Fish Catastrophe, What is killing them - Please see pics

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Post some additional pictures of your fish, if you can. Are you in hypo yet?
You are treating in a display tank so copper is not advisable. You can not save the fish at the cost of killing the tank. Besides, copper and hypo are equally effective, but neither works while the cysts are on the fish.
I'd like some more pictures, because Amyloodinium was being considered at the beginning. Do those dots look like dusting powder, or like pinhead sized dots? How do the gills of effected fish look, swollen, red, rapid gilling?
 

florida joe

Well-Known Member
You are treating in a display tank so copper is not advisable. You can not save the fish at the cost of killing the tank. Besides, copper and hypo are equally effective, but neither works while the cysts are on the fish.
kj
 
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marineang

Guest
I am not treating in the display.
I moved them all to a 29g, I now have 2 qt tanks, as my original was qt's my new baby powder brown - whom is doing awesome, thankfully.
As for the fish in hypo...all the one's I was concerned about have passed, though, and 2 of them were the gold dusting looking ones. The others were def. ich per my pictures. I will try to get a pic of my puffer as ich has now broken out on his little fin too. As of today, one of my clowns look affected now as well. I'm running out of fish at a fast rate..
Thanks for the note Sep, I didn't catch it was 3 weeks after no signs...so I still have quite a ways to go. We lost power in the middle of the night last night, that tank went down to 69 degrees, i almost freaked out when I woke up. Things are not looking good here whatsoever. Maybe it's just not meant to be that I do this, breaks my heart to watch these innocent little beauties die.
 
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marineang

Guest
I almost can't believe I'm writing this
Just yesterday I mentioned my baby powder bronw in qt, which is why I had to do a 2nd tank to treat my other guys. He's been in there for 3 weeks and doing great until today - bam! full of ich spots. NO cross contamination whatsoever. I'm really devestated.
From my other tank, both of my clown are now covered, yesterday just one was showing signs. They are black perc's, but more white right now. They are in hypo, I'm really hoping they all hold on. And now my baby tang...good lord. Some were purchased from swf.com, the tang from a local pet store, so it's not just one place. There's no sense in me getting fish and having them die. I've yet to have a fish recover from ich.
 
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marineang

Guest
Very hesitant to FW dip, I lost two tangs to doing this a couple months ago. Luckily....puffer's ich has cleared up completely, clown are looking a little better also as is the flame cardinal. We're still a long way's away, but things look to be slightly better, crossing my fingers.
If you have a sec and could look at my post about broken refractometer under New Hobbyists, I'd really appreciate it, I'm puzzled.
Merry Christmas everyone!
 
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marineang

Guest
Yay, Merry X-mas to me.... all ich spots are no longer visible. I can't beleive 5 fish made it, I am thrilled. So now is a count down for the 3 weeks they need to remain in hypo.
I can't express just HOW THANKFUL I am to all of you who stood by me and helped - though I know you've helped others over and over on the same thing. Sometimes the one on one is different and more re-assuring than just reading it.
Thank you so guys! More to come...
 
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marineang

Guest
Originally Posted by Beth
http:///forum/post/2881068
marineang, I get your question, but I've never really done the measuring. Sorry. If you do, let us know! I think it will be around 1/2 or the normal amt of salt you use.
**By the way, I've found that 3/4 cup of salt in a 5g bucket brings the salinity to .8 - and then I tweak it to .9...thought this might make it an easy starting point for others.
Hypo is nothing like I thought it would be. I expected the worst, that they'd all die or look miserable and lifeless while in there, and that's anything but the case. All fish were showing signs of ich at the worst point but as of 12/25, everyone was okay and that remains the same. Even my poor cardinal that looked the worst, with the huge white cyst on his eye to boot - is eating well and finally looking great. I'm relieved. Just about 2 more weeks in hypo and I can start raising sg slowly.
I really, really can't thank you guys enough for the help w/ these guys as well as my state of mind to keep me focused and reassured - that's played a vital role in this whole thing. My refractometer ended up crapping out on me a few days ago (bad timing)! I was going to order one from here but couldn't find the option for overnight shipping and I needed it asap. I ended up with a Milwaukee and I'm very pleased with it, it's actually better than the one I previously had.
One other note - from hours a day reading all kinds of posts on here, I started putting a powerhead and thermometer in the bucket after mixing new saltwater and letting it sit - I have never done that nor even heard of it before. More to come...
 
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marineang

Guest
3 more days and it's time to start slowly raising salinity...then if all is well, on 12/31, my DT will have been empty for 6 weeks and I can move them back over. I'm really excited for that day!
My tragedy of ich cost me my Yellow Eyed Kole, Royal Gramma, 2 Chromis and 1 of my flame cardinals.....but MUCH to my surprise my puffer, cardinal, 2 firefish and pair of b&w ocellaris are making out fine....thanks to your help.
Thanks!!!
 
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marineang

Guest
Is hypo 100% effective, or close to it?
I finished hypo last week. Still have the fish in qt but back up to an sg of 1.25because there's one more week to go leaving the dt empty for 6 weeks...
I happened to see my puffer flashing twice today against the decor. I was really disturbed to see it.
I know some might ask, are you sure you brought it down to 1.09 and kept it there... I actually kept it about .8 to be on the safe side and used a refractometer for accruacy.
I'm just concerned. What do you think??
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
I'm not sure that any pharmaceutical company will claim 100% effectiveness for any drug.
I find that both these methods are pretty equally effective for ich. I don't see copper very safe for your fish in this situation because you basically threw together a makeshift QT and loaded it with fish. Add to that scenario copper, which will kill off the bio-filter, and you have a recipe for bigger problems.
What are your water reading in the QT at this point?
 

kube

Member
Why does hypo not work with sand? I treated my fish with ick about 5 or 6 months ago with doing hypo in the DT with 60# of sand in a 55 gallon tank? I of course took the rock and inverts out.....just curious as I have never heard this
 
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