Fed Up!

sculdermut

sculdermut

Member
I just lost all of my fish in my reef because of stupid ich. I had my blue stripe clown for six months, and now he's gone because of the stupid new fish I brought home (and, yes, I did quarantine it for a month). The other casualties were my neon goby and my dominoe (I know it's a cheap fish, but I was attached). To make matters worse, I lost two cleaner shrimps in one week. I acclimated them carefully, but neither of them lasted a day. My other cleaner shrimp that I've had for three months is happy as ever, and all my coral is opened to its fullest. Both shrimp were on the undersides of rocks, and then a few hours later, dead on their backs. (And, no, it wasn't just a molt) I can't figure out what happened, since all parameters seem to be in order.
Sorry, but I just needed to vent my anger. :mad:
 
badkharma

badkharma

Member
Strange, that is. You know something's going on when you lose a damsel...I am by no means an expert on this but maybe you have a predator killing off your fish/shrimp but doesn't touch your corals...
 
sculdermut

sculdermut

Member
I don't think I have any mantis shrimp in my tank. The only thing I have seen at night is some freaky worm. I don't know if it's a bristle worm or not, but it doesn't look like the other bristles I've seen. At first I thought it was a mantis shrimp because I just saw its head, but then it slithered out of the rock. It scared the crap out of me. It looks like it has a crustaceous body, and it appeared to have visible eyes. It's body is really dark, and when a light is shone on it, it kind of glistens different colors like blue and red. Basically, it looks like a hard-shelled bristle worm.
:notsure:
 
jtutton

jtutton

Member
Sorry to hear about losing all your fish. I had ich in a new tank when I got some damsels to see if cycling had completed. Treated with Stop Parasite as LFS suggested. 5 days, 2x/day, then 2x/week for about a month and the damsel survived, all new fish ok, no recurrence.
I was told to do a FW dip for all new fish to get the parasites to jump off and have been doing that now. No new ich problems, no recurrence of old ich.
Try leaving the tank empty of fish for about 4 weeks to break the life cycle. Then get something cheap to see. If you see ich on it, get the stop parasite. It's pepper based and smells like hot sauce. It's reef safe and didn't affect my inverts. Had a cleaner shrimp, several snails, and a few hermits.
Good luck, just be patient and do the FW dips before adding new fish. I also follow the acclimation process described here for all fish purchases and have lost a lot less fish that way.
 
jtutton

jtutton

Member
QT not easier when you are space limited. I have no place for a QT tank. I really haven't had a problem with the FW dip. The shortest duration was about 30 seconds and that was a PJ cardinal that is doing well 2 weeks after the dip.
I guess it just goes to show that there's more than one way to get the same result.
 
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