quarantine together or in stages?

[silvermoon]

Looks like we have the ich under control, though sadly we lost our two biggest loaches. Our tank is pretty empty at this point, only one of our 3" loaches survived, plus the 3 babies and our 3 tetras.

I'm still treating the tank for at least another week to be sure the ich is gone. Side note: how long can ich be dormant and which of the 3 phases would be the dormant one?

Question: We're planning to get at least 2 more baby clowns and we also want some dither fish. We have a 20 gallon that will be the quarantine tank. Should we get the clowns first and quarantine and pre-treat them alone, or just get all the new fish at once and quarantine and treat together? I don't want to overload the Q-tank and I can be patient if it will be the best for the fish.

We're at least 2 weeks out from purchase so I want to plan ahead. We'll probably wind up with Congo Tetras, Tiger Barbs or Rainbows for dithers. For the clowns I'm planning to pre-treat for ich and worms. Anything else I should pre-treat for?

[Diana]

Ich does not actually go dormant. However, fish that have survived Ich may be somewhat resistant, and a couple-odd Ich organisms can live in the gills without the Ich population exploding out of control. I would continue that Ich treatment as you are doing.

Go ahead and get the new fish whenever you are ready. With a month or more in quarantine, the Ich will certainly be gone from the main tank.

I would get the Clowns first, and treat them. Then get Congo Tetras or Rainbows while the Clowns are still in quarantine, but done with the medicine. Begin counting the one month of quarantine from the day you add the dither fish to the q-tank.

[newshound]

don't pre-treat
buy good looking clowns from a healthy tank
using meds stresses fish

research the cycle of ich
plenty of reading for one night just on this forum alone

[chefkeith]

Meds may stress the quarantined fish, but letting one parasite slip through quarantine to the main tank can kill all your fish.

It happened to me, it's happened to others, it will keep on happening to more people too.

[silvermoon]

Thanks for the tips Diana. I had heard Clowns could be 'carriers' of ich, perhaps I misunderstood. Someone at one of the local fish shops was suggesting that our recent ich outbreak possibly from our original Clowns, which we kept for over a year without any disease outbreaks. I highly doubted that but figured I'd better ask now before I let the cycle start over again.

I am pre-treating any loaches from now on, since they are so susceptible to ich. The new ones we got from a friend looked healthy and happy and had no visible spots. A week after adding them to my tank my two biggest clowns were dead. They weren't even that big, but those 3 fish were the whole reason we upgraded tanks! Never again.

Guess it's time to set up the Q-tank then!

[Diana]

Loaches and other bottom feeding fish pick up internal parasites very easily, especially wild caught. Almmost all Loaches are wild caught. Treat for intestinal worms of various sorts.

Many fish can get Ich, some seem more susceptible than others. Quarantine all new fish in case they are carrying Ich. Be ready to treat. Ich cannot live without a host, and usually will not survive in an aquarium without you seeing it, however it can live in the gills, and be hidden for a long time that way.