2 new fish, but 1 had ich!

rebekwl

rebekwl

Active Member
I went out to the LFS and bought 2 new fish Saturday. I got a tiny Scopas Tang and a Pink Skunk Clown. I examined both thoroughly before purchasing them, but noticed 1 little spot on the Skunk Clowns tail after she was in the tank. Now the Tang, Clarkii, and Fiji Devil all have ich. :(I'm guessing the Skunk Clown still has it too, but she hides behind the rocks so I can't see her. We are going on vacation in 4 weeks, so we can't take them all out and QT them for 6-8 weeks, because we will not be able to do water changes, etc while we're gone. I'm pretty worried about this, because last time we had ich all of the fish died. Is there anything I can do to make them feel better until we are able to do the proper treatment? I'm thinking about getting some Garlic and Selcon and hoping they all grow an immunity. I'm pretty down about this :( Any suggestions?
 
michael_cb_125

michael_cb_125

Well-Known Member
In one of my nanos I had Ick. I used garlic in all of the foods. I even added it directly to the water. As long as there is no stress on the fish they should be ok. Stress is what really makes fish successible to ICK. Make sure that the temp. does not fluctuate, and check all of your levels. The tang, is the one that I would be most concerned about. Make sure that there is little or no stress on the fish.
 
rebekwl

rebekwl

Active Member
Thanks Michael. I'm hoping the Tang will look better today, he seemed to be alot more comfortable yesterday than he was Sat/Sun. Will fresh Garlic work, or should I buy the SW Supplement?
 
Dentoid

Dentoid

Smile Maker
PREMIUM
Rebekah sorry to hear that! Take a look at this Sticky, there may be some helpful information in here:

[URL="http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/saltwater-fish/23132-marine-ich-myths-facts.html"[/URL]Marine Ich-Myths and Facts[/URL]
 
rebekwl

rebekwl

Active Member
Thanks Scott! I read that a few minutes ago, and it pretty much says that all I'm hoping for won't work :( I'm still going to try a few things though, and see how it all works out.
 
Woodstock

Woodstock

The Wand Geek was here. ;)
RS STAFF
Sorry for your troubles :(
I recommend removing all fish and treat them in a hospital tank while you let the main display go fallow (fish free) for 8 weeks. Until you get back from your trip, feed them very well making sure to add garlic to their food. Keep any stressors to a minimum so they are not weakened further. You can however start cycling your hospital tank now!! :thumbup:

I am currently in the process of cycling a hospital tank to do this very thing due to me neglecting to QT new fish.

A quarantine period of at least 4 weeks is necessary (much longer if the fish must be treated) to be sure you don't add a disease to your main display.

Please review all of the awesome information that Leebca has written regarding disease, QT, treatment, etc... http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/saltwater-fish/
 
prow

prow

Well-Known Member
humm do you have a sump? you could use it, detatch it from main tank, to hold the fish and use hypo salinity in it, toss a few peices of rock, that should keep the fish cool till you get back. powerheads and drop the heater in the main tank and keep one in the sump.

or you can see if someone here can care for them while your gone, where do you live?
 
rebekwl

rebekwl

Active Member
Thanks Prow, that is a great idea. I do have a sump, it's only 20 gal though and I'm concerned about the fish being in such a small volume of water while I'm gone. I have a feeling I'd have to do very frequent water changes while they were in such a small tank. All my fish are in my sig + a very small Tang and Pink Skunk Clown. All the fish are fairly small, clowns are probably medium. What do you think? It would be perfect if I could start treatment now, then it would be finished not long after I got back.
 
lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
If you have 4 weeks till you leave, you have time to start treatment now. I would set up a qt tank and start treating with hyposalinity. Yes you are going to need to do a lot of water changes but if you have a sponge or other filter media you can take from your display that will help the cycle as well. Meanwhile soak food in garlic (yes regular garlic will do) and if possible get a UV sterilizer. Yes it only kills one stage of the parasite but I believe it does help.
 
rebekwl

rebekwl

Active Member
Thanks alot Lynn. I'll be looking into buying/burrowing a tank that's at least 50 gal. I am going to post on our local forum and see if anyone has one sitting around that they can spare for a few weeks. I really don't want to have to buy one, because I already have a QT, but it is currentlly the home of our super mean Blue Devil Damsel, that I can not seem to get rid of. I also DO NOT have room for another tank in my house. It's already a fish sanctuary, lol.

I can have some rock in the tank of I'm just doing hyposalinity right? I want to have as much bio-filtration as possible, and I will remove any rock I put in there if I absolutely have to do copper treatment (which I'm hoping I won't). I don't currently have any sponges in my display, would it be too late to get one now? If not, what should I be looking for?

I put some fresh garlic in with their food yesterday, and will continue to do so daily. The Tang was looking a ton better yesterday, no spots at all, so I'm hoping he's building immunity to those nasty creatures. I can't really see the pink skunk clown, but I'm pretty sure she has it. My Clarkii is stressing her pretty bad. I thought she would leave her alone since their markings are so different, guess not. I'm hoping the Clarkii will leave her alone so she can work on getting better. I'd hate to lose her :(

I almost forgot, will it be safe to leave the tank without doing water changes while we're gone for an entire week?
 
lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
THat depends on how far it has gone in it's cycle. I would go ahead and put a sponge or two in the DT now to get them populated with bacteria. Then add them to the HT in a couple of weeks. Can't hurt IMO. If you put lr in there it may loose it's life in hypo but unless you use copper you can put it back in the display as base at least.
See if you can find any local reefers who can help out while you are away.
 
kyle1284

kyle1284

Well-Known Member
good luck im attempting to save a fish that has ich... my friend did not have any QT tank and was gonna flush it down a toilet but i saved it and it just happened to be a 5 inch hippo!! got it for 30 bucks but in all seriousness... good luck
 
J

Jake

Member
I would suggest using garlic on all foods that enter the tank right away. Buy the liquid, it is easy. I had a round of ick and all my fish got it but my pajama cardinal had it extremely bad, covered both his eyes and body. Garlic, garlic, garlic, patients, water change, patients, and low stess environment. I guess I got lucky, all my fish made it. Good luck. It is best if you can remove and treat, but if you can't there is still hope. I still use garlic for feeding 50% of the time.
 
prow

prow

Well-Known Member
the bacteria for biological filtration will be fine in hyposalintiy. the deal is some of the living stuff on the rock will die and the ammonia will spike. this should be short lived but the ammonia comming from what did die will need to be cycled by the bac. thats all. start up the QT toss in some LR watch the ammonia spike come and go away, your good to go and the bio is too:)
 
rebekwl

rebekwl

Active Member
Thanks to everyone!! Yesterday there were no noticable signs of ich in the tank whatsoever. I know it's still in there, but the fish seem to be fine as of now. I think we are going to hold off treatment for now. We have reached our bio-load for this tank, and won't be adding anymore fish, so there won't be any extra stress in the tank to make the fish vulnerable. We're going to keep an eye on it and keep soaking their food in garlic. We will see how everything goes, and will treat them when and if there is another outbreak. Thanks everyone for your help!!
 
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