Setting up a quarantine tank

[azpt]

I'm very new to this salt water tank phenomenon. I inherited a 150 gallon bow front tank with my new home I purchased. In it, was a mature lion fish (about 8" inch body lenght), a 24" mooray eel. and a think layer of crushed coral along the bottom of the tank. Also about a dozen or so large pieces of rock. (live rock? not sure?)

There is a sump underneath. I recently added a G3 protein skimmer which helped tremendously with clearing up the water. I check the water with the little dip sticks from my LFS. Everything seems to be fine. For about a month, I've been feeding the lion and the eel, live goldfish, frozen krill, and/or frozen silversides.

About 2 weeks ago I went down to the local fish store (I'm assuming that's what LFS means on all these posts) and bought a wrasse (blue,green, really pretty, not sure exactly what kind) and a tusk fish (orange stripes, also real pretty). I acclaimated them as instructed by the store. This acclamation consisted of slowly mixing my tank water with the store water before dumping them into my tank.

After adding them into my tank, they seemed fine, nobody was fighting, everyone was eating after the first day.

Then after a few days I noticed white spots on the tusk fish. Also, the tail of the tusk had a noticable white spot (parasite?) that seemed to be eating away at its tail.

I seeked help from the LFS, they suggested Garlic, and I tried that.

It didn't really do the trick. I lost the tusk fish 2 days ago. Honestly at this point I thought I just bought a sick fish, and oh well, sh*t happens. However, now my wrasse is sick and my lion is sick too!

I read most of the post entitled "Is this ich and how can I help him?"
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=167243
There's a lot of good stuff in here! Particulary from Newflee and TerryB. After reading this, I'm convinced I have ick in my tank and I need to get it out. It seems the best way to do this is by setting up a quarantine tank and treating the sick fish.

I also read the really good article written by Steven Pro about quarantine tanks. http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/sp/feature/index.php

Needless to say, I'm convinced about quarantine tanks, and I will never just dump a store bought fish into my tank again.

My question(s) are these?
1. I don't think I have a bio filter now on my main display. What's a good reasonably priced one to get? Do I let it run on my main display first before I setup up on my quarantine tank? Something about letting it become established?
2. My eel doesn't seem to be sick. Should I also put him in the quarantine tank for 40 days? If I don't, will the absence of the 2 fish for 40 days be enough to kill the cycle of the ick, or will the ick still be alive through the eel?
3. Do I use water from my main tank to fill the quarantine tank?
4. How often do I do water changes on the quarantine tank? Will the instructions for the copper treatment tell me that?
5. What's a good copper treatment to buy? Copper tester to buy?
6. What's a good salinity tester to buy? I bought a cheap one, but it doesn't seem to be too accurate.
7. Does a 30 gal tank seem adequate? I'm hoping to get the whole quarantine setup done in the next 48 hours for under $250. Does this sound feasible?

[SAT]

azpt,

[welcome]

First off, I notice you are feeding live goldfish. That's OK as a special treat, but freshwater fish are an incomplete diet for saltwater fish.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-11/index.php

I recommend hyposalinity instead of copper. It's much less stressful for the fish. Make sure you have a refractometer.

Now, about your questions:
1. I don't think I have a bio filter now on my main display. What's a good reasonably priced one to get? Do I let it run on my main display first before I setup up on my quarantine tank? Something about letting it become established?
If you already have Ich in the tank, you don't have time to establish a bio filter. I suggest getting a sponge filter or a bio-wheel, let it run over night in your display tank to be seeded, then put it in the quarantine tank. It won't do much good for a week or so. In the mean time, you will need to be changing lots of water and using an ammonia detox solution to keep the toxins under control. I suggest 50% daily water changes.

2. My eel doesn't seem to be sick. Should I also put him in the quarantine tank for 40 days? If I don't, will the absence of the 2 fish for 40 days be enough to kill the cycle of the ick, or will the ick still be alive through the eel?
Eels are known to be resistant to Ich. However, it is not known whether they are totally resistant -- enough to prevent any reproduction of the disease. The conservative approach is to treat the eel the same as the other fish. Don't use copper treatment with an eel, by the way.

3. Do I use water from my main tank to fill the quarantine tank?
That's how I do it.

4. How often do I do water changes on the quarantine tank? Will the instructions for the copper treatment tell me that?
Let your ammonia test kit be a guide. Keep changing water as long as it's reading above 0.1ppm. If you really want to use copper, use a test kit to manage the dosage -- that's the only safe & effective way to use it.

5. What's a good copper treatment to buy? Copper tester to buy?
Cupramine and the test kit from Seachem. Some test kits don't work with Cupramine.

6. What's a good salinity tester to buy? I bought a cheap one, but it doesn't seem to be too accurate.
Use a refractometer. Hydrometers suck.

7. Does a 30 gal tank seem adequate? I'm hoping to get the whole quarantine setup done in the next 48 hours for under $250. Does this sound feasible?
It's a little tight, but you can probably get away with it.

Here's another site that you may find helpful:
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/fishdiseases.html

Good luck!