QT what am I doing wrong?

Im totally for QT and I understand why it is done, but im starting to think this just isnt for me. My biocube has had a few fish in it and never had any signs of ich on the fish in the tank or when they were purchased and I never QT'ed. I set up my 90g and after my first initial mistake of introducing a tang with ich I pulled the 2 clowns and the tang and began Qting them while the tank sat fallow. I lost the tang and now I blame that loss due to my inability to keep ammonia levels down in the tangs qt. I performed daily water changes and it just seemed to keep climbing. After losing that tang I waited a few weeks and now have another tang in qt and am experiencing the same issue. No matter how much water I change the ammonia levels rise. I am at the point where i think in the long run it would be healthier to just put the fish in the DT and let its immune system combat any parasites. Is this the worst idea yet?

 

Heres a good link that explains my feelings on Ich and QT tanks.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/new-hobby/simple-rules-avoid-ich-126326.html#post1251930

 

is the qt tank cycled if not that could be the cause of the spike in levels

 

I am big supporter of QT. With this being said, I must admit I still have my reservations about it. You should understand that this is no small task. Your QT may require daily more likely twice daily care. #1 Do not buy fish that appear sick. Make sure they are eating. #2 if they begin to show ich after being placed in your DT do not freak. Leave it alone for a few days and feed it well with a good variety. IF you have a healthy tank and IF you are taking good care of your fish most of the time they will fight off the infection themselves. #3 If you decide to QT a fish the light levels should be low, the tank should be bare except some PVC pieces, extreme care should be given to water quality and twice a day water changes may be needed. You should filter the QT with a sponge or some other type of filtration equipment from your DT that has already been established with living bacteria. This keeps ammonia in check. If you are going to treat with copper be very very careful. Copper is a poison. End of story. Have a correct copper test kit for the type of chemical you are using. Have an ammonia test kit that will test for ammonia despite copper being in the water. Copper will give false positives for ammonia. Try hyposalinity first. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A REFRACTOMETER. A standard cheapo hydrometer WILL NOT accurately measure salinity. I dont care how clean it is. In the end I have had success with QT and I believe it has its place. But, I have also had many failures with a QT and I only make this move under the most extreme of circumstances....IE the fish is completely covered and is showing severe signs of the infection. Often by then it may be too late anyways. But at least you will not be assisting the ich to keep reproducing in your DT. Lots of work. And in the end if your fish survives the treatment and you return it to your DT within a day or two it very may show signs of ICH again. Again, good quality water and feed well.

 

Problem is, the "traditional" ich is not your only threat.

A number of years ago, I felt the same- that I was stressing the fish needlessly with the qt period. Then one day, I introduced a new arrival with brooklynella into my dt... wiped out everything in 3 days, with no sign of infection until it was too late.

Definitely better to find a way to manage your qt.

 

I agree with what everyone has to say and I really appreciate all your quick responses. I have had the fish in QT for about 4 days and it has showed no blatant sign of any illness including ICH, preferably I would like to keep the fish in there for 4-6 weeks but at the same time I would rather not end up killing the fish because I could not control the water params in QT. In regards to the equipment it is not a cycled tank, neither of my QT's were they were set up in a effort to get the tank fallow as soon as possible. Both tanks used sponge from a established tank but I felt that some copper that was in the tank may have been killing the bacteria causing a large ammonia spike, long story short the sponge got removed from that tank and all water changed. Instead it just has a HOB that I change filter material in daily with my water changes. Im not sure that I can justify 2 or more water changes a day for qt and may end up just having to put the fish into DT. Might kinda have to go Vinny's way and just shoot for minimizing stress and keep the fish happy.

 

I totally agree.

One little-known fact is that most wild-caught fish have the ich parasite cryptocaryon lying dormant in their gills. It is stress to that fish that wakes the parasites and causes them to drop the cysts from which the free-swimming larvae hatch and start their search for a fish host.

 

That was the impression I had been under thats why at one point I debated not even attempting to quarantine. But figured its better to make a attempt to try.

 

Since the brooklynella incident, I do qt, but only for a week. Brooklynella reproduces quite rapidly, usually killing it's host in only a matter of hours, but no longer than a few days. Cryptocaryon, on the other hand, can lie dormant indefinitely as long as the fish doesn't become stressed.

 

So in your opinion Mr. Bill if its already been a few days and I am unable to drop ammonia levels in QT might be a better idea to do what I have been thinking and put the fish in DT?