snails, a star fish
For corals, I have a bunch of different zoanthids, fether duster, a hammer coral, an elagance coral and a bubble tip anemone
Help, would a 20 gallon be enough, how big would I need
 
Ich will live in your tank and fish, regardless of whether they show signs of it. As long as your fish are unstressed, they will likely remain free of symptoms of ich. As far as quarantine, sometimes placing a fish in quarantine can be more stressful than just letting them get better on their own. Also, if you put him in quarantine and then reintroduce him to your tank, he is just going to get ich again because it will still be in your display tank. It is likely that he is stress by the small size of your tank (hippo tangs need at least a 180g tank), which is why he became sick. Most everyone has ich in their tanks, they just keep it under control by keeping fish unstressed (e.g., feeding well, choosing fish that are a good match for their tank size, and keeping bullying to a minimum). Honestly, I'd recommend trading him in to your LFS where he can be rehomed in a larger tank rather than quarantining him. A 20g is definitely not big enough to quarantine him, and you would need to quarantine and treat all of the other fish in your tank, and leave your DT fish free for at least 3 months if you really want to get rid of the ich - and then you'd need to quarantine and treat any new fish for several months prior to adding them to your display tank. Its not worth it IMO.
 
Your tank is overstocked, and contains fish that really aren't suited for a 75 gallon tank. Solve those two problems and I'm guessing your ich will clear up
 
Remove all fish!!! Relocate to Q-tank & use hypo or copper. IME regals can be just as bad as an achillies tang. I have all my fish in Qtank right now b/c of ich. Just because the fish don't exhibit signs, does'nt mean the parasite is'nt attached to their gill tissue. Just let your tank run fallow for 2 months so that all the ich in your tank is DEAD. Otherwise, it'll just be waiting for the next opportunity to endanger your fish again
 
Regardless what any of you say, I will be keeping my regal tang, it is not a standard 75 gallon, it is 7 feet long. So I Beleive that it is not the reason, I know the cause of the stress, and I will not be redoing that ever again. Ive learnt from my mistakes and I am very disappointed with the lack of help I am getting here, rather than being critizes, can my question be answered, if I were to add all te fish to a quarantine tank, how Big would the tank have to be.
 
I would put them in at least a 55, but the process of moving and QT could end up being more than they can handle.

And can I see a picture of your tank? Sounds really cool
 
If you have the money I would highly recommend a UV sterilizer. I tried everything from freshwater dips to medications to get rid of ich. I dropped in a UV sterilizer and 1 week later the ich was gone. Now I run it permanently in my subtank and had no further out breaks in main tank.

White ich is very common to breakout if any tangs become stressed. Black ich is very common when foxfaces get stressed.
 
Actually I dont recommend you get a UV sterilizer. They kill off the good and the bad bacteria and really dont do much for the ich. Even if they did kill the ich, it wouldnt do anything about the majority of the ich lifecycle, and you cant make sure that all of your water passes through the sterilizer.
 
i already have one because i had a major algea problem 4 months ago. how else can i treat it with out removing the fish from the tank. i have coral so i can't use copper, and the reef safe products shoot up your ammonia which i don't want. can hypo salinity be done in the main tank or will it kill my coral and inverts
 
Copper would also kill any crabs and snails you have, and would make your tank difficult to purge of copper.

Hypo can be done in the dt, but yes, it would kill corals and inverts. Any treatments should be done in QT. But honestly, if they're eating, they should be able to fight it off themselves. QT'ing would be pointless unless you do it to all your fish and leave your tank fallow for several weeks.
 
ok thank you, so basically, just keep them eating and it will go away on its own?
how do you feel about neon gobys. i hear that are good at getting rid of ich. cleaner wrasses also, but i hear neon gobys are more effective.
should i try it. or will the addiction of a new fish be too stressful
 
joshuacohenjc said:
ok thank you, so basically, just keep them eating and it will go away on its own?
how do you feel about neon gobys. i hear that are good at getting rid of ich. cleaner wrasses also, but i hear neon gobys are more effective.
should i try it. or will the addiction of a new fish be too stressful
Click to expand...


I would not recommend a cleaner wrasse, I have heard that they feed mainly on parasites and there is not enough to go around in a tank. It is more recommended to buy a peppermint shrimp
 
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