Dying Fish

[allthatent]

I have a 55 gallon tank with one coral & one sponge for inverts. I had 10 fish as of a week ago. I have been battling with high nitrates (25ppm) for over a month now. My tank is only months old. I used BioSpiro to start up the tank and had no problems until like I said a month ago. All other tests; nitrite, amonia, PH, salinity, temp all ok. Now my fish have ick and one by one they are dying. I am doing everyday water changes and treating the water with Greenex. Someone mentioned something about garlic.? What should I do. I have a dogface puffer who now is acting sick and does also have ick. I have bought a cleaner wrasse just a couple of days ago and found it dead today. Please help!

 

[bdhough]

wow, where to start with you.....
unfortunately you made so many mistakes in starting your tank that its to late to correct alot of them.
1) you overstocked the tank greatly. 10 fish is entirely to many for a 55 gallon. i would say 6 or 7 is the max you could put in there and thats with super pairings of very different fish.
2) it sounds like you put the fish in much to quickly. you should have waited about 2 weeks between adding fish. my guess is you added them all within a month. the reason you do this is for the very reason you are looking for help. disease. you must understand that when you buy fish you are bringing them into a closed evironment where disease may or may not have ever been seen. it sounds like your fish stressed from over crowding and thus the ich set in.
3) if at all possible never treat your main tank. i know funds are limited but a simple quarantine tank can be set up for 30 dollars. ich from what ive been hearing cannot be very well treated with chems. hyposalinity seems to be a proven way to treat it and the method of doing it can be found in the disease forum. im not very well versed on diseases so i can't help you much more beyond what i just said.
4) garlic will help PREVENT ich not cure it. but it will not hurt to feed it to your fish at this point if you have some.
5) just slow down. always ask questions before doing anything. there are entirely to many variables to this hobby as i hope i have just illustrated. it looks like you got some bad advice in running your tank or noone bothered to help you out properly. sorry but you are in good hands here.

 

[bdhough]

one more thing. never buy a cleaner wrasse again they rarely survive. they need a large tank with alot of large fish. if you must must must have one make sure it eats regular food before you even consider it. they are a neat fish as ive had one clean my hands before but they rarely survive long as you have witnessed.

 

[allthatent]

Thanks so much for the advise & information. I never added a fish that I was told I couldn't. There is only 1 saltwater fish place here in my town and they know me pretty well for I have not only bought the whold tank set up from them but all my fish as well, most of them. I have tried to do a search on this hyposalinity and I haven't read anywhere where it explains on HOW to do this. Can someone please hold my hand and explain this to me.

 

[bdhough]

go to the disease forum i think there is a sticky that explains it at the very top of the forum. i would suggest doing a new thread saying "newbie needs hypo help" or something like that. one of the members Terry B seems to be a pioneer in the treatment and has authored papers on it that are widely read and respected.
not to toot my horn but was i write in any of my assumptions? could you list all the fish you've had?

 

[beth]

allthatent, please describe all the details to the problem with the fish. What you see on them, how they behave, etc. Also, take a look at the thread at the top of the forum that advises posters in this forum on the info needed.
Post up tank info, water readings, sick fish symptoms, etc. What are you currently treating them with?