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[DrHank]

Ashley, your tank has not completed what is called cycling in. During that time biological (or bacterial) activity is preparing your tank to decompose ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate. We don't add anything to our tanks during that time other than grocery store shrimp. That is because both ammonia and nitrite are toxic to fish and nitrates are harmful to invertebrates.

This is what brought on the stress which caused the ick outbreak. Unfortunately, at this point it is likley that most if not all your fish will contract ick and probably die.

What I would recommend is that you remove all your fish to a 10 gallon tank and start hyposalinity treatment. They will need to continue that for 8 weeks. Your display tank will also have to remain without fish for the same period of time to let the Ick that is in your tank die off. I would also remove the invertebrates to another 10 gallon tank for the same period of time but do not do hyposalinity because it would kill them.

Unfortunately, you probably got some bad advise when you were setting up your tank originally. We would just like to help you resolve your current problem and move forward.

I would also advise against adding any medication to your display tank.

[Dentoid]

Originally Posted by ASH

Sorry but i'm very new to this whole tank thing...Nobody told me that this could happen when i started all this...telling me that i'm headed for a catastrophy is not helping so please stop.

I apologize for sounding so harsh, but you were the one that said, "...everybody told me to take it slow, but I'm a little hard headed." Unfortunately, where I'm from, hard headed people need to be slapped around until they get it or until they learn the hard way! I don't want that to happen to you, since you have shown some initiative by coming to RS.

We are all serious reefers here, believe me, and want to help. In order for that to happen you have to be open minded and ready to make some major changes to your system for the sake of the animals in your care.

[lcstorc]

First take a deep breath. There is a lot involved in keeping a reef tank successfully and it sounds like you did what many of us have done and pretty much just started everything at once.
Undortunately, this does not work in a reef tank. This hobby has taught me more patience than anything else in my life and I am not exactly young. EVERYTHING you do in a reef tank must be done slowly. When you think you are doing it slowly enough, then wait some more. The payoff in the end is well worth it.
Ok now to deal with the situation. Seems to me like you have several fish with ich and several inverts in an uncycled tank. Unfortunately there is not a lot that can be done at this point. If you can set up a qt tank and treat with hyposalinity while leaving the display tank empty that would be great. Remember though the qt tank will not be cycled either. This means a lot of water changes. When I tried using an uncycled qt I did 2 50% water changes per day as well as treat with amquel just to keep the amonia below toxic levels. QT or not you need to keep a close eye on your levels. One of the major causes of stress for our fish is high amonia/nitrite/nitrate. All are stressfull. The best way to keep them down is water changes. Be sure to use ro or ro/di water for your changes and be sure to match salinity and temp before making a change.
Right now the situation is bad so just do your best. You do have some hardy fish in there so they could pull through but you are going to need to watch your levels very closely and be ready for a water change at all times.
Once you get through this then we can start giving you the important long term advice about things like live rock and protein skimmers etc.
HTH

[hma]

Originally Posted by Dentoid

I apologize for sounding so harsh, but you were the one that said, "...everybody told me to take it slow, but I'm a little hard headed." Unfortunately, where I'm from, hard headed people need to be slapped around until they get it or until they learn the hard way! I don't want that to happen to you, since you have shown some initiative by coming to RS.

We are all serious reefers here, believe me, and want to help. In order for that to happen you have to be open minded and ready to make some major changes to your system for the sake of the animals in your care.

Scott, In Germany we have a saying: "Who does not want to hear, must feel"

Ash, that most important what reefers needs is TIME
....... also hard headed people!

[BigAl07]

Hang in there Ash.... it's called tough LOVE! What is being said is indeed what you need to hear whether you want to or not. Either way you have some VERY good advice waiting for you up there and if you'll just take it slow and read through these posts, come up with a game plan and attack the REAL problems (new tank, over stocked tank etc) and not just the symptoms (Ich and potential die-off of inverts) we can and will get through this. Just remember that just about everyone here trying to help you has been through this to one degree or another. Hang in there and don't be afraid to ask questions but also be willing to take some knocks on the chin. We all make mistakes we just need to TRY and not make the same ones twice.

Talk with hubby and sit down together to devise the best and most realistic plan possible to accomplish the task at hand. This problem CAN be over come but it's not going to be a quick or easy solution. Trust me when I say the end result will be WELL worth the effort.

While you're going through this painful and stressful time I would make SURE that the LFS who has been so kind as to test your water (insert heavy sarcasm here ) gets the FULL understanding as to your grief and appreciation for getting you into this and NOT having the knowledge or integrity to be up front and really TEACH you. It's the LFS who I lay this blame fully.

Hang in there and start changing water 10 minutes ago!!

Allen

[BEELZEBOB]

Ash, we want to help!!!

the more information you can give us, the more we can help. (mainly they)

[ASH]

So I just got home and looked at my fish (the one that i thought had ich). Now I don't see any white spots on either of the fish....I know it's not possible for the ich to just go away so maybe it's not ich???

I just did a 10% water change just to be safe and make the nitrate and nitrites go down a little.

[BigAl07]

It can come and go pretty quickly at least visibly but usually what you "SEE" is the result of the ich. It's a small parasite that is under the skin and causes a sore type of spot. I don't think it can simply vanish that quick.

Hope you're hanging in there. We are trying to help you and your new found friends

Allen

[BigAl07]

Ash any updates? I'm anxious to hear more.... We can beat this thing


Allen

[lcstorc]

The spots can appear and disappear very quickly.
One of my tangs had the spots every morning for about a month. Afternoon he was fine. The spots are just the most visible symptom. Do an image search on ich and see if that is what you saw. It looks like someone sprinkeled the fish with sugar or something. Little speckles everywhere. Ich does not just go away. The spots can come and go.
HTH

[Dentoid]

Checking in! How are the fishes? How can we help!

[kyrie_eleison]

Ashley,

This thread is about an age old problem EVERY saltwater aquarist/hobbyist encounters at one time or another. I've used that "No-Ich" medication that you're using. It does work...to an extent. HOWEVER, you have to do a number of things. I've also used "Ich-Attack"; just as effective. First, you have to leave your skimmer off and remove your carbon. These are options that many of us are leary of. The meds work but are not very good options b/c they're not 100% effective and even if you are able to treat the tank with success it will have cost you TOO much to be worth the effort. NO-Ich is EXPENSIVE! And there's no guarantee to it.

Every hobbyist here and in other forums will give you similar advice and most will have nothing to do with harsh medications. The most EFFECTIVE way of treating this age old parasite is to CATCH THE FISH and quarantine it/them. A 30 gallon should suffice for this purpose; lower your specific gravity/salinity (gradually) over a period of a week until it's approximately 1.008 (use a refractometer; it's more accurate). Let your tank go fallow for a period of no less than 4 weeks (month) meanwhile your fish are being treated by hyposalinity during this same time frame. This method kills two birds with one stone (so to speak); actually it's more like, killing one parasite with two methods.

This works. Your inverts/corals should be fine in the tank by themselves since cryptocaryon does not survive without a fish host. In addition to this, I recommend...no I INSIST you do some research on the cryptocaryon irritan protozoan parasite. Understand the biology of the life cycle and what must be done in order to annihilate such a horrific pest.

Good luck.

[Dentoid]

I'll get you started.

Marine Ich/Cryptocaryon irritans - A Discussion of this Parasite and the Treatment Options Available, Part I by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com

Marine Ich/Cryptocaryon irritans - A Discussion of this Parasite and the Treatment Options Available, Part II by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com

Also, you may want to check this out.
Saltwater Aquariums 101

[ASH]

The fish are doing fine I guess. I've been watching them today and I haven't saw them scratch against the rocks and I can't see any "visible" spots. But i'm sure it's still there.

But on the sweet side of things I can't stop watching my domino damsel love up against condi. That's so damn cute!!!!

[BigAl07]

Originally Posted by ASH

The fish are doing fine I guess. I've been watching them today and I haven't saw them scratch against the rocks and I can't see any "visible" spots. But i'm sure it's still there.

But on the sweet side of things I can't stop watching my domino damsel love up against condi. That's so damn cute!!!!