How many QT new or sick fish for ich?
 

Over the years I have tried it all...QT everything that goes in the tank from corals to fish to LR...still would get ich. I have tried QTing nothing...of course I got ich. I have tried only QTing new fish for a week to make sure they don't have anything too nasty but if its just a bit of ich, then let them into the display to fight it off...this has worked the best along with heavy feedings three times a day with many vitamins and garlic.

I have found QT to sometimes be way more stressful than letting fish fight off ich. Actually I have had ich in my tanks for a few years now but only ever lost a fish in QT and never in the display. Every fish I have left to fight off ich has made it. So I am wondering what most people are doing? I ask people all the time at my LFS and most say the same thing...no matter what they do, their fish show signs of ich once a month or once a year or today someone told me that after never adding anything new to the tank for two years, ich all of a sudden showed up which I guess means its been there in some form for a while. Just not seen.

As for QTing sick fish, I have stopped unless the ich is out of control. If it does get bad then I do hypo for 2 weeks and put them back to fight the rest off. Hypo has failed me way too many times even when going as low as 1.008 SG for 8 weeks! So I only like hypo to let the fish get "ahead" of the parasites but never again as a long term treatment.

I also kind of wonder how the myth that a fallow tank with have no ich after 6-8 weeks??? I did a search on google scholar a while back and there was a study where ich lived for almost 3 months without a host and then they stopped the study. They don't even know how long that strain was going to make it with NO FISH. So treating for 8 weeks and then putting the fish back in the tank may not do a thing. It will get the numbers of ich way down but not necessarily eliminate it.

I think a lot of people just don't want to admit they let their fish live with ich but in many cases (like mine) other than a few spots every few months, you would never know they have it...no flashing, itching, gasping, ect.

Strong fish, good diet and great water quality=No dead fish IMO.


Whats your opinon/practice when it comes to dealing with ich? I am not looking for advice...just very curious.

I have no opinion on that because I never have diseases problem. I might be lucky? Anyway, I want to follow that post in case the problem show up one day.

Then I guess you do not QT?

I should have started a poll!

What do you do...I am just curious about peoples methods for trying to keep a healthy tank. I assume you look for the healthiest fish and try to keep them happy? Thats kind of my thing now.

I quarantine all new fish to make sure there are no problems and is eating.

Imo I don't think ich is all that serious and if the fish is healthy should have no problems shaking it off but there are other more serious things like marine velvet and If a fish insists on dying I would rather they didn't take out the rest of my stock as well

I'm tagging along on this one, as at the end of January I will finally be adding fish and really unsure of what to do.

Too cold in Yellowknife for Ich... :lol:

I QT if new - at least 4 weeks usually. Not always in my bare QT tank tho, I QT'd the tang in the 27g FOWLR because I thought he wouldn't be happy in the 10g QT, He was healthy, but if he were not it's a lot easier to catch him in the 27g and pull that apart than the DT! I've had a new fish develop ich (my tiny foxface) and I was able to treat him sucessfully, pulling him out of the DT would have been an incredibly hard thing. I tried to catch my yellow wrasse out of there when he developed a pink patch for a week but was unable, I had to hope for the best and feed him well. (which worked that time but don't always count on it!)

Tagging along on this one..... Just started a 20g QT and have yet to put anything in it.

How do people QT live stock that wont or don't eat prepared foods ie. mandarin goby's, or star fish? Or are people just throwing stuff like that in?

because I leave my quarantine tank up all the time and I very rarely get new fish I've been using it as a place to store live rock so there is lots of pods and worms in there. The mandarins were only quarantined for a short time and I actually got 2 of them eating mysis shrimp before being added to the display

Yeah this was the kind of stuff I was interested in.

It really is just curiousity for me. I have found whats working for me and will keeping doing what Im doing but I find it an interesting topic.

I used to stress so much about trying to make sure my tanks were ich free, pull the fish out and QT them, hypo, copper whatever. I lost a lot of fish. I stopped with all that and accepted the fact that my tanks will have ich and focused instead on keeping the fish happy and not one fish has died in that time.

I am by no means saying everyone should have that attitude or that QT is a waste of time but thats just whats working for me.

I do freshwater dips on some fish that are prone to flukes and if I find flukes, I do QT until they are gone. I have had very bad luck dealing with flukes. I find ich a lot more manageable...