What to do after copper treatment.

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NitrousXpress

New Member
Hello, i am new to Reef Sanctuary. First off i would like to thank Big Al for directing me to the new thread. Ok here's a little about my tank, i currently have a 55 gallon fowlr tank with a gold stripe maroon, royal gramma, coral beauty, bullet goby, foxface, coral cat and six green chromis. Inverts include, 2 skunk cleaners, 2 emerald crabs, 4 turbo snails and 15 blue legged hermit crabs. About a month ago my tank came down with marine ich. Since then i have qt all the fish a 30 gallon long. I treated with copper for 2 weeks and the fish seem ich free with no flashing or scratching. However, the qt tank has no filter and just a few pieces of freshwater rock. I don't think there was any bio filtration to begin with. I would like to stop doing so many water changes to keep the ammonia down. How can i get my bio filter to start up so i can reduce water changes. right now, i have the DT tank fallow.
 
BigAl07

BigAl07

Administrator
RS STAFF
I don't think there is much way/use to do that now. You can't "Seed" a filter from your DT or you'll start the whole process over again. Keep in mind that the DT has to be totally fish fallow for 8 weeks or you've not defeated the whole ICH cycle.

Good luck and WELCOME to RS :D
 
N

NitrousXpress

New Member
lol my fish look miserable in the qt tank. ok does this mean that i have to continue the water changes for 6 more weeks? I'm using amquel right now to keep the ammonia down. can i put a carbon filter on there? Thanks for the advice.
 
N

NitrousXpress

New Member
thanks!! Ok so this means that i have to continue water changes? Also can i add a carbon filter on there? I don't want my gold stripe maroon to die cuz it's the most expensive fish i own.
 
J

jglas26

Member
As far as the QT is concerned. Yes, it is true that carbon can reduce the effectiveness of medications.

Carbon also has the potential to remove both "good" and "bad" bacterias from the tank. IMO carbon should only be used to "polish" a well established system.

QT or not, I would add "some" LR to it as a means of biofiltration. If there is no LR / LS in there, chances are you don't have any good bacteria "built up" to counter act the fishwaste, etc. Doesn't have to be fancy/expensive...even rubble rock will work. Just that you have something in there.....

For now I'd hold off because you don't want to add anything else to spike the system (LR LS "die off") but definitely something that you want to keep in mind for the future.

Hope this helps and good luck :)
 
N

NitrousXpress

New Member
Thank you all for the good advice and for sharing your knowledge. So far the fish seem to be ok and i have stop the treatment. I got some live rock from my friend and a filter to i am going to put them in the qt after a 50% water change. i hope this starts the bio filtration. Thanks once again for the advice.
 
G

grtdaddy

Member
jglas26 said:
As far as the QT is concerned. Yes, it is true that carbon can reduce the effectiveness of medications.

Carbon also has the potential to remove both "good" and "bad" bacterias from the tank. IMO carbon should only be used to "polish" a well established system.

QT or not, I would add "some" LR to it as a means of biofiltration. If there is no LR / LS in there, chances are you don't have any good bacteria "built up" to counter act the fishwaste, etc. Doesn't have to be fancy/expensive...even rubble rock will work. Just that you have something in there.....

For now I'd hold off because you don't want to add anything else to spike the system (LR LS "die off") but definitely something that you want to keep in mind for the future.

Hope this helps and good luck :)
Click to expand...

please back this up about carbon removing bacteria, good or bad. because i have never heard of that ever....
 
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