ich treatment for FOWLR tank. Need help

[lonewonderer]

Hello, I'm looking around for an Ich or velvet treatment for my FOWLR tank. I have a 10 gallon quarantine but all 1/2 of the fishes in the DT have ich. Do you have any suggestions which medication really works beside dosing copper on my DT. My fishes are quite big and putting them in that 10 gallon QT is not a good idea. Please help.

[Thrassian Atoll]

Since it's just a fowlr, would hyposalinity be the best route to go?  I don't know, just posing the question.

[lonewonderer]

I have never done Hypo. from what I read is that low SG reduces the chances of parasite being infected. Is that true?

[Tamberav]

You can't use copper, the rock will absorb it.

 

Chloroquine phosphate would kill snails and algae.

 

Hypo will kill inverts, you will need an ATO to make sure it doesn't ever raise during the treatment or you may not cure it. 

[lonewonderer]

Its a FOWLR tank. here are whats in the tank.

 

emperor angel

blue grid angel

powder blue tang

powder brown tang

regal tang

purple tang

snowflake eel

2 blue damsel

tomato clown

niger trigger

[lonewonderer]

here is my filtration. BTW I don't have any inverts or snails

 

30 gallon sump

40 pounds LR

ASM skimmer 240gal capacity

heater

mech media

[Tamberav]

Not sure how a snowflake eel will fair with meds or hypo, I would suggest you research that. My guess is hypo will be the best option here.

[lonewonderer]

ok let me research that. thank you

[seabass]

This is a good article on hyposalinity: http://wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_4/V4I4/hyposalinity/OST.htm  I believe that your eel will tolerate it.

 

You might also consider ParaGuard: http://www.seachem.com/paraguard.php   However, your eel may not tolerate it (or other meds) well.

[lonewonderer]

I have paraguard but i havent tried it. I bought Fritz Medic. Lets see if it works. Thanks seabass!

[seabass]

Some fish are more sensitive to medications than others. Eels, loaches, rays, sharks, and many others are well known for their sensitivity to all kinds of medications.  Seachem recommends starting with a lower dose of ParaGuard and slowly building up the dosage.  I'm not familiar with Medic.  With an eel, you might be better off not using meds and sticking with hyposalinity.

[lonewonderer]

ok let me read that link you sent thanks

[Thrassian Atoll]

Maybe I missed it in the article but what's the lowest you can safely go with corals doing hyposalinity?

[seabass]

Corals and other inverts shouldn't be exposed to hyposalinity.

[lonewonderer]

Seabass, My LFS said they have their FO holding tanks SG is 1.018 and their coral tanks is 1.025 my question is do you know what is the lowest SG that fish can live in? i know hypo 1.009 has a maximum of 6 week. I wanted to have my SG to be low but i wanted it to be my maintaining SG. Do you know what SG is best for fish only tank?

[seabass]

So when you say fish only, does that mean that you won't have a cleanup crew?  If you are keeping snails (or other inverts), you'll have to maintain a higher specific gravity (like 1.022).

[lonewonderer]

No CUC no inverts. no substrate just a hand full of live rocks

[seabass]

I don't know how low you can go for the long term.  Any particular reason you wish to keep specific gravity as low as possible?  I guess I'd take my cue from your LFS and keep it at 1.018.   I'd use a calibrated refractometer to verify it.

[lonewonderer]

yes, that's what they told me. I have a refractoemeter here. BTW 2 days ago I have been dosing ich-x and I bought metroplex and mixed it with the mysis. Some spots on my regal tang is gone as well as the powder blue. I bought some polypmed medic too so i can dose the tank next week. 

[seabass]

So are you going to drop it down to 1.009 to kill the ich, and then raise it back up to 1.018?

[Thrassian Atoll]

Does keeping it at 1.018 all the time help stave off parasites and what not?  I thought fish stores do it just to save money on salt.

[Tamberav]

3 hours ago, TILTON said:

Does keeping it at 1.018 all the time help stave off parasites and what not?  I thought fish stores do it just to save money on salt.

I vote no. I know of a petco who keeps it around 1.018 and they have had ich for literal year's endlessly passing to any fish they get in. Probably helps their damaged gills get more oxygen though. 

 

Hypo is 1.009 I think to kill it. 

[seabass]

44 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

Hypo is 1.09 I think to kill it. 

Yep, well 1.009, but we know what you mean.

 

 

[Tamberav]

3 hours ago, lonewonderer said:

yes, that's what they told me. I have a refractoemeter here. BTW 2 days ago I have been dosing ich-x and I bought metroplex and mixed it with the mysis. Some spots on my regal tang is gone as well as the powder blue. I bought some polypmed medic too so i can dose the tank next week. 

The spots disappearing is part of the life cycle of the parasite so it could come back worse. 

 

Many meds are said to treat but not proved effective. 

 

The only PROVEN methods are:

 

1. Hyposalinity

2. Copper

3. Transfer method

4. Chloroquine Phosphate (needs total darkness)

 

 

Any other med you choose has the risk of not being effective. Never treat with medications AND hyposalinity. One or the other.

12 minutes ago, seabass said:

Yep, well 1.009, but we know what you mean.

 

 

 

 

herp derp my phone 

[lonewonderer]

Yes, That's what seabass told me. Those are the most effective treatment. I have a 10 gallon QT tank but will not fit all of my fishes. I will give these products a shot and see what happens. If the spots comes back then I will do Hypo at 1.010 - 1.012 just to be safe because recently i have a ton of water evap. I just purchased an ATO system and will put it this week. last questions my friends.. If my tank hits hypor state how slowly can i raise the SG back to 1.022? I have a water volume of 150 gallon total. BTW Thank you guys for all the help and input. It is appreciated 100%