white clouds in an ich-y tank

[mpg]

i just bought 3 long-finned white clouds from my LFS (actually the fins are only a little bit longer than normal). the tank that i bought them from had several other fish sick with ich in it (barbs, sharks). the entire white cloud school (12-18) seemed unaffected. i couldn't resist buying them, in spite of the obviously sick tank.

i brought them home and quarantined them. i'm wondering if i ought to medicate them even though they seem fine? and how long should i keep them quarantined? a week?

thanks

 

[Angelfish]

Its always risky to purchase fish from an ich infested tank, but you were smart to quarantine the white clouds. There is some ich medicine that you can use to prevent ich if you dont have it. Id recomend using that, its the same stuff that is used to treat ich, just use a smaller dosage.

 

[Slacker]

Definatly treat them. Even if they dont appear to have it, they might be carrying it. And you really dont want your other fish to get it. I suggest typical Ich medications =)

 

[Fishman24]

Keep for about 2 weeks in quarantine. Can't hurt to medicate the Qtank as well. Just remember that ick can take up to 14 days to appear on the fish as white dots.

 

[colesea]

I would recommend keeping them in quarantine at least four weeks, but that's just me.

You can try preventative treatment, just be aware that doing so requires you to keep very close tabs on your tank. I would personally wait to see if the fish develop symptoms before doing any treatment. All fish carry ich, whether you place them on preventative medication or not, and stress (temerature stress, new home stress, new introduction stress) is what turns it into an outbreak. There is no garantee that preventitive treatment will prevent an outbreak even when you move them into their permanant home.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If the fish don't seem sick now, do not medicate them. Over-medication can lead to medication resistant ich. Ich has a seven day life cycle, that is why I recommend waiting four weeks instead of two. Also, four weeks will give you plenty of time to make q-tank parameters match main tank parameters so that the move to the main tank is as stress free as possible.
~~Colesea

 

[mpg]

thanks all. they do seem perfectly fine now. i already gave them 1 dose of a two day ich medicine. so i think it's better that i give them the second dose tonight. but then no more.

at first i thought they weren't doing so well. they were just hanging out on the bottom of the q-tank. lost all their color. not eating.

but today they were nice and colorful, chasing each other in and out of the bubble stream. they weren't eating. but then i figured out they just don't like the flake food. when i threw some freeze dried worms in, they went after it straight away.

4 weeks is a long time for them to be in the little 2.5 gallon q-tank. but better safe than sorry.

next question is what should i do for the q-tank after the fish are moved? disinfect it? let it sit for another 2-4 weeks? there are some snails and java moss living in there now.

 

[colesea]

Hmm...If it didn't have living things in it, I'd say simply take it apart and bleach it. You can keep an extra filter on your main tank, or keep an extra sponge on your current filter, so that you have an availble beneficial seed bed of bacteria to jump-start a q-tank cycle again when you need too.

But if you can resist the temptation to turn your q-tank into a showcase tank, leave it up and running. You can use it to grow out your java moss or other plants. It can grow out your snails if you plan to eventually put those in your main tank, or just run while looking pretty and empty. Leaving an empty tank to run though does kill off your bio-filter, so you may need to prime your cycle a few times by adding ammonia in a fishless cycle method.
~~Colesea

 

[mpg]

uh-oh. this morning one of the new girls was showing a few white spots on her tail.

so now i guess i have to keep up the medicine. add some salt and increase the temperature.

should i increase water change frequency? (10% every day) or will that just stress the fish out more?