webster1234
Supporting Member
When I started my display tank several months ago, my goal was to QT or dip everything. I didn’t want anything in my tank that I didn’t intentionally put there. My display is 400g and my QT was 30g.
All was going according to plan. Sand was new, LR was dried and re-seeded, etc. Then I ordered a Naso tang male sight unseen. I was expecting a 4” or so fish and when it came in, it was in excess of 8”. I put him in my 30 gallon QT but he was having nothing of it. Poor guy could barely turn around and there was no way he was going to spend 6 weeks in this tank. I was stressing over what to do and went to Petco in a pinch to try and find a larger tank.
While I was there, I ran into Mike from ADG. I asked him his opinion on what to do with this big fish and he said he doesn’t quarantine. He just uses a good UV and cleaner shrimp and never had a problem. He suggested going ahead and putting him in the DT.
I did and everything has been fine for several months, no signs of any illnesses. Since then, I have acquired about 25 other fish of various sizes. I QT’d some but some I didn’t. But I did have a UV and several cleaner shrimp.
Then this past weekend, my big Naso had a small bump show upright in the middle of his forehead. Then the next day, a few more bumps. They look almost like little clumps of white zits. I don’t think it is ich, but it was more than just a scratch from bumping his head on a rock. I could probably catch him, but what is the point in QT’ing one fish without QT’ing all the rest. And would it be more stressful to move him out which could complicate the potential problem, especially for a fish that size?
Dennis over at FJW sells a “medicated” frozen food by Dr G’s and suggested I try treating him with the medicated food in the display tank before I try to quarantine a bunch of fish. I got the food and also called Dr. G (Gonzales) himself. I sent him a picture of the fish and he thought the bumps looked bacterial in nature, but suggested mixing his anti-parasitic and anti-bacterial food together and feeding all fish twice daily for 10 days. That way, we were treating for parasites and bacteria at the same time, just in case. These foods have“real medicine” in them and not something “natural” like pepper or garlic. Thank goodness my fish is eating the food, which can be a problem sometimes.
I am on my second day with no change yet, but I don’t expect any change for a couple more days. Hopefully this will work but this got me thinking. I have read that once you have something like ich in your tank, it will always be there and the only way to completely eradicate it is to move everything to QT, treat the fish with hypo-salinity for 4 weeks, and let the tank go fallow for 6 weeks to let all of any ich that mightbe in there die off.
Otherwise. The ich will always be there just waiting for your heater to break, or ammonia to spike, or whatever causes a stress on the fish and allows the ich to take off.
Before I get a bunch of SPS growing, I am wondering if itwould be better to catch all of the fish, put them in QT for 6 weeks, treat with hypo-salinity, and let the tank go without the fish to break the lifecycle of any “potential” ich that might be in there?
But then I have read that there are other things like flukes and worms that can live for much longer and have a different life cycle. I just care very much about my fish and want to make sure they live a long and healthy life. Hopefully the medicated food will work this time, but I will always be worried about something coming back now.
What do you more serious guys and gals do with your new arrivals and do you worry about pathogens in your fish?
Some articles say that there is no way to have a pathogen free tank because it only takes one drop of contaminated water, and others say that if you QT and treat EVERYTHING, it is indeed possible to have a tank void of any of the common illnesses. I’m torn on which way to go.
Here is a picture of his bumps. Any idea on what they might be?
All was going according to plan. Sand was new, LR was dried and re-seeded, etc. Then I ordered a Naso tang male sight unseen. I was expecting a 4” or so fish and when it came in, it was in excess of 8”. I put him in my 30 gallon QT but he was having nothing of it. Poor guy could barely turn around and there was no way he was going to spend 6 weeks in this tank. I was stressing over what to do and went to Petco in a pinch to try and find a larger tank.
While I was there, I ran into Mike from ADG. I asked him his opinion on what to do with this big fish and he said he doesn’t quarantine. He just uses a good UV and cleaner shrimp and never had a problem. He suggested going ahead and putting him in the DT.
I did and everything has been fine for several months, no signs of any illnesses. Since then, I have acquired about 25 other fish of various sizes. I QT’d some but some I didn’t. But I did have a UV and several cleaner shrimp.
Then this past weekend, my big Naso had a small bump show upright in the middle of his forehead. Then the next day, a few more bumps. They look almost like little clumps of white zits. I don’t think it is ich, but it was more than just a scratch from bumping his head on a rock. I could probably catch him, but what is the point in QT’ing one fish without QT’ing all the rest. And would it be more stressful to move him out which could complicate the potential problem, especially for a fish that size?
Dennis over at FJW sells a “medicated” frozen food by Dr G’s and suggested I try treating him with the medicated food in the display tank before I try to quarantine a bunch of fish. I got the food and also called Dr. G (Gonzales) himself. I sent him a picture of the fish and he thought the bumps looked bacterial in nature, but suggested mixing his anti-parasitic and anti-bacterial food together and feeding all fish twice daily for 10 days. That way, we were treating for parasites and bacteria at the same time, just in case. These foods have“real medicine” in them and not something “natural” like pepper or garlic. Thank goodness my fish is eating the food, which can be a problem sometimes.
I am on my second day with no change yet, but I don’t expect any change for a couple more days. Hopefully this will work but this got me thinking. I have read that once you have something like ich in your tank, it will always be there and the only way to completely eradicate it is to move everything to QT, treat the fish with hypo-salinity for 4 weeks, and let the tank go fallow for 6 weeks to let all of any ich that mightbe in there die off.
Otherwise. The ich will always be there just waiting for your heater to break, or ammonia to spike, or whatever causes a stress on the fish and allows the ich to take off.
Before I get a bunch of SPS growing, I am wondering if itwould be better to catch all of the fish, put them in QT for 6 weeks, treat with hypo-salinity, and let the tank go without the fish to break the lifecycle of any “potential” ich that might be in there?
But then I have read that there are other things like flukes and worms that can live for much longer and have a different life cycle. I just care very much about my fish and want to make sure they live a long and healthy life. Hopefully the medicated food will work this time, but I will always be worried about something coming back now.
What do you more serious guys and gals do with your new arrivals and do you worry about pathogens in your fish?
Some articles say that there is no way to have a pathogen free tank because it only takes one drop of contaminated water, and others say that if you QT and treat EVERYTHING, it is indeed possible to have a tank void of any of the common illnesses. I’m torn on which way to go.
Here is a picture of his bumps. Any idea on what they might be?
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Let us know how it goes.
