dying fish!!!!!!

[chevydragtruck]

ok, I bought 3 fish last saturday, and in the past 2 days 2 have died! one was a sailfin tang, and the other was a tomato clown, I have a coral beauty left and it seems like they are fine one day, the next they are TOTALLY covered with parasites, and the next day they are dead!, I have had them all in a quarntine tank since the day I bought them, and have been giving them medication, but it doesn't seem to even affect the parasites! does anyone have any ideas as to what's going on? and is there anything I can do for the beauty, or is it a lost hope? it is now starting to get parasites on it

 

[daluminum]

since you have 16 posts I will assume that this is your first salt tank.
If I assume that.. I will assume that you are still in your nitrate cycle.. and that I can tell you.. is going to kill every fish you have.. do a search on this bbs for "cycle" and you will have more info than you can readh..
my worst cycle was with 2 sets of healty damsels that died within a week.. and my best was a 55gal with no fish and 2 cubes of brine that I left for 3 weeks. then I dumped 2 yellow tailed damsels that seem to be stronger than my 60lb rottweiler..
but we need some more details about your setup before we can help..
THX~ DAniel

 

[chevydragtruck]

yes, new my first tank, but, no it's done cycling, I haven't been on the message board in a fiew months the cycle has been done for a fiew months now red and green algie are pretty well established, and the water is fine. Is there anything else that it could be?

 

[chevydragtruck]

ok, there JW, the QT is a 20 gal, and the medication is this stuff called "ParaGuard" by Seachem, I haven't tested the water yet, but I plan on it soon, I haven't went out and gotten a test kit yet, the LFS here says that I don't really need it (I thought they would have sold it to me just to make some money anyway) but that's words from the 4 or 5 stores here, they don't open till 10 am, but I plan on it as soon as they do open. I'm pretty sure that it did spread from other fish.........I had some Damnzels from a store in there b4 and they had passed away (I have never had any luck with that store anyhow, they are just on this side of town) and I waited about a week till I put the new fish in there.........and in waiting for a reply, I read the diseases and treatments page, and found out that the parasites can live 21 days without a host (bummer) I yanked out my filter and there are actual parasites on there (big ones)!!! I also noticed them in my 55 in the substrate, are they supposed to be there? cause the 55 is doing great! the fish are happy, and they look very healthy, might these be the same parasites that are killing my fish? I also did a fresh water dip on the Beauty erlier.......hopefully I will be able to save it......it really is a beautiful fish! also, how can I get rid of the parasites in the substrate of the 55? I have a horseshoe crab in there somewhere that I haven't seen in a couple of days, either it is having a hayday in there or it has also met it's demise. will I ever see it again? if you or someone can help me here! this is weard, algie has never posed a problem, and then this just poped out of nowhere, and it's out of control!!!!!!!!

 

[chevydragtruck]

Well, sorry Terry, but being new at this, u know.........I thought I'd get a couple of fish to keep the Qtank up and running, I'm just going by what the LFS here told me, and this site recomends a FW dip before going in the Qtank and unlike you, I do have other things to do than to just sit around on the computer and read up on things, like go to work, and I do have other things to do with my money than to run right out and get EVERYTHING. Incase you didn't notice, this hobby isn't exactilly the cheapest one around, so like many people, I have to get the stuff when I can......I came on this message board to try and find out some things, perhaps to make it better for the fish.......not to get a butt chewing, and to basically be called a moron.........remember those days when you first started keeping fish? well, you probably didn't make those profesional fish keeping decisions then either

 

[beecher]

How do you know your water is fine if you don't own a test kit? I feel the test kit is the second thing you should buy besides the tank itself. If you have red algea, I am assuming it is red slime algae due to the newness of the tank. Red slime algae is a sign of poor water conditions.
I guess I missed where the butt-chewing and moron calling was. All I see is some sound advice from someone who knows his stuff. I should introduce you to my Mom, now she can show you a good butt chewing!