New Tank. Should I QT fish from my old system?

[Sky's Reef]

So I bought a new tank, stand, hood the works. Good deal and couldn't pass it up.

My question is I have 5 tangs; a purple, a red sea desjardin, two yellows, and a tomini. All at 5+ inches. My new display is 185 gallons Tang Police lol. I've had all these fish for over a year. I bought a blue tang a year ago and did not qt. Of course, a few days later all my tangs had ich. All survived but the blue. I have not seen ich on any of my fish in nearly 10 months and all are fat and appear healthy.

My question is should I QT all my existing fish prior to introducing them to my new system? or treat with copper? I am going to let the tank establish for a while. So I'm in no rush just want to keep ich out of this sytem and I will always QT all new additions.

Thanks
Skyler


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[newtothis]

Even though it's not visible to the naked eye, but more then likely is dormant in the fish gills u till stress then it'll rear it's ugly head. On the safe side, it wouldnt hurt to medicate them. Just dose slow and spread it out.

 

[Sky's Reef]

that was my understanding as well. I was looking for verification. any other opinions?

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[reefes pieces]

If u have any ich sensitive fish on ur must have list then go for it. Like James said it's not always visible to the naked eye

 

[rayray]

I would not qt. Just feed a lot more good quality food in preparation for the stress of a new tank. I would buy & QT all new fish you plan on adding, then add all of them at the same time to the new tank.

IME if i dont add a new fish for over 6 months & feed a healthy amount the current fish never show signs of signs of ich. But I agree its still there. Unnecessary Copper treatment is hard on fish organs, combined with a tank transfer & you might loose fish thay are otherwise healthy. Ich is considered an opportunistic disease that kills sick fish. A few more years of reefing and learning how to keep fish fat & not bullied and you will have a good handle on ich.

 

[RVJ]

pm sent

 

[Sky's Reef]

thanks for the offer rvj I may take u up on that if its still available when I head south in two weeks

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[Sky's Reef]

I would not qt. Just feed a lot more good quality food in preparation for the stress of a new tank. I would buy & QT all new fish you plan on adding, then add all of them at the same time to the new tank.

IME if i dont add a new fish for over 6 months & feed a healthy amount the current fish never show signs of signs of ich. But I agree its still there. Unnecessary Copper treatment is hard on fish organs, combined with a tank transfer & you might loose fish thay are otherwise healthy. Ich is considered an opportunistic disease that kills sick fish. A few more years of reefing and learning how to keep fish fat & not bullied and you will have a good handle on ich.

I have been able to keep all of these fish healthy for quite some time. I am however worried that I will waste my time quarantining new fish only to have them contract ich from the fish I currently have as all my research has suggested that my current fish still have ich. I do not believe that the ich is gone more so that it is just dormant and still alive in the gills of my current fish as some of the gentlemen said above.

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[Sky's Reef]

I am also considering setting this tank up as a hyposalinity treatment center and then gradually converting it to a reef. any comments on that?

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[RVJ]

thanks for the offer rvj I may take u up on that if its still available when I head south in two weeks

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you got it brother

 

[newtothis]

I am also considering setting this tank up as a hyposalinity treatment center and then gradually converting it to a reef. any comments on that?

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If I was in your shoes (and we both had are moment of pain, poured over web page , read till our eyes bleed), and of course have the space and resource. I would setup your DT' let it cycle. I would medicated all your current livestock with cupramine in a controlled tank( 20L, since the amount of fish) for 2wks, don't do any WC so you wouldn't have to redose and measure its a PIA. Just replenish evaporation. 3rd week gradually over the course of the week drop dosage level with WC. By weeks end give them nice dip in a bucket. Handscoop them out and release them into a holding tank and observe them while your DT go thru it's cycle. By the time your DT is fully cycled, give them another dip in a bucket and Handscoop them out. Into their new sterile environment. Now that just being a little over paranoid, but that's just me walking in your shoes after loosing lots of hard earned money down the drain. I would keep the observation tank running and just ghost feed it or keep a couple of fish as a permanent resident. I also would keep a couple bag of ceramics In Your DT sump at all time . Why, so that in the event of a break out and you need to start a hospital, now you got yourself a bag of bacteria ready to colonize your hospital. As for the dosage wise, follow the instruction and spread that dosage over a 4 day period, instead of half now and remainder after 24hr. The first half IME with cupramine is the killer. Why, BC copper will demise your bacteria colony with the 1st drop. In essence, give your bacteria a chance to regroup. It amazing with just 1/4 dose today , another tomorrow, etc. how successful you will be. Ok, you can have your shoes back...

 

[civicdemon]

What im planning on doing, when i upgrade. Is setting up my new tank and letting it cycle. Then add more live rock and some of my live rock to it and keep an eye on it. I then plan on moving all my corals over includding some pieces of live rock. After this i plann on slowly lowering the salinity in the first tank to use it as hypo salinity tank for a couple month. Then after that i will add my fish to the new tank.

 

[rayray]

All good points.

My opinion is just for you to think about. This is not another thread just about how to treat ich. You already have a group of healthy fish. IMO by the rules of triage these current healthy fish are the priority bc they are in front of you now. They are fat, have no signs of ich, are showing healthy grazing behavior, they will live if you do nothing different. If you prophylactically treat there is an "x%" chance a few will die. BTW, do not do copper & hypo at the same time.

we all have to go through the super QT / hospital / every treatment phase. So soon you will have an ich free (not really) new tank with your old fish. You have to assume all new fish, coral & substrate have ich. At some point down the road youll see white spots again & you will be back where you are now. All im saying is learning how to sucessfully live with ich is important too. Youre already on a winning streak.

 

[newtothis]

All good points.

My opinion is just for you to think about. This is not another thread just about how to treat ich. You already have a group of healthy fish. IMO by the rules of triage these current healthy fish are the priority bc they are in front of you now. They are fat, have no signs of ich, are showing healthy grazing behavior, they will live if you do nothing different. If you prophylactically treat there is an "x%" chance a few will die. BTW, do not do copper & hypo at the same time.

we all have to go through the super QT / hospital / every treatment phase. So soon you will have an ich free (not really) new tank with your old fish. You have to assume all new fish, coral & substrate have ich. At some point down the road youll see white spots again & you will be back where you are now. All im saying is learning how to sucessfully live with ich is important too. Youre already on a winning streak.

Ray just summed it all up for us. " leArning to live with ICK"...

 

[Sky's Reef]

I am a bit worried about quarantining my current fish because I don't want them to stress and see the ich rear its nasty face again. I have the tangs spread out in two separate 60 gallon tanks after taking down my 240 (hated the acrylic and the enclosed top). so I could quarantine them in their current tanks after taking out my rock and coral. I treated my tank with some reef safe ich treatment and for like two or three weeks and it disappeared. I'm honestly not even sure their still infected but I've had these fish for so long I'm attached and would be pretty upset if any died.

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