I give UP

menzies2901 · #1 08/09/2006, 08:32 PM

Everything was going well for past few months but within the last week i lost 2 clowns and 4 Tangs, My water parameters were good and as i posted last night my salinity went through the roof for no explained reason other than i might have mis read the reading. Well this morning i woke up only to find my clown wedged between to rocks and my lipstick lying on it side. My regal tang is covered in ick and the medication is not working.

I am going to remove all the coral and live rock from the tank and catch the other fish which is 2 chromis, 1 yellow tang, 1 regal tang, cleaner wrasse and sand sifter and put them into the QT tank and slowly reduce the salinity to 1.010 to clear up the ick

My question does a manderin catch ick and how long should i have these fish in the QT. I am about to buy a UV steriliser to reduce the chance the Ick is water bourne.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated

Freed · #2 08/09/2006, 08:37 PM

You can reduce the salinity down to 1.009 over a couple of days or even a bit faster if you want. Make sure you leave them in QT for no less than 4-6 weeks. During this time the ich in your main tank will all die without fish hosts to feed off of. If you are going to leave the main tank fishless and use hypo in QT then you won't need to buy a UV. All ich will die either in hypo or in main tank if it is fishless.

menzies2901 · #3 08/09/2006, 08:41 PM

Can i leave the manderin in the main tank or do i have to QT the manderin as well

bllfish · #4 08/09/2006, 08:42 PM

I would suggest removing all of the fish restocking the tank very slowly. Also, I believe that if you remove all of the fish, the ich will die off since it does not have a host so you will not lose the live rock and not have to recycle. I would keep the fish in quarantine for at least a month to make sure you get rid of the problem. Might want to try mealfix treatment. I have had one small problem with ich and the mela fixed it. It is safe for corals too.
Where and what type of water are you using for water changes. If you have not added anything I do not know how your salinity went through the roof. That is why I asked about water being added. When you replenish your evaporated water, it should not have any salt added. Just plain RODI if possible. When water evaporates the salts remain.

menzies2901 · #5 08/09/2006, 08:54 PM

I use premixed salt water from my LS and test the parameters, the last water change was completed last weekend and all the parameters were good, unless i misread the salinity. Ok i will remove all the fish and put them into a QT. I only have a small QT tank 40lt will all the fish accept the small QT tank??

bllfish · #6 08/09/2006, 08:59 PM

Do you use the same premix water to replenish evaporated water?
I would try the melafix first. That many fish in a small tank could stress them out and not help the ich problem. Tangs are especially prone the the ich monster. My clown had the problem and the melafix cured him in about a week. Might be worth it to try and cure the problem in the tank and quarantine any new fish you buy.

Freed · #7 08/09/2006, 09:30 PM

Doesn't matter if they are stessed or not, the hyposalinity will kill the ich no matter what. I agree that is a bit small for a QT tank but as far as I've read from the experts, the melafix and other reef safe "wonder cures" are bunk.

bllfish · #8 08/09/2006, 09:35 PM

Well, the bunk seemed to work on my clown.
Can stress cause ich? I was under the impression it could.

menzies2901 · #9 08/09/2006, 09:56 PM

I don't want to loose any more fish.
To catch all the fish i will have to remove all the coral and LR, this is a large effort to do this and will stress the fish out more, the other option remove all the coral and reduce the salinity to 1.010 bu the QT is far too small for all the corals. If i drop the salinity to 1.018 and buy a UV striliser to kill the ick, would this be effective and will the reduction of the salinity cause harm to my coral

Marinemom · #10 08/09/2006, 10:05 PM

I could be wrong, but I think that if the salinity is at 1.018 it is not low enough to kill the ich but it could seriously affect your corals. The corals like the salinity at 1.025-1.027.

Marinemom

bllfish · #11 08/09/2006, 10:12 PM

I would worry about the corals too.

Freed · #12 08/09/2006, 10:20 PM

STRESS DOES NOT CAUSE ICH.

ICH CAUSES ICH. Ich is a parasite and must be introduced into a tank for it to spread and affect fish. If you QT before putting fish in the tank and make sure there is no ich then even if the fish become "stressed" there will be no outbreak of ich.

bllfish · #13 08/09/2006, 10:25 PM

DON'T HAVE TO YELL. Just asking a question.
Thanks for clearing that up.

techrach · #14 08/09/2006, 10:29 PM

did the question of using the pre mixed salt water for top off get answered. If you are using the premixed and not fresh this would cause the salinity to go up. and how big in 355 leaters in gal? sorry for the lack of knowledge in the conversion.

Freed · #15 08/09/2006, 10:39 PM

Not yelling, just wanted to make sure that was clear to everyone who thinks otherwise.

bllfish · #16 08/09/2006, 10:49 PM

http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/disease/whitespot.htm

Lurking in the background!

Ich is most often brought into the tank or pond on new fish or plants (not if they are quarantined!). However, it is also believed that some survivors of an Ich infection can become latent carriers, with the parasites forming a latent stage at protected sites such as the base of fins or the gills.

Subsequent stress or poor conditions can awaken white spot to re-infect either its host or other fish. This certainly seems to be the case with koi, when often small numbers of trophonts are often found alongside severe fluke, Trichodina or Costia infestations, even in ponds which have not had any new introductions.

kau_cinta_ku · #17 08/09/2006, 10:53 PM

you can leave all rock, corals, inverts in the main tank as they can't get ich. just leave the main tank fishless for 6 weeks

Sk8r · #18 08/09/2006, 11:02 PM

Your mandarin is unlikely to get ich, but he is certain to die in qt if not supplied with food he can eat. Most eat only copepods. If you can get your local fish store or a friend to take him back or hold him for you until this cure is over, that would be one fix. There are pods by internet and some local fish stores sell them, and they would tide you over, but I do not know any in Australia. Perhaps you can get Reef Nutrition to ship there.

menzies2901 · #19 08/10/2006, 10:37 PM

Unfortunatly i think i am going to loose all the fish, i woke up this morning only to find that the manderin and my lipstick dead. I cannot believe this it also looks like i have brook in the tank too...God, everything was going great and than within a week it appears to be crashing, all parameters are ok i am slowly reducing the salinity but i think the way i am going all the fish would have perrished but the time i have the salinity to 1.016, it is currently sitting at 1.024 and i have purchased a steriliser and reduced the water flow over it. Hopefully this will save the rest of the fish.

kau_cinta_ku · #20 08/10/2006, 10:39 PM

are you reducing the salinity in the main tank?

menzies2901 · #21 08/10/2006, 10:44 PM

yes, the main tank. if i can get the ick off the fish i might have a chance to kill it with the UV streiliser

kau_cinta_ku · #22 08/10/2006, 10:50 PM

don't lower the sg in the main tank or you will kill off your LR and LS as the creatchers on it can't handle a sg level of 1.009 just move the fish in a qt tank and lower the sg in there. and leave the main tank fishless for 6 weeks and that will kill off the ich on the fish and main tank as they won't have a host.

Freed · #23 08/10/2006, 10:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Freed
You can reduce the salinity down to 1.009 over a couple of days or even a bit faster if you want. Make sure you leave them in QT for no less than 4-6 weeks. During this time the ich in your main tank will all die without fish hosts to feed off of. If you are going to leave the main tank fishless and use hypo in QT then you won't need to buy a UV. All ich will die either in hypo or in main tank if it is fishless.

menzies2901 · #24 08/10/2006, 11:08 PM

I have too many fish to put in my QT at the moment but hey by the way things are going i wont have any fish to put in the QT

Mrs.kbmdale · #25 08/10/2006, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by menzies2901
I have too many fish to put in my QT at the moment but hey by the way things are going i wont have any fish to put in the QT

I don't mean to be a b*, but....

Dude, you totally missed the point. If you CONTINUE to lower the SG in your MAIN TANK, you won't have ANY life left. Would you like to lose all your beneficial life in the sb and rocks as well as your corals too?? REMOVE the fish to a QT, THEN lower the sg., or else all will be gone before the week is out!

I really wish you good luck,
Brianna