Thank gosh for QT tanks...

[FeatherDuster]

About two weeks ago I got a flame angel and placed him in a QT tank. I wasn't going to chance anything since I heard they can be ich carriers when you first introduce them. Apparently they get stressed very easily.

Surprise, surprise, it seemed like he developed ich over night the first day. I lowered the salt levels over a course of three days and there has been no visible signs after day 5 (i understand the parasite could still be there). Although I wish he would eat more.

Should I keep my current salinity levels or should I start to raise it again? And how long should I wait before I add him to the display tank?

Also, is there anything I can do to increase his appetite? I have tried all the food I have available. Which was brine shrimp, mynis shrimp, cyto, garlic soaked pellets, nori, and flake food.

[Catpicklesdog]

I've never had to deal with Ich so I can't help, but this might http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=144242, it's written by reefscape and is all about hyposalinity.

[FeatherDuster]

Thanks for the link. I actually have the hyposalinity down pat. I would just like some suggestions on when I should return my levels to normal. My angel appears to be ich free for past 9 days, but I am worried about leaving the flame angel in such low salinity for too long.

[nycsicktank]

hypo for 6-8 weeks. after you should do fresh water drip. whats your sg?

[FeatherDuster]

hypo for 6-8 weeks. after you should do fresh water drip. whats your sg?

Hmmm 6-8 seems a bit long. I thought 6-8 weeks was recommended for a fallow period with an infected display tank. My main tank never had ich, so its killed off in QT.

My current sg is around 1.013.

[nycsicktank]

indeed 6-8 weeks is long. theres ich cycle where it takes 6-8 weeks to die off. lets say your flame doesnt have one right now and you put to your dt, your putting ick to your dt by putting your flame cause your flame still carries it even though you dont see them.

i believe sg needs to be under 1.010 to kill ick. mine is 1.008

[FeatherDuster]

indeed 6-8 weeks is long. theres ich cycle where it takes 6-8 weeks to die off. lets say your flame doesnt have one right now and you put to your dt, your putting ick to your dt by putting your flame cause your flame still carries it even though you dont see them.

i believe sg needs to be under 1.010 to kill ick. mine is 1.008

Doesn't the life cycle death only apply to a fallow period? Since most people can't lower their DT sg they have to do a fallow period, which means there is not hosts available for the parasite to continue its life cycle. However the lowered sg in the QT is supposed to kill the parasite entirely. Unless I am mistaken.

[nycsicktank]

your right but now i am confused isnt the sg suppose to be under 1.010 for ick to die?

[FeatherDuster]

your right but now i am confused isnt the sg suppose to be under 1.010 for ick to die?

I believe its in the 1.007-1.014 range to effectively kill. It was previously lower the past couple of days, but it was extremely hot today. The downside of a nano tank. I am having my sister pickup some more RO water on her way home. You use up RO fairly quickly during sg changes.

[nycsicktank]

more waters is being used on my qt than my dt. lol
are you feeding anything or going to?

[FeatherDuster]

more waters is being used on my qt than my dt. lol
are you feeding anything or going to?

lol Same here.

I've tried a little bit of all the foods I mentioned on my first post. I used very tiny amounts and cleaned up what I could to prevent overfeeding. I rotate each. Today I will be attempting cyto again.

[nycsicktank]

i wish you good luck! lets get this guys back to healthy again!

[FeatherDuster]

Thanks, looks like I solved the food problem. He was eating the cyto. Finally, I was getting worried. Good thing I bought a new package. I wasn't going to buy cyto anymore because I already feed my picky fish enough foods. I was surprised he rejected mynis shrimp because all my fish love it.

Although, its always fun to watch fish eat cyto, you can barely see the food particles so it looks like the fish are smacking their lips for no reason.

[nycsicktank]

ahaha, its good to hear your fish is eating atleast. oh yeah dont forget to him algae, my had HLLE for a couple of weeks and its healing slowly now.

[schigara]

It applies to both fallow and QT. The life cycle of ich has been stated to be 28 days. It doesn't matter if it's a large group of the parasite in display or just a few newly introduced in a QT. 6-8 weeks........8 weeks is better gives you more insurance that the very last egg has been destroyed once it has hatched.


Doesn't the life cycle death only apply to a fallow period? Since most people can't lower their DT sg they have to do a fallow period, which means there is not hosts available for the parasite to continue its life cycle. However the lowered sg in the QT is supposed to kill the parasite entirely. Unless I am mistaken.

[FeatherDuster]

It applies to both fallow and QT. The life cycle of ich has been stated to be 28 days. It doesn't matter if it's a large group of the parasite in display or just a few newly introduced in a QT. 6-8 weeks........8 weeks is better gives you more insurance that the very last egg has been destroyed once it has hatched.

I wasn't thinking in terms of number, but the way the parasite is killed.

The reason why you have to wait the entire life cycle in fallow is because fallow will only kill one life stage of the parasite (the one that needs a host). So you have to make sure that all parasites have a chance to enter that life cycle stage and be killed.

I was the under the assumption that hypo kills two of the important life stages. It kills the cyst and the free swimming stage. Which greatly reduces the time needed to completely kill the parasite.

I don't mind keeping my fish in QT for another month or so. But I do have a concern will keeping it in lowered salinity for such a long period of time. Which was one of my original questions.

[schigara]

Osmotic regulation is actually easier on most marine fishes at hypo sg levels. I remember reading a few things about hypo not being a great idea for Tangs but I don't remember if it was a concensus among pros or just anecdotal evidence.

I have kept my entire tanks worth of fish including a Tomini Tang and a White Face tang in hypo(1.009sg) QT upwards of 7 weeks. They all behaved and ate normally.

[FeatherDuster]

Osmotic regulation is actually easier on most marine fishes at hypo sg levels. I remember reading a few things about hypo not being a great idea for Tangs but I don't remember if it was a concensus among pros or just anecdotal evidence.

I have kept my entire tanks worth of fish including a Tomini Tang and a White Face tang in hypo(1.009sg) QT upwards of 7 weeks. They all behaved and ate normally.

Thanks! Thats the exact advice I was looking for. I have done hypo before, however I haven't had to do it for such a long period of time and since marine fish are delicate fish its causes me some concern when making such a large adjustment to an important water parameter. Its comforting to know it doesn't carry bad effects.

[schigara]

Just be careful when bringing the fish back up from Hypo to normal sg level. Go slowly. You can harmlessly drop from say............1.025 to 1.009 in a matter of 12-24 hours but going from 1.009 to 1.025 should be done over a period of at least 48-72 hours.