Hello all
I have a 10G that was acting as a quarantine/shrimp tank that seems to have ich now. Once the current batch of fish in the tank were out of quarantine, the tank was going to be relagated as a (hopefully!) cherry shrimp breeding tank. The tank is also where we propagate cuttings from other pants for our 90G planted tank. The tank is very heavily planted, and contains about a dozen cherry shrimp and 6 Amano shrimp. Ammonia and nitrites are zero. Nitrates are about 5.0ppm (it's less than 5, but more than zero on my test kit). Ph is 7.
The tank initially had 5 red Serpae tetras (?? Not sure exactly what these are - they were bought as 'Red Flame Tetras', and we got them when they were quite small. They are some sort of red flat tetra, like a Phantom tetra), which had been there several months, and, added about three weeks ago, 6 rummy nosed tetras. All was well.
Foolishly, last weekend, I bought 5 Otocinclus, and a small Sturisoma panamense. Two of the Otos have since died, but the remaining 3 and the Sturisoma seem OK. However, I see the telltale white spots on the rummy-nosed tetras this morning. Great.
So, I filled up the 30 gallon tank, put the heater in, added Prime, the temp is about 80. The plan is to move all the fish to the 30 gallon. I'll treat the 30 gallon with 1/2 strength Coppersafe and slowly up the temperature to 86 over the next few days, and hopefully that will take care of things.
I'm assuming that the ich in the 10 gallon will die within a few days without a fish host - shrimp don't count - correct?
And the second assumption - the lifecycle of the ich in the 30 gallon should be very short as well, as it will only come in with the fish, and the copper/temperature should make short work of it. Is this correct?
Any suggestions welcome,
Thanks
Brian
I have a 10G that was acting as a quarantine/shrimp tank that seems to have ich now. Once the current batch of fish in the tank were out of quarantine, the tank was going to be relagated as a (hopefully!) cherry shrimp breeding tank. The tank is also where we propagate cuttings from other pants for our 90G planted tank. The tank is very heavily planted, and contains about a dozen cherry shrimp and 6 Amano shrimp. Ammonia and nitrites are zero. Nitrates are about 5.0ppm (it's less than 5, but more than zero on my test kit). Ph is 7.
The tank initially had 5 red Serpae tetras (?? Not sure exactly what these are - they were bought as 'Red Flame Tetras', and we got them when they were quite small. They are some sort of red flat tetra, like a Phantom tetra), which had been there several months, and, added about three weeks ago, 6 rummy nosed tetras. All was well.
Foolishly, last weekend, I bought 5 Otocinclus, and a small Sturisoma panamense. Two of the Otos have since died, but the remaining 3 and the Sturisoma seem OK. However, I see the telltale white spots on the rummy-nosed tetras this morning. Great.
So, I filled up the 30 gallon tank, put the heater in, added Prime, the temp is about 80. The plan is to move all the fish to the 30 gallon. I'll treat the 30 gallon with 1/2 strength Coppersafe and slowly up the temperature to 86 over the next few days, and hopefully that will take care of things.
I'm assuming that the ich in the 10 gallon will die within a few days without a fish host - shrimp don't count - correct?
And the second assumption - the lifecycle of the ich in the 30 gallon should be very short as well, as it will only come in with the fish, and the copper/temperature should make short work of it. Is this correct?
Any suggestions welcome,
Thanks
Brian
