ich

Over some coarse of your reefing adventure you'll probably end up with ich. If you start from scratch and QT and do preventative ich treatments from the very beginning then maybe it will never make it into your display. But any lapse in your QT and medication process will likely introduce the parasite. You may never see a breakout, but it will always be there. Give the fish a clean, healthy, and stress free environment with good quality food and they will likely have healthy enough immune systems to keep the parasite in check and an outbreak at bay.

Are all the fish showing signs of ich? While treatment of all of them is an option I would say its not the best option for you at this time. It sounds like you don't have a setup ready for the treatment or QT of fish. And you don't want to do that process or you wouldn't be talking about giving them away or taking them somewhere for treatment. What happens down the road after these fish are "cured" and back in the display? Are you going to start QT and treatment process on all new fish that go in the display? If not then you're wasting time treating the ones you already have in there. They will just get reinfected with the next fish addition. If you are going to start QT and treatment for ich as a preventative measure, then get a tank and do it yourself now.

I can say I don't QT fish like I should. I'm also pretty cautious about where I get my fish from, but I can also almost guarantee that I have ich in my display too. Its something you just learn to deal with and take measures so the fish are strong and healthy and can fight their own battles with ich. Preventative measures would be ideal, but aren't always practical for everyone.

 

Its all or nothing if you want to attempt to erradicate ich from the system. Make sure you don't mix anything between the hospital tank and the main tank. Use seperate hoses, nets, filters ect. Once it goes in the hospital tank it should not go back in your display. Copper even in small amounts, and reef tanks do not mix.


How many fish do you have? You have to remember your hospital tank won't have any type of established bacteria. If you have a sponge filter or something similar on your main tank you can transfer that to help seed the new one, but you'll still have to be ready for frequent water changes so you don't end up with an ammonia spike that will kill the fish faster than the ich would have.


I've been down the road of losing fish because of putting them in a temporary tank and having a large ammonia spike. It truly sucks. It was with good intentions, but lack of knowledge, and not being prepared bit me hard. Don't want to see the same thing happen to someone else.

 

If the clowns or other fish are not showing any signs of ich I would not rush getting them into a treatment tank. Just make sure they are eating well and stress free where they are currently at. That is the most important thing. Then concentrate on getting a good solid hospital tank set up, get prepared for some water changes and have a plan of attack before moving them over. Its typically our rush to "fix" things in a saltwater tank that ultimately do the most harm.