I just completed my first transfer yesterday while executing TTM for a small ocellaris clown, purple firefish and royal gramma. The clown appears unphased by it. He is just happy to be alive. The firefish hides under the PVC fittings in the tank but is eating well. The gramma is being a gramma--cowering in a corner or hiding in a PVC fitting. I have seen it eat at least once since beginning last Saturday. So depending on the fish it can be stressful, but likely not much more than being in any QT/HT setup. I use colanders to move them--no nets to avoid injuries. It happens pretty quick and they go right back into a tank that looks the same as the one they came out of.I am using two 10-gallon setups. The transfer process was about an hour worth of work, including matching temperatures and salinity in the new tank and disinfecting the first tank, heater, cover, PVC fittings?and thermometer. You need two of everything. I am disposing of each airstone also used because it is too hard to dry them out within the TTM cycle time. Everything needs to be bone dry for at least 24 hours prior to reuse on the next transfer. I am using a small fan to help with that.The fish came from the LFS in water having a SG of 1.017. I have bumped this up to 1.019 to keep more oxygen dissolved and also to use less salt since the total amount of water used will be 50 gallons. Actually, 60 gallons since the final transfer will be into a 20 gallon HT for 30 days of follow-on observation. That tank will begin sterile as well but will have a HOB and internal air driven?sponge filters seeded with BioSpira the night prior.For a couple of small fish TTM is relatively easy. It is also about as close to 100% effective since you out run the Ich tomonts in their life cycle. It will not work for velvet, however, which sometimes can be confused for Ich. I am pretty convinced I had Ich because of the classic spots (I could count) on my sailfin tang. I may also have had velvet in the DT too, because of the rapid demise of several of the fish, which drove me to QT and a fallow period.For larger fish, copper or prescription chloroquine diphosphate (CP), if you have access, may be a better option. As?mentioned above, I used CopperSafe, a chelated copper because it was my first Cu treatment and the current trend is to recommend it as it appears to be a little more forgiving and easier on the fish. However, Cupramine is still very popular and likely about the same effectiveness. CopperSafe?needs to be maintained at a therapeutic level of 1.5 - 2.0 ppm and you need an API Cu test kit to measure it. Despite the directions that say to add it all within 48 hours, I ramped it up slowly over 5 days because I was concerned about my melanurus wrasse. He came thru it just fine. I also had a small glass dish with sand so he could sleep in it every night.When using Cu, current guidance is to maintain it at a therapeutic level for 30 days. This means testing very day and replacing it in the new water used for changes. It should eradicate Ich and is good for velvet too. It is nearly as effective as TTM for Ich but has the potential for not being as effective if you are unfortunate to have a strain of Ich that lasts greater than 30 days in the tomont stage, albeit--pretty rare. Hence, the additional 30 days of observation following Cu treatment.So going forward when the DT is now presumably disease free, for all future fish additions...TTM takes only 6 weeks whereas prophylactic Cu treatment requires 8 weeks.??So there is some advantage there with respect to time and tank maintenance. And if you are convinced your DT is disease free, you can use its water during water changes to fill the TTM tanks. Just don't syphon from the bottom.
