sick fish i think

[MarineTeng]

what is it when the fish tries to rub stuff off on the rocks? i've seen white specks but they went away for the most part overnight... i'll keep watching him, should i quarentine?

 

[snobanker]

Sounds like Ich...quarantine is a good idea. There are varying methods of treating Ich including medicines and hyposalinity.

 

[MarineTeng]

i read a little about hypo salinity and that sounds like the best method, should i use some live rock in the quarentine or what should i do for filtration?

 

[ret25yo]

please make sure this is ich before treatment...if it is just a single white bump make sure it is not a peice of sand...this will cause irritation past the slime coat and make the fish scrape...also clownfish commonly scrape rocks to clean them before laying eggs.... jme

 

[MarineTeng]

ok, well it's actually my royal gramma, and i saw a bunch of white dots 10-20 small ones then they went away, i'll look again once my lights are on this afternoon

 

[steve-s]

C. irritans coming and going is quite typical. Since this is a gramma, they do tend to dart in and out of rock work so sediment is a definate possibility. Keep a watch to see if the spots return, they will usually do so in greater number each time. Also watch for red rash's, whitish lines and scale oddities.

If you have a QT set up, great. If not, I would be proactive just in case. Is it large enough to house all your fish?

Cheers
Steve

 

[MarineTeng]

umm no my quarentine would be the empty ten or twenty gallon i have downstairs, not set up yet, i have extra crushed coral live that i can use, it's the only one that's shown any signs

 

[MarineTeng]

do i need to quarentine all fish if only the gramma is showing irregular behavior and white spots?
and can someone do a quick run down on setting up a QT just to make sure i got it

 

[MarineTeng]

umm, well i can't catch him, i'm afraid moving all my rock work will stress him out and my other two fish more what should i do?

 

[Kitteness]

I am just went thru all heck trying to set up my quarantine last minute. I won't drag you thru the deails but my suggestion is to get the QT tank up as fast as possible so it can start to cycle. Otherwise you will end up like me doing water chages at least once a day because then you are not only dealing with the ich you will also be dealing with ammonia, nitrite and nitrate spikes. Believe me I say set the tank up it will be a life saver! Also yes I had to tear apart my 55g to catch all the fish to put them in another tank but it saved my fishies lives. It was less stressful to move them than it was to just leave them there to let the immune system maybe or maybe not work. Also you can strive to get ich free in you main tank if you leave all the fish out long enough.

There are a lot of very educated people here at reef frontiers and when they say this is what you should do my recommendation is do it they have a lot more knowledge&experience of dealing with the problems than we do. Thanks to all the help I have and still am getting my few fishy's that I had left were sick but not dead yet and now are alive and finnin' around. Still sick but its just like us there is no overnight miracle pill to fix them or us when sick.

Good Luck it seems like so much work but once you do it you'll see the rewards after and say man i am glad i did that!

 

[james734]

Good advice Kitteness. There are a lot of knowledgable people up. I think instead of worrying about tearing your tank apart to get the fish out. You should look at is doing the best you can do to help save the lifes of your tank inhabitants.

MarineTeng. Sorry man.. I know what your going through.. I'm 2 weeks into running a QT for my fish after ich. I have a 75g and it sucked tearing it all down to get the fish, but it's what you have to do unless you want to risk lossing some or all fish.

Get a QT setup and move the fish. The sooner the better. Doesn't sound like you have a full outbreak just yet. You want to keep it that way.

FYI: If Steve-s says QT. QT, That guy has more exp. than you, the neighbor and myself might ever have and plus some extra to spare.

 

[steve-s]

QT'ing all of the fish is essential to ensuring the problem is dealt with 100%.

See if <<this>> helps any.

Cheers
Steve

 

[MarineTeng]

alright i'm going to do the drain method i think using an undergravel since i already have that stuff and live crushed coral at hyposalinity, should i move all my fish or just the gramma, nothing else is showing signs, or should i do all main display fish, cause i have 4 fish in my sump also, will no signs either

 

[fishermann]

Is he a new fish just added? If so he may get rid of it on his own if your parims are good on your tank. If conditions are good and he is a newbie and is eating good I would just observfor a few days before tearing everything apart which well cause alot of stress. Ich is always present and shows up under stressful conditions and most fish that are healthy and eating well rid themselves of it when they settle in.

 

[MarineTeng]

it's like his 3rd or fourth week, first time i've cleaned since i've had him really, i really don't want to risk my clowns, and they're showing no signs at this point, it's halfway started already anyways, he's been eating flakefood though he's not eating quite as much as he used to but still some

 

[steve-s]

Ich is always present and shows up under stressful conditions and most fish that are healthy and eating well rid themselves of it when they settle in.

Completely false.

it's like his 3rd or fourth week, first time i've cleaned since i've had him really, i really don't want to risk my clowns, and they're showing no signs at this point, it's halfway started already anyways, he's been eating flakefood though he's not eating quite as much as he used to but still some

There is a strong chance that either you've misdiagnosed the problem or the theront density has remained low and the fish are able to fight off the problem, A healthy fish may not show "atypical" sign for a short time but that does not mean they are parasite free. This particualr parasite takes about a year to die off on it's own without new strains being added and if left untreated. Each and every time you add a new item to the tank you risk a new onslaught by the parasite.

What is halfway started? I don't understand that part?

Cheers
Steve

 

[MarineTeng]

o, i was halfway through draining and isolating him, so now he's in QT now but i haven't lowered the salinity all the way yet, but i think it's around 1.020 or so now or a bit higher my hydrometer is too tall for my tank, i think i'm giong to buy a shorter one, is there any reason not to do hyposalinity at this point? o and one question, will cheato die at low salinity? cause i have some in my QT with about 80-100 lbs of crushed coral in a 20 gallon

 

[steve-s]

Your QT should really be bare bottom and the macro algae will definately start to die off as the salinity drops to where you need it (14 ppt). If your going to buy something new to measure the salinity, opt for a refractometer, much much more accurate and will help ensure a successful treatment.

You do not need to wait long periods between each salinity drop either. Just be sure the RO water used is the correct temp and buffered to the proper pH. You can then change 20% of the water about every 3-4 hrs, replacing it with the RO. The whole process can be done in a day.

Cheers
Steve

 

[MarineTeng]

alright, well what should i do for filtration if i don't have an extra penguin filter at the moment? and i know i can drop it faster, i just was doing it late at night after a track meet, and i was too tempted and re aquascaped the main tank...

 

[steve-s]

What equipment do you have on the larger tank aside form the one Penguin? CAn you afford a small HOB with a biowheel?

Cheers
Steve