Setting up hospial/qt

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ALreefer

Member
So after many many hours of reading and collecting information I have decided it is time to attempt to cure and prevent ich from my tank. I have a 20 long that I am planning to use. I will drill the tank in the side and use a trash can as a sump. Now for the questions...

I have 6 total fish which are: 4" rabbitfish, 4" kole tang, 2 small clowns, 3" diamond goby, 2" bangai cardinalfish. Is the 20 gallon long big enough for all these fish?

Is medication needed to treat ich? My job makes it impossible to check water more than once before 6am and again after 6am so I am worried about copper or hypo salinity treatment. My LFS thinks Microb-lift herbatana is a great product for ich, and I have used it will little success. Could it work better in a bare bottom tank?

Another concern I have with medication is the biological filter. I had thought of purchasing some bioballs and tossing them in the sump for some bacteria. Would hyposalinity or copper kill the bacteria? I planned on starting the biological filter will new bio balls and a small live rock and removing the rock after a good cycle. Any ideas? Or am I doomed to very large daily water changes?

From my research 8 weeks seems to be the amount of time needed in a fallow tank to starve out ich. Am I correct?

I am looking to completely rid ich from my tank and KEEP it out for good. Thanks for help and advise.
 
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DaveK

Well-Known Member
It's asking a lot of a 20 long even with a sump to hold all those fish even for an 8 week quarantine. Once your over that, you should be ok.

As for disease treatment see the sticky threads on the disease - http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/

You'll see that the only methods that work are hyposalinity and copper. As usual, you LFS is clueless, and/or wants to sell you a product that they have in stock.

Yes, almost any med that works will upset the biological filtration, so you are more or less "doomed to water changes", especially in a tank that will be as crowded as yous will be.
 
A

ALreefer

Member
As always thank you for your help DaveK. I currently do 15% water changes every 2 weeks in my display tank, but from what I understand very large and frequent water changes must be done in a tank with little or no biological filter.

So today I lost my Kole tang to ich so I have to get this hospital tank going soon as possible before I have anymore losses. I have decided to use cupramine treatment first to rid the ich. What is an effective method of removing cupramine from the water? Also while the fish are in quarantine for 8 weeks should I treat for anything else as a precaution?
 
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