HELP! Please! My First Sick Fish, What Should I Do?

[lherndo]

Ok, my Harlequin Tusk is about a week old. I got him from the LFS, he is extremely peaceful, leaving all of my fish and snails and crabs alone. He was eating great at the LFS and also at my house even minutes after finally making it into my tank.

I noticed a few spots on the semi-transparent part of his dorsal fins and tail when I got him, and figured they were from the move. Those went away and his color was bright and perfect. He continued to eat very very well. He was also very active.

Last night when I came home around 8:00 pm EST, I noticed he was laying on the bottom of the tank against a piece of rock. Shocked I ran over to the tank and noticed he was breathing. I put a small amount of food in the tank and he swam up and ate some. I felt a little bit better, but I noticed he had what appeared to be a white dusty looking substance all over him. I immediately thought ich.

I frantically called around to LFS' and found petsmart was still open. I luckily found a knowledgeable employee and he told me it was most likely ich and even though they were closing in a few minutes, he offered to purchase the "Mardel Coppersafe" and keep it at the front door for me until I arrived. (That was very cool of him!)

I also performed a water change. (it was the only thing I could think of to do.) I tested my water before the water change and both ammonia and nitrites were at 0 and nitrates were very very low as well. They were close to 0. My PH was also great. My salinity was on the money as well.

He made it through the night, at 5:00 am he was still in the same place, and at 8:00 am he had moved to the left side of the tank but still laying crooked on the bottom but still breathing.

I left the lights out today and I am dessperately looking for any advice on what I should do, should not do, or even what I should have done if the horrible should happen and I lose this fish. He is the only reason I got into the saltwater hobby, he's just so incredibly beautiful.

I did make sure that the fish was eating at the LFS, and I had him on hold for almost 2 weeks, and constanly checked on him to look for signs of illness before I purchased him. I even had the LFS check my water before I took him home, and all things checked out fine. The LFS, told me not to do a water change for at least a week, so the fish could get used to the water first, and the emergency water change last night was the first water change.

 

[Ed Hahn]

Iherndo,
I do not know how long your tank has been set up or what type of equipment you are running? Anytime you put your hand in the tank it will stress the fish more. I want to be honest with you. If you do things do things slowly. You may want to try runnning carbon. If you do water changes make sure the water is the same temp and salinity as water you are replacing. What is your water temp? You have not said anything about temp. You may want to check your hydrometer at the store where you bought the fish. You can see what temp and salinity they kept the fish in with your hydrometer. I would run carbon, check temp, and check salinity. I feel bad wishing you were closer. I have a refractometer and lots of carbon and a spare protein skimmer. But that does you no good with you being there and me in Tri-cities. I had the same issue until I used one and a half pounds of live rock per gallon years ago. I still believe one and half pounds of live rock cycled per gallon does more than people realize with good water movement. Please check temp, salinity and run carbon. If you do decide water change do it slowly and remember same temp and salinity. Good luck...I wish I could do more. You may ask store if they can keep fish alive until your system is ready.

 

[lherndo]

Ok Thanks, I never thought about the

salinity of the water change, but like I said the water change didn't occur until last night. He was doing great for over a week. I did acclimate him very slowly.
My tank has been up for 3 or 4 months and I've had fish in it for 2 or 3 months.

I did have my LFS test my water before I took the fish. They said everything checked out. My tank temp is 80 degrees F.

I also have a protein skimmer that's been pulling a good bit of gunk out of the tank.

I can't remember what the salinity was last night, I only have a swing arm meter, but it was at the same point it's always at. I like to check my water quite often, and I haven't noticed any changes in my water at all. My salinity remains constant, temp constant, and my ammonia & nitrites are all, and have been 0.

 

[reedman]

It's not only what your parameters are, but the difference between your parameters and those of the tank the fish os coming from. If the fish was in a tank that had a salinity of 1.023 and your tank is at 1.026 then that will shock the fish a bit. Same goes for other parameters. It's always good to see what the LFS parameters are so you can properly acclimate your new fish.

Enough of that. What kind of light and flow did the tank it came from have compared to your tank? MH, VHO, NO...high flow, low flow?

It's all of these things together that impact the fishes acclimation. It's just like if you go from sea level in the jungle to the top of mount everest....you're going to be a bit uncomfortable and if you don't move slowly and acclimate yourself, you may not survive the trip.

I wish you and your fish the best. Like Ed said, move slowly on treatments.

 

[lherndo]

the flows about the same

and the lighting is the same. the LFS may have had the lights out more, because they were sometimes acclimating other fish new fish in the tank. But both were standard flourescent bulbs.

I really dont' know what treatments to move slowly on. I have no idea what I should be doing. Or is that all I can do, treat with copper safe and wait and pray?

I'm deffinately biting the bullet and making the INVESTMENT of a nice quaranteen setup later this week. Unfortunately it may be too little to late.

Do any of you think it may be marine velvet? Wouldn't that kill my entire tank and make me start all over?

 

[Cougra]

...I noticed he had what appeared to be a white dusty looking substance all over him. I immediately thought ich.

Are you sure it's Ick? Do a search to see if you can find any photos of Marine Velvet (although that has more of a yellowish tinge to it) or Brooklynella. Without seeing a photo of the fish or a better discription it's hard for us to diagnose the disease.

The lathargic symptoms does make it seem like it's in some kind of shock.

 

[reedman]

Do you have a digital camera? If you do, I'd post a pic of the fish and let the fish experts here determine what is wrong. I'm a bit out of my element on this type of trouble shooting.

 

[jase0723]

Hi,

I'm not sure what kind of sickness your fish has, but it is a gamble when we buy fish from the LFS. Sometimes they are find for a while before they break-out. I think 80% of the time it's ick that developes in fish. The best medicine for them seems to be a well maintained reef tank. The quality of the water in a good reef tank seems to overcome the ick problem after a week or so. Hopefully, your fish can make it through his illness and give you many years of good life.

Good luck,
Jase

 

[fishermann]

If it were just ich I don't think he would be acting like he is. I think you did everything right as far as how you checked things out and acclimated him and sounds like you \r tank is in good shape. The one big thing you didn't do was have a quarantine tank to put him in. You don't want to copper your big tank. You need to get a quarantine tank set up and use the water from your present tank and get him in it. Is the spots look like salt or is it more like powder sugar. If it is a salt looking it is probably ich, if it is really fine it probably is brooklynella or some sort of bacterial infection. If it is not ich and it doesn't sound like it is what with him laying around on the bottom you need to treat with antibiotics. The best ones are the ones by Mardel which is Maracyn 1 and Maracyn 2. These well atack gram positive and gram negative bacteria, and well help with the appetite. They can be used together at the same time. They are very popular and are hard to find especially the 2, but call around and get some immediatly and get him into a quar. tank. The infection most likely was started from either the way he was collected or his handling in transit and was nothing you did wrong. If it is a bacterial infection which it sounds like time is important!!!!. Hope this helps, You can buy a 20 gal very cheaply and a uv sterilizer would be great also say a 9watt hang on one with the smallest maxi jet power head. I have to be gone for awhile but this should get you started and you need a Q tank for the future anyway.

 

[Alice]

Actually, ich can affect a fish's respiration if it has progressed far enough along. The gills may be so infested with parasites or have scarring.

A pic would be helpful but even with the naked eye it is sometimes hard to diagnose exactly what is going on; sometimes a necropsy is the only way to know for sure.

Any lesions or discolored areas of the skin, other than the white dusting? As Reed was saying, conditions from the LFS tank to your tank are what can make acclimation difficult. pH shock could be involved.