Quarantine: a little survey...

[sproett]

Re: Quarantine: a little survey...

I like the idea of keeping an extra filter on one of my tanks in between use so I don't have to maintain an extra tank.  That just might be easier.  I used fresh water in my tank so that is good news to hear.  
So basically I'm quarantining to see if they harbor any infections.  How long before I'll notice anything?  Three weeks seems a little long but I don't have any idea how long these things take to develop.  Of course, with expensive fish I can totally see why some people use longer q periods.  
BTW- I bumped my temps in my ich tanks to 82 degrees and have fed less and have been medicating once per day.  I always use salt so I didn't have to add any.  I haven't lost any fish but my most expensive fish is acting sluggish.  He's hiding in some plants.  I did a 10% water change on that tank and a 25 % on the other.  All but that one pepped up after the water change last night.  Well, he did pep up for about 5 minutes.  Anyhow, at least I have that good news.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Quarantine: a little survey...

If you are treating for ich I personally like to gravel clean when doing water changes inbetween treatments and probably raise the temp a bit higher slowly.

[sproett]

Re: Quarantine: a little survey...

I did clean part of the gravel when I did my water change yesterday.  I'm planning on doing another small one tonight or tomorrow night.  My tank with the sluggish fish was up to 86 degrees earlier today but I lowered the temp back down to 82.  It makes me nervous having the temp higher than 82 for some reason.  Three fish still have visible ich, the others look fine.  Even better news, in my new tank all the fish do not have visible ich!  Yeah!  I'll continue to treat it for a few more days though to get the all the little buggers.  I swear this will be the last time I ever get ich in my tanks!  Too much stress for me! :(

[Tiapan]

Re: Quarantine: a little survey...

ich can be a ******* i have known it to knock out developed tanks. one of my co workers added a native fish that came in with our feeder comets and she ran her tank at like 85, the ich attacked so fast at that temp that it took out everything in the tank and then the fish it came in on. thats why i dont like to run my tanks too high inless im treating. thats another reason to have heaters even if just for a small hospital tank so you cant treat ich faster, and fungus too.

[sproett]

Re: Quarantine: a little survey...

I lost my first fish to this ich outbreak.  I have one MIA and one that is in obvious distress.  This is not cool. Several others are acting normal.  Agh!

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Quarantine: a little survey...

hows your filtration? surface agitation?

higher temps and meds usually require more oxygen, personally I think ich is one of the easier diseases I have run across. bloat and float is really stressful and then there is pop-eye and hole-in-the-head.

[sproett]

Re: Quarantine: a little survey...

My filtration is fine, fluval 403 on a 55 gallon.  I have a 24 inch air stone going all the time.  My water temp is 82/83 degrees.  The fish that is having such problems is my most expensive fish and I really don't want him to die.  I put him in one of those small breeder things that float in the tank so nobody picks on him.  I put the breeder thing in a pile of floating plants so he feels like he has some cover.  
My other tank that had ich is doing just fine.  I had one casualty but he was new to the tank and I don't think he had ich.  
I am going to continue to do water changes every other day and medicate once per day.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Quarantine: a little survey...

what are you using for meds? did you make sure there is no carbon in the tank?

[Tiapan]

Re: Quarantine: a little survey...

yes need to take carbon on thats a biggie.

[sproett]

Re: Quarantine: a little survey...

I am using Rid Ich and I don't have any carbon in my filter.  I woke up to my red severum dead.  I still can't find the green severum.  I may do a 50% water change and then move all the rocks in hopes of finding him.  All other fish I see in there have no ich on them.  I guess those where just more sensitive or something.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Quarantine: a little survey...

could you take a pitcture of said sick fish?

I have never had any fish die from ich but fish that I see die from ich are usually covered in the stuff.

Sorry if you have posted but is this a new fish that died? How old is the tank? What are the tankmates or habitant of the tank? Water parameters?

[sproett]

Re: Quarantine: a little survey...

Yes I can post a picture of the fish but he's in the freezer right now so I don't know how the picture will turn out.  
The fish is new to the tank.  The tank has been set up for 6 years (not original fish though).  It is a 55 gallon tank.  It has a 5 inch brown knife, a 2 inch green terror, a 3 inch Leporinus, a 4 inch pictus catfish, 2 plecos, and several random tetras/danios from a previous tank.  I realize that this is going to be overstocked when they get to their adult size but I am trying to grow them out now so when we move next year I can set them up in some new tanks that we plan on purchasing.  The missing fish is a 1 1/2 inch green severum and the casualties are the 1 1/2 inch red severum and a 2 1/2 inch kissing gourami.  All the fish have been in there one month or less except the plecos and random tetras/danios.  
Ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates are all 0ppm.  I have about a tbsp of salt per 5 gallons.  I've been treating daily with the rid ich according to the instructions.  I've done 2 10% water changes this week and later today am going to do a 50% today so I can try to find that missing fish.  I keep the water at 82/83 degrees.  
Like I said before, I think these guys died since they are the newest and must have been stressed from the move.  I bought the two severums from Fish Ranch and the gourami from Petsmart.  I didn't quarantine anyone and have learned my lesson on that.  The pictus was from Aquarium World and he had ich but is fine now.  The rest are from Petsmart and all but the green terror and danios had ich and are now fine.  
So to sum up, no one has ich on them anymore.  I'm still going to treat for ich since I read the minimum treatment should be two weeks.  Let me know if you need anymore info.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Quarantine: a little survey...

Green terrors live up to their name so that's were your problem might have started.

Also, I don't think you can have zero nitrAtes with a cycled tank so check your test kit or cycle your tank.

[sproett]

Re: Quarantine: a little survey...

The green terror is pretty nice so far, I haven't seen him bother anyone but I'll keep and eye out for him.  I've heard some are aggressive and others are not so I took the chance that mine would be more on the nice side.  I can always separate him from the pack if he ends up being aggressive.  
I'll pick up a new test kit.  Mine is several years old so maybe it's gone bad.  I wonder how long they stay good.  I might have to get a new set of ammonia/nitrites while I'm there since they are all the same age.  I'll look for an expiration date on the bottles.  I'll let you know what my nitrates ends up being with the new kit.  I'm not concerned with it not being cycled since the filter has been running almost as long as I've had the tank set up, unless all the meds messed with the cycle.  I've heard that can happen.

[Brownsnoutuk]

Re: Quarantine: a little survey...

Take your water to petco, they do free water checks. Its either Petco or Petsmart. Maybe both.