It's my first post to this site, so please "play nice". For those in the "know" this may be a stupid question, but it's an important one to me.
I have a 100 gal reef tank (set up 12 yrs), went "brain dead", and put a powder brown tang into it without putting it into my quarantine tank first (stupidity has no age limit). He has been eating like a pig since day one, but developed ich after about a week in the tank (typical symptoms, at first a few spots, then none for a week, then more..), and I know that if I don't properly treat it, he will die an unnecessary death (nobody should take a healthy fish out of the ocean, and let it die a slow death because of neglect). It's a mistake I will not duplicate, I care too much about these beautiful creatures.
To bring my powder brown back to health, I'm going to treat it in my smaller hospital tank, with hyposalinity instead of copper. Question 1: What salinity is low enough to kill the ich, and high enough to lessen the strain on the fish?
I know that the only way to rid my 100 gal tank of ich is to remove all hosts, so the "cycle of life" will be broken. I currently have 2 clown fish, and a coral beauty in the tank, which are not succeptible to ich (or at least I've never had any problem, or have heard otherwise).
Question 2: Can I leave fish that are not succeptible to ich in the tank, and just remove the tang (which is a definate host)? If my thinking is correct, the fish that don't get ich will not be continuing the life cycle of the ich, because these fish do not act as hosts.
If I'm wrong about the other fish not being "suitable ich hosts", (because I suffer from "stinkin thinkin"), I've wasted my time.
Thanks for the help, I appreciate you taking the time to read this long post. Don't "pound on me" too much, I know I acted like a novice, and should have know better. I had a regal tang that lived in my tank for 9 years, so I'm not totally without a "clue", just "partially".
Jim H.
I have a 100 gal reef tank (set up 12 yrs), went "brain dead", and put a powder brown tang into it without putting it into my quarantine tank first (stupidity has no age limit). He has been eating like a pig since day one, but developed ich after about a week in the tank (typical symptoms, at first a few spots, then none for a week, then more..), and I know that if I don't properly treat it, he will die an unnecessary death (nobody should take a healthy fish out of the ocean, and let it die a slow death because of neglect). It's a mistake I will not duplicate, I care too much about these beautiful creatures.
To bring my powder brown back to health, I'm going to treat it in my smaller hospital tank, with hyposalinity instead of copper. Question 1: What salinity is low enough to kill the ich, and high enough to lessen the strain on the fish?
I know that the only way to rid my 100 gal tank of ich is to remove all hosts, so the "cycle of life" will be broken. I currently have 2 clown fish, and a coral beauty in the tank, which are not succeptible to ich (or at least I've never had any problem, or have heard otherwise).
Question 2: Can I leave fish that are not succeptible to ich in the tank, and just remove the tang (which is a definate host)? If my thinking is correct, the fish that don't get ich will not be continuing the life cycle of the ich, because these fish do not act as hosts.
If I'm wrong about the other fish not being "suitable ich hosts", (because I suffer from "stinkin thinkin"), I've wasted my time.
Thanks for the help, I appreciate you taking the time to read this long post. Don't "pound on me" too much, I know I acted like a novice, and should have know better. I had a regal tang that lived in my tank for 9 years, so I'm not totally without a "clue", just "partially".
Jim H.
