New gramma sick

[carlos_fb]

Ok so here I go again!

I got a new royal gramma 5 weeks ago. I had it in the QT for 4 weeks and a couple of days. It was doing great and eating well.

A few days ago I moved it to the main tank and and it was doing very good. Yesterday while feeding I noticed that one of its eyes looks cloudy and this morning I noticed a couple of white spots in its tail so I'm thinking ick AGAIN!!!

At this point I'm thinking that the ick must have been present in my tank since the fish did not have any signs of it but the weird thing is that my pair of clowns are ok.

Oh and to top it off, Yesterday I got a new purple firefish and I have it in the QT so I may need to get another one.

Anyway, what should I do now?

 

[Herefishyfishy]

There is a 99% chance your tank has ich in it. Unless you feel you can wait it out, follow the stickys for hypo and clearing the tank of it.

 

[Scooterman]

Stick it out some, keep & eye on his eye & the spots, you may need to qt it again. Why would you want to get a new firefish?

 

[carlos_fb]

There is a 99% chance your tank has ich in it. Unless you feel you can wait it out, follow the stickys for hypo and clearing the tank of it.

You mean "Marine Ich - Myths and Facts" ?

Stick it out some, keep & eye on his eye & the spots, you may need to qt it again. Why would you want to get a new firefish?

Because the one that I had died in the QT a few months ago. He got ick so I had it in hyposalinity and during the third week, one day in the morning he was fine, 2 hours later he was dead.

 

[Scooterman]

Man, i must think the place your getting fish from isn't your best option, wonder if you could get some air shipped & you just run to the airport for the pick-up?

How many fish do you have right now Carlos?

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Yes that, specifically "10. Let aquarium go fishless (without any foreign saltwater additions (e.g., water from LFS system, water from another tank or system -- use only distilled or RO/DI for evaporation and freshly made, uncontaminated salt water for water changes), without contamination from infected tanks, live rock additions, etc.) for at least 8 weeks and the tank will be free of MI. This 'fallow period' has over a 99.9% chance of success.
"

and:
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27155

Keep in mind, many displays have Marine Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans) and do well maintaining healthy fish with it.

 

[carlos_fb]

Man, i must think the place your getting fish from isn't your best option, wonder if you could get some air shipped & you just run to the airport for the pick-up?

How many fish do you have right now Carlos?

Scooty, I've tried everthing, this gramma I got it from Saltwaterfish.com but the first purple firefish and the one that I just bought, I got them from Liveaquaria.com. I only gave locals a shot and that was with the Anthias and the other Gramma which died of ick whitin a week and if you remember the pair or Perculas got Brook but they made it and they are the only fishes I have in my tank so far (10 months the tank has been running already).

All these months went by just watching fishes in the QT dying. Seriously I just can't believe my luck but I will keep trying until I get it right!

 

[Scooterman]

Well I give you this, you really put forth great efforts & shown great patients. I know your time will come & you will get a happy family, these things happen to all of us, maybe you don't see it all the time but it does, hang in there!

 

[carlos_fb]

So should put all 3 fishes in the same 10 gallon QT or separate them?

 

[leebca]

Size the quarantine tank according to the size (and type) of fish. The guidelines for sizing the QT is given here: A Quarantine Procedure

Move all fish out of the main marine system and let it go fishless for at least 8 weeks. Treat ALL fish that you removed from the marine system, for Marine Ich, even if they are not displaying any symptoms.

Good luck!

 

[carlos_fb]

Should I treat the new purple firefish that I got Yesterday too?

 

[leebca]

Yes. If it was exposed to the Marine Ich in your display/marine system.

 

[carlos_fb]

No, the firefish has been in the QT since it arrived. Also can you tell from the pictures that it's ick for sure and not something else?

 

[Snowboarda42]

Personally, I would go get at least one more 10G tank, and put 2 in each one.

I would also QT your new fish too, since you don't know if he could be carrying Ich as well. Just do Hypo on all of the ones you know were exposed to Ich, and keep an eye on the new one. You might consider hypo'ing the new one anyway.

Be sure to watch your levels in the QT's though.

 

[leebca]

carlos,

It doesn't look like Marine Ich to me. It has more of an appearance of a bacterial or viral infection. This would tend to imply that the marine system water quality is not quite up to a high enough level. By this I mean you should look for detritus build up (and get it out), check that your skimmer is sized properly and working the way it should (to keep organics low), review the fish's diet and improve upon nutrition, and perform all the usual test kit tests. Read this as soon as you can: What is Water Quality to help you find other possible sources of water quality issues.

 

[carlos_fb]

Lee,

Wow, after reading the article, it all makes sense; I do have a water quality problem in my tank so a bacterial or viral infection is very likely to be the problem. I don't know if you recall a thread that I posted here a few months ago about having similar issues with my male percula. At that time I focused in the fact that the female was picking on him and that overshadowed the possibility of the bacterial infection. I think it is interesting that in the article you mention that these problems can make a fish feel irritated.

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29905

Anyway, I have had an algae problem for a few months; I have some hair algae, diatoms, bubble algae and recently some cyano. At the moment none of them are taking over the tank but they are present. I thought this problem came from the fact that my previous protein skimmer stopped working properly and it stayed that way for about 2 months. Fortunately last month I was able to get a new one that is higher rated and seems to be working a lot better.

In addition to this I added a refugium in my sump with a nice ball of cheato. I've been running the light 18 hours a day to encourage the cheato to grow and hopefully help with the excess of nutrients. I probably should mention that recently cyano started growing at the bottom of the refugium too.

To help with bacteria control, I also added a UV Sterilizer to my system and I have been running it on and off for the last month. It really makes my water crystal clear but then again, my water always looked good.

I have been testing my parameters constantly and they all seem to be ok with the exception of a pH swing that I get every night which I am hoping will improve once the refugium starts doing its thing while running in a reverse photoperiod.

Anyway, this morning I checked on Gramma and the eye cleared up almost completely and also the white marks in its tail seem to be fading. She is still very active and eating well.



Thank you so much for your help. I think I am going to wait a couple of days to see what happens. I was getting ready to go get another QT and move all fishes out the main tank this afternoon.

By the way Scooty, you rock! everytime I freak out and panic you always suggest to wait a little before I try to fix it. Works everytime my friend, thanks!