Will a UV sterilizer kill my existing ich?

[Solarfall]

My powder brown and cowfish have ich.
The cowfish seems to be fighting it off pretty easily but the tang gets worse every day, I'm seeing it on his eyes now. They are both eating like pigs though.

I'm in the middle of setting up a QT from a 29 gallon tank I found in someone's garbage, but I'm starting to not feel like doing this hospital thing.

If I got a UV sterilizer would it be the end all solution, or is it more of a preventative?

 

[dcantucson]

I have had very good results with my UV lights and believe that it will indeed help to rid your water from any parasites such as ick. I think it depends on how badly your tank is infected but I think in time it will kill them off. I would recommend purchasing one which is a little larger than required for your tank size.

 

[Solarfall]

I'm going through with the hospital tank, my tang probably wouldn't make it the few days before I would be able to get a UVS. I literally check every half hour or so and it seems to get worse.
And since I can't do copper with the cowfish being scaleless, I guess I'll have to try hyposalinity.
The tank's like 2/3 full now and I'm still making RO water, wish me luck.

 

[dcantucson]

It will look better in the mornings and worse by evening as the parasites go through their cycle.

GOOD LUCK!

 

[Rcpilot]

And since I can't do copper with the cowfish being scaleless, I guess I'll have to try hyposalinity.
The tank's like 2/3 full now and I'm still making RO water, wish me luck.

I'm sure you already know this, but for those who dont:

NEVER combine hyposalinity & copper at the same time. It'll kill the fish.

You can drop the salinity down and treat like that.

OR you can treat with copper (you can't because of the cowfish) in a tank with standard salinity (1.020 - 1.028)

But you can't drop a hospital tank down to hyposalinity AND add copper. It'll overdose the fish by about 10x and kill them. Copper is much more active in lower salinity.

 

[Solarfall]

Thanks, RC. I knew I couldn't do both but didn't really know why.

I've got them both in the QT now in a salinity of 1.023, whereas the DT is 1.026. I figure I'll bring it down 2 thousandths every day until it's at what? like 1.015?

Took me like a half hour straight to get my powder brown out, and I knocked over my leather several times, but everything seems okay.

 

[ccCapt]

You need your salinity at 1.009 for hypo.

 

[Melosu58]

ATJ's Marine Aquarium Site - Reference - Hyposalinity Treatment

 

[Solarfall]

Well my powder brown is dead, but I've been drinking, so it's okay. His body got caught in the power head intake so he's mangled and I was really upset earlier. Sorry if this is a weird a post. I don' t like drinking/scouring for bodies, but friends are over.

EDIT: SORRY WEIRD POST OVERALL, i'M A WEIRD DRUNK PLEASE IGNORE ALL THAT!SORRY! BLAHHHH

 

[dcantucson]

Sorry about your Tang, Solarfall.:( Drink and post any time you wish! :)

 

[sen5241b]

The copper can be applied faster than the hypo-salinity which can take days.