Removing ALL fish from the system to erradicate disease?

[Wrench]

I have made the mistake of never quarantining anything that's gone into my system. New additions to the system are always a crap shoot now and I am apprehensive to do so. I am entertaining the idea of removing all fish from the display, QT'ing and treating before returning them to the system but I have a few questions.

 

I have the means to house all of my fish in a seperate system. I have an 8' long compartmentalized tank, sump, skimmer and UV that I can set up. What would be an acceptable method of filtration? I have read to use an HOB filter with media cycled in an established system. Wouldn't the use of antibiotics negate this method? What about amquel or something similar? How frequently should I do water changes?

 

How soon could I safely add fish to this new system?

 

What should I treat with? Prazipro, copper and furan 2?

 

How long should I leave the system fish-less? I know the system has C.irritans and some other disease that I haven't been able to ID.

 

How would the corals and other inverts fare without fish? My initial thought is that they'd be fine but I am concened that the bacterial populations will dwindle and that I will have to re-cycle the tank when adding the fish.

 

Any input will be GREATLY appreciated!!

 

 

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[davelin315]

Why treat unless you see symptoms? Stressing the fish out and putting them through treatment for unknown diseases is a terrible risk to take. You not only cause stress by removing them, but then putting them back you're causing them to redo their pecking order again. Plus, there's no guarantee that you'll get every parasite and disease out of your system just by letting it go fallow for 6 weeks - there are some pathogens that could stay in there beyond that time period and then you're right back to square one. As the adage goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[Jan]

I did come across an article that gave step by step directions on how to reduce parasites in the marine tank. We all have them, some more than others but we don;t have them all. The last and most drastic suggestion I read was to break down the system, sterilize and start up again. I also read that by removing all fish and inverts and increasing the temperature to 90 and above you eradicate most parasites, but it's a crap shoot. You will stress the fish by moving them but if they are in QT and starts to show signs of distress or illness you can get a better handle on it and have a wide variety of treatment options you wouldn't otherwise have if you left them in your tank with LR and LS. I also don't think there's anything wrong with treating fish prophylactically. Some LFS do it and we get healthier fish from it.

 

I had no idea that my engineer goby had worms until I treated with copper and they came out. I have a mixed reef so increasing the temperature or treating the tank with medication is out of the question. I think it all boils down to how far you're willing to go. Weigh your losses compared to what you may gain in the long run. Every situation is different. Everyone's system is different.

 

It's never too late to start a QT:) . I do believe that the more parasites you introduce, the more you increase the chance of some sort out outbreak.

 

I agree with Dave "If it ain't broke don't fix it".

Edited August 16, 2011 by Jan

[flowerseller]

Tony,

 

Are there corals in this display tank?

 

 

I'd get a good UV system up and running on the display.

I realize that only the water that flows through the unit is affected but adding one does help during out breaks and as prevention moving forward.

Slower flow is best for disease prevention, faster for algae/slime issues.

Keep the Q sleeve clean and change the bulb as directed from then on.

 

If no corals, or you choose to remove them to a temp set up, you can use hypo on the display with the fish still in it.

Dropping the SG quickly to 1.014 and as low as 1.009 in you are okay reducing micro populations temporarily, they bounce back fast.

 

Qt is best with a heater, no to low light, an air stone and or small power head aimed at the surface to create turbulence for gas exchange and water changes

to keep a cycle in check. ie ammonia, nitrite. Watch ammonia, seachem makes a neat ammonia patch that works, and keep changing water with pre made ahead water to a lowered SG.

 

as above, don't fix if not broken, just add UV.

[Wrench]

Thanks all.

 

Currently, it is broken! Every time I add a new fish to the system it becomes heavily infected with some sort of pathogen. At first I thought it was just ich but it's not. The fish develop white blotches which look like velvet and while they continue to eat, within three weeks of so they will die. This isn't limited to finicky fish. I have lost a lot of wrasses, a flame angel, a kole tang, etc. This mostly happens with newly acquired fish but I have lost several long term inhabitants of my system. I had done a bit of reading and found some information that suggested an infestation of flukes cold present itself in this manner. I treated the whole system with prazipro with no results.

 

I have a tremendous amount of coral in the system and it would be easier to move the fish than break down my whole display.

[Jan]

My 75 gallon is full of corals, LR and LS as well as inverts. I've taken all the fish out, all except for one very stubborn hard to catch watcman goby which to my amazement is just fine. The 75 is doing great. I feed my corals and inverts and do water changes regularly. I've added a filter sock? to catch detritus. I've been blowing detritus off the rocks with a turkey baster and stirring the sand bed here and there. Not too much so I don't cause a nitrate problem. I don't have a deep sandbed and have lots of sand stirring critters. I WOULD NOT SUGGEST THIS IF YOU HAVE A DEEP SANDBED. I clean the filter sock every other day. I'm hoping that whatever is in there will run it's course, unless my goby is a carrier.

 

The fish I have in QT will reamin in QT for at least 6 weeks. They are being treated with copper and look good. The engineer goby developed deep lesions from something but they're healing nicely. Once everyone appears to be disease free I'll stop medicating and keep them in the QT for a couple of more weeks and watch for signs of reinfection.

 

If I were experiencing what you've been experiencing I'd set up a QT. Catch all the fish and place them in QT for at least 6 weeks. Do any of your fish look bloated or have white stringy poop or look unhealthy in any way? If so I'd treat them accordingly, based on what I see and take it from there.

 

Keep your corals in your main display. Feed them and change water. Corals don't need fish. Your LR, LS and feeding the corals should help to maintain biology.

 

..........Just my pennys worth. Good luck!