Beth

[petem]

Hi Beth, My blue tang and one Domino Damsel both died today. I at first thought it was Ich, however, they appear to have a white fuzzy mold on them. I used Greenex, as per my Lfs advice, however, at that time I thought it was Ich. In order to prevent this from spreading to my other fish, whatever it happens to be, what would you advise I do? Water changes, different medication?
Also, can you recommend any books on diseases of marine fish. I dont have a digital camera, so I cannot post any pics to get positive Ids from this board. Thanks.

 

[oyam1]

hi
i have same size aquarium you do.
how long have you been at this (i just started 4 months ago)
whats your set-up like.
how are you stocked (fish)
are you fish only?
i feel ya!
i just lost 5 out of my 8 fish
good luck
thanx
david

 

[petem]

Hey David, I've been researching since last autumn, but I've only had my set up since January. I have a live sand bed, over aragonite sand bed. Then I initially purchased 4 pieces of baserock. I cycled my tank with the LS only. Then I went out and bought 5 damsels and One turbo snail. Then a week or two later I bought two more damsels and two more turbo snails. I think my mistake happened when I went out on the 20th of Feb. and bought 9lbs of LR (only 5 pieces) a Yellow tang, a Kole tang, a tomato clown (died last week) a snowflake eel, 5 hermit crabs, and a blue hippo tang. All of these that I bought on the 20th with the exception of the blue tang came from the same store. The Blue tang came from another store. I believe he was the culprit, or rather, to be fair, he was the first one to show symptoms.
I also knew not to have too many tangs in my set up, but, went ahead and did it anyway. My yellow tang and Kole tang are looking okay. I did a big water change today. My NO2 and NO3 were high, about .50. I think it may have been because one of the damsels died. I had to move the rocks around inorder to find him.
How did you end up losing so many fish?

 

[oyam1]

hey did you cure the live rock????
if not ohoh..
i overstocked my aquarium 8 fish 4 were large 4"
stress i feel was the big killer
i also moved fish to QT with copper
i could have OD fish with the copper, i dont know.
3 out of 8 are still alive with 1 still not looking great.
i is hard to get a system up and running well, but thats the fun in this hobby.
i need to put the fish first, and not what i want to see in an aquarium.
72 gal has a limit and i need to respect that.

 

[petem]

Well, that's my problem. I assumed the rock to be cured. It was selling for $3.99/lb.

 

[oyam1]

3.99 not bad for uncured base rock.
well just cure it in the aquarium.
water changes you know.
good skimmer

 

[beth]

What are your water readings? Give some details about your tank, what is in it, how long it has been setup, etc.
Also, please read the FAQ Thread on QT. Quarantining new fish is the key to avoiding the spread of diseases to all your fish and contamining your tank with diseases and medications.