Little bit of a bad day!

[Detri]

Hello me again! My QT is doing very well this morning. The fish is doing very well, his fins are extended and he is following me around. Eating from my fingers again.

I am starting to wonder if whats on my glass really are copods. They look like what was on my fish. There are literally 1000's of them all around my glass and seem to be more in the morning than during the day when the lights are on. If I even thought I could get a pic of them I would.

 

[pete polyp]

they are pods.....dont freek on us

 

[NaH2O]

Detri - have a look at these articles, and see if you find the pods that are on your glass:

Pods - Delicious and Nutritious by Adelaide Rhodes

You Can't Tell Your "Pods" Without A Program...by Ron Shimek.

 

[Detri]

You gave that link in another thread, I had replied to and originally thought they were pods. To me they look like the Cyclopoids in the first article.

I'm not freakin, I am just a little anoyed at myself because I wasn't able to see my fish had a problem sooner. Anyway, here are the pics I promised 2 days ago lol.

 

[NaH2O]

Good job setting up the QT. Is that a snail in the last picture? or is it just the shell? If it is the snail, then the hyposalinity is not a good environment for it to be in. How are the water parameters doing?

 

[Detri]

Yes it is just a shell . NO2 0 NO3 below 10 and Ammonia 0 PH is 8.3 (haven't had to add buffer since the last water change.) My main tank looks so empty without fish. I have a shrimp. But, he isn't active at all during the day.

Again thanks Nikki!

 

[Krish]

QT looks cool Detri! Time to order more fish

 

[Detri]

Yup I was looking at the clowns today at the LFS they have a few nice ones. But that will have to wait atleast 2 weeks.

 

[spongebob lover]

nice looking QT dood , good job.
you are like me right now, i really want some clowns and a plate coral that i saw for my tank and i can't !!!
Antonio's Christmas presents are killing me, he wants a doodle bear something, rc , tons of #$%% of buzz lightyear ohh yeah and i better don't forget the little electric jeep because otherwise i do'nt know what am i gonna do :doubt: .

 

[Detri]

Well here's a little update, the DT is looking good parameters are great and the clown is looking healthy. I can't wait to get him a new friend. He looks a little lonely. He is eating great and love the ABS pipe I added to the tank. He swims through it like a fighter jet through the grand canyon. Its ver fun to watch. I think once I get the little guy out I am going to add a couple Damsels to the QT just so I have an excuse to keep it running. Its a nice little tank.

Again thanks for all the help.

 

[Krish]

Glad to hear things are on a positive note for ya Detri! I agree...Get that fellow a companion(LOL).

 

[Detri]

Well a little update for you. Tomorrow will be week 2 for the little guy and it seems he has gotten worse. all the Parameters are normal except the salinity. Thats at the level I was told. 1.012. He has spots all over his head and looks weak. Funny thing is he is eating really well. He looks so weak though and its bugging me. His entire head is swollen. He isn't gasping though.

Anyhow, a bummer couple of days for me. My daughter noticed the symptoms and is really upset. She didn't even want to go to school today. Thats a first for her.

 

[Krish]

That suck Detri...I hope he pulls through for you and your kid. Good luck...

 

[Scooterman]

How often are you changing your water? What salt mix are you using & what are you adding to your water mixture, what are you using to measure salinity? Have you tried feeding it some garlic soaked in the food? I would not add fish at this time until you can either recover your clown in qt & resolve the problem. I'm just trying to see if I can spot a problem here, I might of missed something in the thread forgive me please.

 

[Detri]

No problem Scooterman

I am useing IO salt mix. Unfortunately I only have a Hydrometer to measure the Salinity right now. I can't find Refractometer, even a used one here in a Canada, where I am. I don't have the money to get one shipped from the States eiter . I am keeping a an eye on my PH, it's at 8.2 right now. I add Kent marine superbuffer dKH to control this when I do water changes every 4 days since I don't have a skimmer on the hospital tank. The fish is eating fine, and the food I feed has garlic in it already and feed 3 diffrent kinds of food on 2 day intervals feeding twice daily.

I wouldn't add anything unless I was positive that my current one was doing fine.

Thanks Krish

 

[steve-s]

Ron,

When using a hydrometer 1.012 is not a low enough margin for error. I would urge you to lower the salinity some more to 1.009. If not at the right theraputic level, the treatment will not be successful against C. irritans.

If you can, I would also suggest posting a pic...

Cheers
Steve

 

[NaH2O]

Detri - does your LFS have a refractometer they can use to check your salinity? I don't know that I would fully trust the hydrometer - if its slightly off, then you might be in the margin where you are actually over 16 ppt. Might want to take it a little lower if you can't get a refract? Another question, have you put anything into the QT from the display since the QT has been running (i.e. powerhead, etc)? How many days has the fish been in full hypo conditions now? It might be a new life cycle from when the fish was first brought into QT. If you go back to the thread I linked earlier, the Powder Blue in that thread had a re-infestation after being in hyposalinity. I'll post a quote regarding that below.

The main consideration when using hyposalinity is in terms of the tomont. The theront and trophont stages are unafected so they will continue on as normal. Given the average time span for the theront to trophont to "pro" theront stages (about 7-10 days) it is highly likely that what people are seeing is the originally transfered infestation, not necessarily new tomites being released. It really depend on the time frame in which the salinity was lowered. From fish to tomont and then back to tomite can be in as little as 3-4 days. You can still easily enough experience at least one new complete life cycle in the first week. It's not something you would be able to determine effectively in either regard. Hence the need to leave the salinity at treatment level for the 4 full weeks once no further parasite activity is observed.

Make sure you are remaining at hyposalinity conditions at all times, and your salinity is not allowed to come up from that until after the full treatment.

 

[coralseas]

try to get your salinity down to 1.010 it may take 2or 3 day but the ick will die off.

 

[steve-s]

A salinity drop from 1.012 to 1.009 should be do-able in one shot. You do not need to prolong it over a few days. Fish can tolerate lowered salinity quite well. It's the increases that will damage them if done too quickly.

Nikki,

I may end up have to retract/alter that statement some. If my recent correspondence (Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research) is correct, there is a bit of a contradiction on which stage the parasite is truely affected. I am awaiting a response from Terry on this so I will post more then.

Cheers
Steve

 

[spongebob lover]

i'm really sorry to hear this dood .
i agree with Scooter dood and Nikki, i'd take may be some of your water to the LFS and ask them to check it out for you and see where you are at because you never know if your hydrometer is telling you the right thing (i have one and i don't trust it eather ) .
i hope the little guy makes it