need help please!

[milpitian]

i have a saailfin and two yellow tangs(that get along) and my sailfin has ich dots all over its fings. i bought a 40 gallon tank with hang on filter heater and air. im trying to set up a hospital tank and i need help. any info will help thanks. also my fish eat alot and dont seem bothered??

[super stooge]

umm well firstly u have to get that sailfin out and into the qt. the parasite has probably spread into ur system by now and is not just living on the sailfin. ull most likely have to qt all ur fish and leave ur display fishless for about 6 weeks to make the ich starve while u treat with hyposalinity and keep an eye on ur fish in the qt

[gummi]

Could be Ich brought on by stress.

Personally I think the best way of getting rid of a parasite is immediate cupramine treatment in QT. Proven over and over again. Better to undertreat than overtreat...

[steri]

May I recommend using Garlic Xtreme or some type of garlic in their food.

Garlic helps to keep fish's appetites strong, and also helps to keep their slime coating strong (which more or less acts as a fish's immune system).

I used garlic xtreme and a UV sterilyzer when my fish got ich and I didn't lose any fish. You can buy Garlic Xtreme at most LFS for about $18. Just a thought.

[Sk8r]

qt and treat all fishes now.

qt tank is simple barebottom glass box, even tub, with an oldfashioned external airpump and a corner floss filter.

Here is where it gets dicey: feeding your fish will generate ammonia---ammonia will kill your fish: and there are very limited ways to get ammonia out. One is carbon, which sucks it right out but must be changed very often [its sucking ability depletes fast, AND once it fills up it starts releasing everything it collected] like nearly daily when there's little carbon and a lot of problem.
One is water changes---

BUT you can't run carbon with medication or copper: it sucks IT up too and ruins your treatment; and you can't be doing water changes with a treatment, unless you have a reservoir of correct dose treated water to do it with, and that's a pita.

SO...the gentlest and easiest and still effective treatment is hyposalinity. You CAN use carbon with hypo,and you CAN do waterchanges. Hypo WILL kill ich. It is as good as copper for most species.

With tangs, use a 48 hour slow topoff with ro/di water to adjust salinity to 1.009. You will see ph changes. You can adjust this with baking soda. Do not use regular aquarium buffer: it has other things in it.
YOU NEED A REFRACTOMETER AND A PH METER to do this safely, no messing around: this is too delicate.
Mark a 'fill line' on your qt tank to note where water is at perfect salinity re evaporation.
Use one corner filter for every 15 gallons. Change often.
Fish must remain in this tank 4 weeks AFTER the last spot has vanished.
YOU MAY USE PVC PIPE or artificial plants, castles, no problem. Just clean them thoroughly after treatment. Do not use sand, rock, or add inverts. This treatment is lethal to them. Your fish will tolerate it fine.
5 gallons per inch of fish is the proper size of qt tank.

Your main tank should remain fishless for 6-8 weeks, so after your 4th bumpless week, you can start bringing salinity up to match tank very slowly by topping off with salt water.

[milpitian]

as far as the hospital tank i want to make sure i have it right. im going to fill my tank with water from the main tank, hook up the heater, air, and filter. as for filter i have a hang on with option for carbon or not. do i put the filter in my sump to get it ready or do i cycle the hospital tank? im confused can you please help me out? thanks

[tmz]

I take some crushed coral and rock that has been in a tank for a while and use it for denitrification. I've had no issues with it even when dosing copper which I prefer to hypo most of the time. If your fish has lots of spots you risk significant reinfection if you wait a couple of days to adjust for hyposalinity. I have used both and anecdotally speaking have had better results with copper sulfate. It does not seem to affect the bio filter to any gerat degree. The rocks provide a good resting place as well. I put the seeded crushed coral in the cartrige bags for the hob filter. I test for ammonia every few days and use an ammonia alert badge. I also keep ammo lock ,polypad and carbon handy. You do not have to worry about nitrite or nitrate. The toxic effects on fish are minimized by the chlorides in salt water. Just manage the ammonia and treat quickly. Once the crushed coral and rock are expsoed to copper medication they can not be used in any environment which supports invertebrates.They absorb some of the copper and leech it back into the water.