Please help - issues w/ quarantine and ick

[ShellBell]

Hello

My 1 1/2 year old reef tank has come down with ick. I have lost a couple of fish and my cinnamon clowns are starting to get it. I set up a 20 gallon quarantine tank last night and have a few questions

-How do I get it to cycle quick so I can use it as a hospital tank ASAP?

-Should I move my tang, clowns, goby, and wrasse (among others) to the 20 gallon tank and treat them or only treat the fish with symptoms, I am about 2 weeks into the ick process, I am treating with garlic and a reef safe no ick (I know they say it does not work but I will try anything at this point)?

-What is the best treatment for ick once the fish is in the hospital tank?

PLEASE HELP ME!!! I am so depressed about this whole situation - I have done tons of research about ick and need some friendly advise.
Thanks in advance.

[doox00]

go out and get a sponge filter and put it in your main tank for a couple weeks to build a bacteria colony, in the meantime I guess just large water changes often in the qt?

[ShellBell]

Thanks for your response!!!!

I will definitely get a sponge filter!!!

I wasn't aware that frequent water changes would help the cycle - I knew that it caused a cycle - thanks for the info!!

Anyone else?

[Clown-N-Around]

I keep my hospital tank empty/broken down. If I need to set it up, I mix up the right amount of salt water and use water from my display for the hospital tank and replace the display water with the new salt water.

I keep a sponge that fits in the hospital tank's filter in the fuge of my display.

IMO, the lack of cycle in the hospital tank is outweighed by the benefit of treating your livestock sooner. If it were me, I would move the affected fish for treatment as soon as the QT tank is set up. You will need to do frequent water changes to control the levels in the hospital tank since there has been no buildup of bacteria to control them for you. To keep from bio overload in the QT, I think I would start with the affected fish only and move any others as soon as they show any signs of ich.

IME, even with the "cycled" sponge, which I continue to do since I know it helps, I need to do frequent water changes since there is intentionally no live rock or sand bed to provide a sufficient bacterial growth environment. I use PVC parts as hiding places in the QT so that every thing can be sterilized.

We have battled ich off an on in our fish only tank. Isolating the puffer (he is always first) as soon as he displays any symptoms and treatining with copper seems to work the best.

[ShellBell]

Could you recommend a brand of copper based treatment to get?

[ShellBell]

Do you take the chance of transferring meds when you switch your sponge to and from the quarantine into the display (even after rinsing)?

[AustinVines]

Seachem Cupramine is widely considered a top rated copper treatment. I would definitely get a new sponge each time I finished QTing fish since it would release copper into your display tank which would kill your inverts probably. Just pop the new sponge in your sump/fuge of your display tank when you are finished with the QT until your next issue. You could actually add the new one to the sump/fuge when you start your QT, I suppose. Lots of water changes are going to be needed for awhile in your qt tank until the ammonia/nitrite gets under control.

Good luck and I hope your fish are OK.

[ShellBell]

Thanks for everyone's help!!! I have done plenty of research on the subject but I just wanted some personal opinions. I really appreciate it. Ick is a hard thing to deal with - but I am not giving up yet .


Any other opinions and/or suggestions would still be greatly appreciated.