Lost 2 black percs in 48 hours

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Andrew52984

Member
Hey guys, picked up 2 black percs from my LFS 2 weeks ago or so. My qt wasn't setup at the time so i did a three hour drip aclimation in a 10 gallon bucket. From day one the fish were swimming around and eating like hogs. Both looked great, no spots or skin conditions, fat as can be and getting along great! After a week and a half I went to feed them and one of them was covered in white! Looked like he had been pulled outta the water and laid in some salt. Being that my qt wasn't setup I had to treat him in the tank. All the LFS's were closed cause of thanksgiving so i had to wait til the morning, I bought some paraguard as this is what my lfs recommended. Setup my qt using half fresh saltwater made with ro/di water and existing water from the tank. Let that water run thru the filter for 12 hours and then drip acclimated the two fish again for one hour before putting them in the qt. All params matched on the tank and the qt tank. Once they were in put in the qt I fed them and after 30 minutes i started the paraguard. The white spots were only on one fish and the other seemed fine, after a few more hours the infected fish looked worse! His top layer of skin started peeling off, looked as if it was starting at the gills. Was this ick? If so i have never seen it move this fast! After bout a day of looking horrible, i found the fish dead sitting on the bottom of the tank, the other fish looked fine and was swimming and eating fine. The next morning I went down to check on him and he too was covered in the white spots! Continued treatment with the paraguard but after another half day this fish's skin was starting to peel off too. Just want some insight on what to do with the display tank(how to treat it) and whether or not you guys thought this is ick or some other disease? Please help, its my son's tank and he's freakin out. Not as much as dad but i feel horrible for him. We waited 4 months for these fish to come to my LFS. Thanks guys

Sorry didn't get pictures. Wish i did, cause i know it'd help with identification.
 
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Andrew52984

Member
Twenty nine gallon with thirty pounds of live rock and a one inch sand bed. No other fish. Tank had been up and running with bi-weekly water changes for over a month when these fish were introduced.
 
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leebca

Well-Known Member
Sorry to hear of the troubles and the loss. Such things are very stressful on humans who care.

Without trying to be an annoying smart a$$ I would say you fell into the trap of believing in your LFS. Few LFSs are educated or experienced in handling fish problems. That statement may seem strange since selling fish is their business. Their cure for sick fish is to flush down the ill and dead rather than spend time, effort, and money to cure. It's more economical to buy replacement fish than to help those that are seriously ill. Anyway. . .to your situation. . .

It wasn't clear in your post that you were dealing with white spots. You were very imaginative in your description, but I didn't see "white spots" until later in the post.

If the spots were actually white and about the size of a grain of sugar or a grain of table salt, then it is most likely Marine Ich. The correct diagnosis is important and the rest of my post is assuming the fish has Marine Ich.

You first need to be educated on this disease, so the LFS cannot 'fool you' with giving less-than-good advice. Please read this post and learn as much as you can from it: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/23132-marine-ich-myths-facts.html

If you read through the above post, you'll note that Paraguard is not one of the 3 treatments for Marine Ich. The choices of treatment are given in that post. More details on the proper treatment are given in these posts:
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...ents/23130-copper-treatment-use-problems.html
and
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...nts/23131-hyposalinity-treatment-process.html

Having an available QT ready is your best prophylactic tact. I don't understand why, if you waited 4 months for this fish, the QT wasn't up and running and waiting long ago. Regardless, please read this post also:
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums.../23584-fish-quarantine-process-step-step.html

For now, if the other fish is still alive, it needs to be treated for Marine Ich. The best approach at this late date is to treat the fish with Cupramine in the QT. Get a small bottle of Cupramine and a Salifert Copper Test kit (no substitutions please). Follow directions on the medication. Test for copper and keep it at 0.5 ppm for two weeks AFTER the second medication addition. Change QT water with new medication in the new water every other day. If you detect ammonia or nitrite in the water, change 50% of the water once or twice a day making sure the new water has the medication in it at the proper concentration. Vacuum the bottom and the surface of all decorations, pipes, etc. in the QT daily.

Since you'll be making large % water changes, please read this post, too: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...7-how-make-safe-water-change-marine-fish.html

Ask if you have any questions. We're here to help.
 
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Andrew52984

Member
Yes I would agree I shouldn't have listened to the LFS, but they also didn't have Cupramine which is why i got something else. The fish did have white spots that looked like it had been pulled out of the water and dipped in sugar, and that's why i thought it was marine ick but the spots only laster bout twelve hours before the top layer of the fish's skin was sluffing off. That's what I couldn't understand. I read tons of posts and information about MI but none said anything about the fishes skin falling off. The black percs lost all color and looked a very light gray shade in color when they passed away. Thanks for the info.
 
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