Help!! Ick on Clowns!

trevsmelly354

trevsmelly354

Member
Hi,
I discovered that one of my clowns has the ick, the other does not. Please give me some tips on how to get rid of it! I dont have ANY meds.
 
tangs rule

tangs rule

Active Member
Welcome to the world of slatwater fish keeping, this is why we hate to add new fish, and why Qtine new fish. The best thing to do is set up a small tank for treatment/qtine asap. Since they are just clowns. a 6g tank would do it, and ***** sells them for like 10bucks. then u need a heater & filter of some sort, and of course some more slat water. You do NOT need or even want sand/rock/substrate. these things just absorb meds. Hyposalinity (reduced salinity) works well for ich, but it is almost impossible to do it with a needle swing type hydrometer. A large scientific glass type hydrometer is about the only type of hydrometer that should be used for doing hypo. A better tool is a refractometer (~$60)......as far as medications go to treat, there really are none that work in the DT. there are some that claim to treat ich in your DT, but in real life they don't work, and can poison the DT and wipe everything out. It's best to treat with meds in teh same 6 gal qtine tank...Please read and understand well the hyposalinity process discussed at the top of this section. If not performed exactly, you can wipe out you clowns faster than the parasites.
Copper based meds work for treating ich, and coppersafe & cupramine are the most common, and ***** carries mardel coppersafe......see if they have a test kit for "buffered" or "chleated" copper and get one too. these type of test kits work with coppersafe..... Hypo with copper works very well, and this combined method is a very sure way to kill off the parasites, but the process still takes weeks, as that's the life-cycle of the parasites........
Please do some research&reading on the Ich parasite, and it's life-cycle. there's a handy bit of info at the beginning of the fish disease section of this forum. we'll try to help, but your gonna need to do some reading/research & get some more equipment - and in the future, never add anything to your DT without some Qtine proceedures. Sadly parasites infest most EVERY LFS holding/display tanks and we all have to deal with it eventually. Onl the bright side, you dont yet have hundreds of dollars in fish that are infected, and now is a good time to learn about these parasite thingys..
 
trevsmelly354

trevsmelly354

Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by tangs rule http:///forum/thread/385893/help-ick-on-clowns#post_3386494
Welcome to the world of slatwater fish keeping, this is why we hate to add new fish, and why Qtine new fish. The best thing to do is set up a small tank for treatment/qtine asap. Since they are just clowns. a 6g tank would do it, and ***** sells them for like 10bucks. then u need a heater & filter of some sort, and of course some more slat water. You do NOT need or even want sand/rock/substrate. these things just absorb meds. Hyposalinity (reduced salinity) works well for ich, but it is almost impossible to do it with a needle swing type hydrometer. A large scientific glass type hydrometer is about the only type of hydrometer that should be used for doing hypo. A better tool is a refractometer (~$60)......as far as medications go to treat, there really are none that work in the DT. there are some that claim to treat ich in your DT, but in real life they don't work, and can poison the DT and wipe everything out. It's best to treat with meds in teh same 6 gal qtine tank...Please read and understand well the hyposalinity process discussed at the top of this section. If not performed exactly, you can wipe out you clowns faster than the parasites.
Copper based meds work for treating ich, and coppersafe & cupramine are the most common, and ***** carries mardel coppersafe......see if they have a test kit for "buffered" or "chleated" copper and get one too. these type of test kits work with coppersafe..... Hypo with copper works very well, and this combined method is a very sure way to kill off the parasites, but the process still takes weeks, as that's the life-cycle of the parasites........
Please do some research&reading on the Ich parasite, and it's life-cycle. there's a handy bit of info at the beginning of the fish disease section of this forum. we'll try to help, but your gonna need to do some reading/research & get some more equipment - and in the future, never add anything to your DT without some Qtine proceedures. Sadly parasites infest most EVERY LFS holding/display tanks and we all have to deal with it eventually. Onl the bright side, you dont yet have hundreds of dollars in fish that are infected, and now is a good time to learn about these parasite thingys..
Thank you very much for the reply and the welcome!
In the past few months I have been focusing on the care and maintenance of the clowns and saltwater tanks in general, but have stumbbled upon a few articles about hyposalinity, that sounds like babysitting the fish. Im just cash BROKE (only 15 yrs. old) at the moment and I dont have any copper meds nor do I have a tank. Would a plastic tub work? I have the rest of the supplies. I have a cheap 2 dollar glass hydrometer from *****. I hate seeing the fish in pain. How long do you think they can hold off the ick? It already got to the other clown! Im really scared for these little guys. I WILL NEVER PATRONIZE ***** AGAIN... Im going to test the water quick here.
Also, the white spots seemed to have "left" for the most part but are still on the fins and near the dorsel bones.
 
trevsmelly354

trevsmelly354

Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by tangs rule http:///forum/thread/385893/help-ick-on-clowns#post_3386496
Hre's the link to the disease treatment info:
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/forum/thread/381192/fish-diseases-faq-information#post_3319146
Do not hypo your DT. . it will kill off alot of good things and your DT will be screwed up for months. . Also I've had better luck with keeping a very bare DT tank, no rock or sand, just bare bottom and PVC elbows & couplers for the fish to hide in..
I agree with you, the forums Ive been reading say it takes 5-8 weeks to bring back the water just to the normal salinity in the tanks.
Thanks again tangs rule for your patience. Your the reason I join this site!
 
trevsmelly354

trevsmelly354

Member
My Water results:
Ammonia- 0 ppm
Nitrite- 0.25 ppm
Nitrate- 0 ppm
pH- 8.2 ppm
Nitrites are suspicious?
Thank you so much for your help guys!
 
tangs rule

tangs rule

Active Member
Hypo really isn't all that bad, you can come down by .003-.005 per day for hearty fish like clowns, but I'd still come back up with salinity only 1/2 as fast. Once the salinity is down to like 1.009 - it just stays there for a month. A plastic tub would work for hypo. It is very likely the ich will kill both your clowns if nothing is done. Ich appears to "go away" - but that's the ich multiplying, and each one can split up to 128 times, so it's possible to have hundreds of thousands in your tank within a week r 2. For every ich yuo see on the skin, there's more in the gills, where they prefer to feed, and this damages the fishes gills. That's why an infected fish breaths rapidly, and the damage gets so bad, the fish dies.
It doesn't matter where you buy fish - you must assume a fish at any store or online retailer has ich or velvet....(marine velvet is 1000 times worse than ich).....it also matters NOT if you see parasites on a new fish or not. most of the parasites prefer the gills, you cannot see in there, and it only takes 1 to start an infestation in your tank.
Also, it only takes 2-3 days to safely come down with salinity, but figure 5-7 to come back up. Going down with salinity is much easier on a fish than comming back up. If you desire to save your fish, it'd probably be best to attempt hypo asap, as the ich will very likely kill them off pretty quick. The hydrometer you have is not the best, but if it's all you got, ok. just add plain ro/di water or distilled water to the qtine tank t times a day and drop the salinity by about .002 or .003 in the AM and PM....
 
S

siptang

Guest
Quote:
Originally Posted by trevsmelly354 http:///forum/thread/385893/help-ick-on-clowns#post_3386499
My Water results:
Ammonia- 0 ppm
Nitrite- 0.25 ppm
Nitrate- 0 ppm
pH- 8.2 ppm
Nitrites are suspicious?
Thank you so much for your help guys!
Nitrites needs to come down.
You can try quick cure. It's main ingredients are Malachite Green, Formalin and they worked wonders for me.
It's also VERY cheap. I never used copper thanks to this sucker.
I'm actually treating my hippo tang with this as well.
Just be sure to take out carbon and turn off your skimmer.
Hypo is very good but you gotta do it slowly. Too much once will stress them out ALOT .
 
trevsmelly354

trevsmelly354

Member
The nitrites did come down after a few days of water changes. I finished bringing down the specific gravity to about 1.009 and the fish look great and are eating alot. The white spots have also disappeared. Im going to leave the water like this for about 2 weeks and then bring it back up to normal over about a week.
Thanks
 
tangs rule

tangs rule

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by trevsmelly354 http:///forum/thread/385893/help-ick-on-clowns#post_3387405
The nitrites did come down after a few days of water changes. I finished bringing down the specific gravity to about 1.009 and the fish look great and are eating alot. The white spots have also disappeared. Im going to leave the water like this for about 2 weeks and then bring it back up to normal over about a week.
Thanks
IME 2weeks may not be enough - if you can go 4 it'd be MUCHO better - cause your DT tank will not be free of them for at least 4 weeks, and it may easily take that long to rid the ich from the fishes. Putting your fish back into a contaminated tank will just make the ich multiply again and you'll be doing this hypo thingy all over again. Ich in the swimming stage can only last for a day or 2 then they die.....but it's the ich in the cyst stage that lingers on the bottom of the tank for up to 28days - like an invisible egg, it can stay idle for up to 4 weeks, then pop and hatch out like 200 swimming ichs.....and it only takes one of those cysts to pop when there a fish present in the tank and the entire cycle of ich begins again..... Best chance to ensure your tank is ich "extinct" is to go a month+ a couple days with the tank fallow (fishless)....
Great news that they're eating and doing good - clowns are fairly tough little guys.....for sure though take a week to bring the salinity back up - it's very hard on them going back up in salinity, and they'll die right quick if you up it too much too fast. Keep posting on their condition though! sounds good so far.
 
trevsmelly354

trevsmelly354

Member

IME 2weeks may not be enough - if you can go 4 it'd be MUCHO better - cause your DT tank will not be free of them for at least 4 weeks, and it may easily take that long to rid the ich from the fishes.  Putting your fish back into a contaminated tank will just make the ich multiply again and you'll be doing this hypo thingy all over again. Ich in the swimming stage can only last for a day or 2 then they die.....but it's the ich in the cyst stage that lingers on the bottom of the tank for up to 28days - like an invisible egg, it can stay idle for up to 4 weeks, then pop and hatch out like 200 swimming ichs.....and it only takes one of those cysts to pop when there a fish present in the tank and the entire cycle of ich begins again.....  Best chance to ensure your tank is ich "extinct" is to go a month+ a couple days with the tank fallow (fishless)....
 
Great news that they're eating and doing good - clowns are fairly tough little guys.....for sure though take a week to bring the salinity back up  - it's very hard on them going back up in salinity, and they'll die right quick if you up it too much too fast. Keep posting on their condition though! sounds good so far.
 
So I finished the hypo and about a wee ago and it was UNSUCCESSFUL. I followed all of the directions, fail.
So, I ordered a big 16 oz of Quick Cure and treated the tank, taking out the filters and feather duster, not thinking about the LIVE ROCK until it was dead.:(
It seemed to have worked great but they were acting funny and I waited 24 hours to do a 30-45 percent water change. I only had to treat the tank once and poof, it was...well, cured!
The night before I was going to do the water change, I fed both of them as usual and they ate it up. The next morning, (today) one of them was belly-up up dead, on the sand, almost white.
I was shocked because the other one looked weak as well. I quickly scooped it out and discarded the poor thing and tested the water.
Nitrites- 0
Nitrates- 0
Ammonia- 0
pH-8.3
Temp-78-79
Everything was normal.
Then I followed that by a big water Change and the feather duster has lost it's entire crown as well!!!! It still retracts though. The fish looks better now too.
The live rock also now is getting strange dark green and maroon spots on it.
I don't known what to do, please help!!!!!
 
tangs rule

tangs rule

Active Member
Quick cure containes formalin (formaldahyde) and that has likely killed off everything in your tank (invert wise). You could have not finnished hypo - it was 2 weeks worth, and it takes 5-6 weeks. You should have posted a question on using quick cure, many here would have advised against it....it is now killing off your live rock, and I'd not know what to do. Maybe someone else can advise better, but the OP should follow directions.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
WOW...where to begin.
Hypo does work. However it takes 6 to 8 weeks for ich to die off in the display tank. Once your fish had ich.... removing it from the main tank did nothing to the ich in there. So you reinfected your fish.
Next...the inverts don't like the ick traetments but they do survive it..sadly, so does the ich parasite. You didn't kill your tank. The crown on your FD will grow back.
You shouldn't do hypo using a hydrometer..it isn't accurate enough. You need a refractometer for hypo.
There are two things you can do now.
1. Remove the infected fish to another tank and do hypo using a refractometer..Keep the fish in that tank for 8 weeks to be sure the ich is gone in your main tank.
2. Leave it alone, consentrate on making sure your fish are happy and healthy. Boost the immune system with fresh garlic juice, soak their food in it before feeding. Up the temp to what clowns have in the natural world. This is very risky...any stress from any source, will allow the fish to contract the ich, replenishing the cycle and it may even over populate and by sheer numbers kill your fish....If the fish die don't add another for 8 weeks to allow the ich parasite to die without a host.
Any new fish will be stressed and contract the ich because it is alive and well in your tank now. If the parasites get a good foot hold and overpopulate... your entire stock of fish are gonners. Truely an ounce of prevention (quarantine tank) is worth a bound of cure.
 
trevsmelly354

trevsmelly354

Member
I actually started raeding on the site about this "clownfish disease" and I think they HAD it. But, there are no signs of stress anymore and I think the one in my tank now doesnt have it. but hes in a QT tank and looks fine and eating. The feather duster has also began showing signs of good health (the crown is regrowing). But theres A TON of this brown algae and I thinks its because of my lights being on too long (and possibly over feeding) so Im adjusting the timers. Also, why did only one fish die and the other was perfectly fine?
Im going to have to acquire more live rock to try and bring my now dead rock back. SO MUCH WORK, and I dont have the funds for a refractometer so I'll just have to make do with my hydrometer.
I'm dropping the salinity in the DT too.
Thanks
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flower http:///forum/thread/385893/help-ick-on-clowns#post_3391608
WOW...where to begin.
Hypo does work. However it takes 6 to 8 weeks for ich to die off in the display tank. Once your fish had ich.... removing it from the main tank did nothing to the ich in there. So you reinfected your fish.
Next...the inverts don't like the ick traetments but they do survive it..sadly, so does the ich parasite. You didn't kill your tank. The crown on your FD will grow back.
You shouldn't do hypo using a hydrometer..it isn't accurate enough. You need a refractometer for hypo.
There are two things you can do now.
1. Remove the infected fish to another tank and do hypo using a refractometer..Keep the fish in that tank for 8 weeks to be sure the ich is gone in your main tank.
2. Leave it alone, consentrate on making sure your fish are happy and healthy. Boost the immune system with fresh garlic juice, soak their food in it before feeding. Up the temp to what clowns have in the natural world. This is very risky...any stress from any source, will allow the fish to contract the ich, replenishing the cycle and it may even over populate and by sheer numbers kill your fish....If the fish die don't add another for 8 weeks to allow the ich parasite to die without a host.
Any new fish will be stressed and contract the ich because it is alive and well in your tank now. If the parasites get a good foot hold and overpopulate... your entire stock of fish are gonners. Truely an ounce of prevention (quarantine tank) is worth a bound of cure.
 
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