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  #1  
Old 12/05/2007, 09:22 AM
SheilaF SheilaF is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Posts: 52
cleaner fish

is there any benefit to having either a cleaner wrasse or a neon blue goby when it comes to dealing with ick?

Thanks
  #2  
Old 12/05/2007, 10:06 AM
paulamrein paulamrein is offline
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Location: St. Peters MO
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very little. If you decide to go that route, I would go with the neon goby. Cleaner wrasse seem to not eat prep foods as well. Having said that, they pick at them and clean the fish, but there isn't enough cleaner fish to keep up with the rate ich multiply. Not to mention there are fish that would never go to them to get cleaned. Clowns come to mind as ones who wouldn't and if there are larger fish in the tank. They make a meal out of them. Also, who is going to clean the cleaner fish?
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  #3  
Old 12/05/2007, 11:39 AM
SheilaF SheilaF is offline
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Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
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This is my current situation (and I know I've made a few mistakes, like not having a QT tank)
I have a 30g tank with a small powerhead, aquaclear 110 and a rio nano skimmer. It has been up and running for 5 months with no major problems. For corals I have some zoas, waving hand xenia, hammer coral star polyps, and a few mushrooms.
Inhabitants: 1 cleaner shrimp, various crabs and snail and 2 red starfish, 2 false percs, 1 royal gramma, 1 yellowtail blue damsel 1 lawnmower blennie and the new addition, a gold rim tang.

I know this tank is too small for the tang, I have a 50gal with a 30gal sump cycling but it is not ready for fish or corals yet.

The tang is a new addition I got him on saturday and yesterday I noticed ich on him. All of the other fish are fine and the tang is extremely active and eating like a pig (he actually steals food out of the mouths of the other fish).

What do I do? I've been told clean water and good food should be enough if he is still healthy. Idon't want to lose this fish.

Thanks
  #4  
Old 12/05/2007, 03:55 PM
paulamrein paulamrein is offline
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Well, your best bet is to either wait until your 50g cycles and use your 30 as qt and qt ALL of the fish, sick or not. Only problem with that is depending on where you are at with cycling it may be too late for the tang. So, other option is either buy another tank, which isn't what you wanted to hear. Or what Quite a few people are doing now is getting a rubbermaid storage unit and use the water from existing tank and put the fish in that. Only fish though, everything not fish stays in your 30g. From there you will treat the fish with either copper or hypo salinity. And leave the 50g cycling for another 2 months. I say 2 months because most treatments require a 6-8 week treatment. After that you can put them into the 50g with the trust that it is completely ich free. Now, two things also to consider is that your inverts though the ich parasite can't live off of them, it can hitch a ride. So, anything, regardless of what it is, also needs to be quarantined for at least a month, sometimes longer. They don't need to be treated, just separate. And obviously any new fish you get goes through the same process. You may not have to treat them, just observe them for that time and if they show no signs than they can go in, but if they have ich, the 6-8 week cont down starts after they have no spots on them.
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  #5  
Old 12/13/2007, 04:22 PM
SheilaF SheilaF is offline
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Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
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I have a 10gal set up for future QT, is that big enough for all the fish listed?
I have been feeding nori soaked in garlic as well as other garlic foods. Still no improvement in the tang and now my royal gramma and one of my clowns is showing signs. I don't want to introduce ich into my new tank if I can avoid it. I'd like to start out with a clean tank.

Instead of moving the fish out of the 30gal, can I move the rock/corals and inverts (and some of my live sand) into the 10gal until the 50 gal is ready and then treat the 30gal? I realize that by treating the 30gal, I won't be able to use any of the sand left in there, that is ok with me. If I take out the rock and maybe add some pvc tubes for hiding would that work?

Once the fish are in the 50gal, the 30 will be used for freshwater anyway, so I'm not too worried about not being able to put corals in there.

Also, what method would be better? Coppersafe or hyposalinity? The fish are: 1 gold rim tang, 2 false percs, 1 royal gramma, 1 lawnmower blennie, and 1 yellowtail damsel.

Thanks so much, I'm really stressed about this and boy have I learnt my lesson! Any new fish will be QT'd!
  #6  
Old 12/13/2007, 05:58 PM
SheilaF SheilaF is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
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Please help, I'm afraid of losing the fish
  #7  
Old 12/14/2007, 10:04 AM
paulamrein paulamrein is offline
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Garlic does nothing but stimulate appetite. As far as QT methods, there is a guy on here named billsreef. PM him as far as specifics, he is really great and well versed, he is a marine biologist. Any specific questions you have I'm sure he can answer. This goes a little out of my realm considering I already have a working qt, and I treat 1 fish at a time. Sorry, but I know he can help, He's a mod so he is easy to find.
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  #8  
Old 12/15/2007, 11:58 AM
kevin2000 kevin2000 is offline
old enough to know better
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Portland, Oregon
Posts: 2,690
My 02

No offense intended but a 30 gallon tank is suitable for a few small fish ... your tanks overstocked even without the tang which requires a tank larger than your new 50 gallon tank.

You might consider returning the tang .... setting up the 50 and moving the live rock, live sand, and inverts over .... leave the fish in the 30 using hypo. If you keep the fish in the QT for 5-6 weeks any ich within the ls/lr in the 50 will naturally die off (ich need a live fish to perpetuate their life cycle.

Hope this helps.
  #9  
Old 12/16/2007, 06:59 AM
SEAMONSTER SEAMONSTER is offline
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Location: LOS ANGELES
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Do all the above and invest in a uv sterilizer! i own a 60 gallon tank with 3 fish in it (gold-rim(whitecheek) tang, lawnmower blenny, 6-line wrasse, numerous sps corals. Very lightly stocked, most corals are frags. I quarantined my tank for 2 months (no fish in it) after a severe ich outbreak. I removed all the fish and put them in a quarantine tank (5-gallon bucket). All fish died due to change in enviroment (stress!). I continued with keeping my reef fish free for 50 days! When I added new fish, there was an outbreak of ich again (sucks!). Ich can survive in a fish-free enviroment for 11 months! (holy sh__!) I just found that out 3 days ago! Now I soak food in Selcon and garlic and utilize a uv sterilizer. Works great!!
  #10  
Old 12/16/2007, 08:51 PM
paulamrein paulamrein is offline
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Location: St. Peters MO
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SEAMONSTER please site your findings, a link, something. If you just found out three days ago, obviously you have it fresh in the mind. I am tired of people spouting off "facts" and latest information without any artical or finding to back it up, it's always a friend of a friend etc. The uv sterilizers are at best... ok. They are by no means a cure. And there is nothing solid about soaking foods in anything as a ich cure.
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"They" are those that think of themselves as those who know. But, it's as plain as the nose on those who know those no-knowing "those" they do not know, they only suppose.
  #11  
Old 12/17/2007, 06:43 AM
George Gouveia George Gouveia is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Loures, Portugal
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Quote:
Originally posted by SEAMONSTER
Do all the above and invest in a uv sterilizer! i own a 60 gallon tank with 3 fish in it (gold-rim(whitecheek) tang, lawnmower blenny, 6-line wrasse, numerous sps corals. Very lightly stocked, most corals are frags. I quarantined my tank for 2 months (no fish in it) after a severe ich outbreak. I removed all the fish and put them in a quarantine tank (5-gallon bucket). All fish died due to change in enviroment (stress!). I continued with keeping my reef fish free for 50 days! When I added new fish, there was an outbreak of ich again (sucks!). Ich can survive in a fish-free enviroment for 11 months! (holy sh__!) I just found that out 3 days ago! Now I soak food in Selcon and garlic and utilize a uv sterilizer. Works great!!
I don't agree. You only need a UV Sterilizer if you don't quarantine your fish before you add them to your main display tank.
  #12  
Old 12/17/2007, 07:16 AM
Freed Freed is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Ft. Wayne, IN.
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Sheila, all you need do right now is put your corals and everything NOT FISH in the 50 gallon. Should be close to being cycled, NO? Just watch ammonia and nitrites on a daily basis and change 20% or so water if needed.

Paulamrein has some good advice and should be listened to. He has asked me for alot of advice in the past and thank goodness he found you before I did so I didn't have to type the same stuff myself.

Garlic and UV are hocus pocus and have NEVER been proven or documented to kill ich yet. Only hyposalinity and copper treatment have been studied at length and have been proven and documented for treatment/erradication of ich.

QT anything wet prior to introduction into the main tank and you won't have to worry about ich in the future.
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