Help! Mystery illness is killing my tank

[leonalady]

I have a 37 gal tank and introduced a coral banded shrimp and a sand sifter. About 4 weeks later, my black domino started to look sick and developed pop eye. I tried to save him, but before I could, he died. The other fish did not look sick nor did they have pop eye or ick.
Two weeks later I left for a weekend and when I got home, my clownfish and blue damsel were dead. They didn't even look sick when I left. I had one remaining clownfish left. He started looking sick and I put him in a hospital tank and treated him with Triple Sulfa. I had actually treated him in the large tank before taking him out. He was in the hospital tank for 3 days and started to look better.
I put him back in the large tank yesterday. Before that I did a 25% water change. (I had also done a water change before the domino died). The water chemistry is perfect and was perfect when the domino died.
I bought another clownfish today because the surviving clownfish looked lonely and was swimming vertically at the top of the tank and not in the middle of the tank.
At first he did fine with the new clownfish. Swimming around and looked normal. Then he started to swim vertically at the top of the tank again. Now he's at the bottom of the tank and looks like he's dying.
What's going on with my tank? Should I take this other clownfish out? The shrimp and the sand sifter have been fine. Help!!!!!!!!

 

[leonalady]

BTW, this tank is 18 months old and has live sand and live rock. The surviving clownfish had white spots on it, but after the hospital tank did not have that anymore and was fine.
I'm very sad.

 

[leonalady]

Sadly my surviving clownfish has died. He was looking like he was going to live...his color was a bit pale, but he looked better.
What is killing my tank? And why is the shrimp and sand sifter okay? Now I just have the new clownfish in there. Should I take him out. He looks fine now. I just don't want to stress him, he was just put into the tank a few hours ago.
Please help!!!

 

[leonalady]

Someone please help!!
You have the stats....37 gal tank, 25% water change yesterday, one fish left, no ich on it yet because it was just put in today, last surviving fish died today. I have live rock and live sand. 1 coral banded shrimp, sand sifter and 1 snail and 1 hermit crab and 1 new clownfish. Didn't realize how insidious ich was and new at this disease thing.
Did some of my own investigation....can I get rid of ich by moving clownfish into a QT/HT and then leaving everything else in the main tank and just let it fallow or sit for 8 weeks and the ich will die?
Please help!!

 

[litoallie]

Ok, first off, does your clown look like he/she have sand or salt or white spots all over him/her? If not, it is not ich. If the clown looks ok now, I personally, will not move it to a hospital tank- you might stress him out some more and he may go be more vulnerable to diseases.
At this point, I would dose his food with focus and Metronindazole(sp?) 5:1 - that's an antibiotic sort of medication.. medicate it and feed for 5 days. Hopefully, that will help. I would give him 2 small meals a day and just make sure it's healthy... What are you feeding him by the way?? try mysis shrimp.. etc
You can also use some Selcon and mix it with the medication and let it soak for at least an hour- I let it soak overnight and put it in the fridge. Also, you may think about investing in a UV sterilizer... That's up to you tho'..try it and let me know how it goes....

 

[confusedfishy]

Originally Posted by leonalady
http:///forum/post/2749830
Someone please help!!
You have the stats....37 gal tank, 25% water change yesterday, one fish left, no ich on it yet because it was just put in today, last surviving fish died today. I have live rock and live sand. 1 coral banded shrimp, sand sifter and 1 snail and 1 hermit crab and 1 new clownfish. Didn't realize how insidious ich was and new at this disease thing.
Did some of my own investigation....can I get rid of ich by moving clownfish into a QT/HT and then leaving everything else in the main tank and just let it fallow or sit for 8 weeks and the ich will die?
Please help!!
If you are worred about ich in your tank, I would definately leave it fishless for 6-8 weeks. Move the clown in your QT, even if he doesn't show ich right away if you put another fish in it might and then it would start over again.
What exactly are your water parameters when you say perfect? Was the water the same you put in the tank when you did the change, same as in temperature, ph, salinity?

 

[leonalady]

Okay, the remaining clownfish is now in the QT....he looks fine, is swimmming around and behaving normally. No ich on him.
Yes, the other fish had ich....my black domino was covered in white spots and had pop eye...the other fish died while I was away. The last clownfish was constantly at the top of the tank and I think that's a sign of ich? Also, he had white spots all over him as well.
Now...more questions:
My regular tank now only has the live rock, live sand, shrimp, sand sifter, hermit crab.....I am leaving it fishless, hoping that this will eventually kill the ich...I don't know what else to do? Do I just let it sit for 8 weeks? Do I do a water change at 4 weeks? How will I know if the ich is gone? I've been noticing tiny brine shrimpy things in my tank...i read that it's actually good? That they are from the live sand? I see them in my filter when I change it out.
Does anyone have any other advice as to what I should do? I want to have my tank back again. I'm really sad that I inadvertantly introduced ich to this tank. It was such a happy family of fishies until I added the inverts. I'm assuming that the ich came from them.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by leonalady
http:///forum/post/2750548
Okay, the remaining clownfish is now in the QT....he looks fine, is swimmming around and behaving normally. No ich on him.
Yes, the other fish had ich....my black domino was covered in white spots and had pop eye...the other fish died while I was away. The last clownfish was constantly at the top of the tank and I think that's a sign of ich? Also, he had white spots all over him as well.
Now...more questions:
My regular tank now only has the live rock, live sand, shrimp, sand sifter, hermit crab.....I am leaving it fishless, hoping that this will eventually kill the ich...I don't know what else to do? Do I just let it sit for 8 weeks? Do I do a water change at 4 weeks? How will I know if the ich is gone? I've been noticing tiny brine shrimpy things in my tank...i read that it's actually good? That they are from the live sand? I see them in my filter when I change it out.
Does anyone have any other advice as to what I should do? I want to have my tank back again. I'm really sad that I inadvertantly introduced ich to this tank. It was such a happy family of fishies until I added the inverts. I'm assuming that the ich came from them.
Leave the tank fish less and treat the survivor with hyposalinity, even if he is not showing signs. There is no mystery illness, the tank has ich. Pop eye comes from injury or water quality. If the damsel had ich then it is likely that he scraped on the rocks. He probably scratched his eye. If you knew that they had ich then why did you wait so long to treat them? I am not flaming you at all. I am curious. The ich may very well have come in on your inverts, which is why new inverts should be quarantined for three weeks. You lost several fish though that showed ich. The clown was swimming vertically, so you bought a new one? That wasn't going to solve anything. That is done with now. Let's work on saving the last fish. Do you have a refractometer? Have you read about hyposlinity?

 

[leonalady]

Thanks for the additional advice.
To defend myself.....
First, honestly, I wasn't educated at all about ich. To be frank, I didn't think that ich existed in a marine tank, call me stupid, but this is my first saltwater tank and the first experience with ich.
Second, I'm deducing all of this post annihilation of my dear fishies. All of the info I am giving you is from extensive reading of this site and online and also from the back of boxes of ich medicine. I learned about pop eye from online, and the scratching of it's eye from the most recent post. I thought my domino had pop eye, I didn't realize he had ich at all. When he died, the other fishies were fine. I went away for the weekend and returned to just one clownfish. The other clownfish was dead and the other damsel was actually floating and disfigured....so I couldn't tell what they died of. It wasn't until extensive reading that I realized that it was ich. That's why I called it a "mystery illness".
I moved the remaining clownfish to a QT and treated him. He looked better, spots were gone and looked healthy. I didn't understand that marine fishies get stressed....I'm learning all this through this experience. I thought he was lonely. I moved him back to the original tank thinking it was all clear, not fully knowing what was going on. I bought the other clown because I thought the surviving clown was acting weird because he needed a friend...he was bought as a pair with the other clown.
It wasn't until he was on his last breath that I sought out this site and starting learning about ich....and the whole thing about him swimming vertically, I learned that from the back of a box of ich medicine yesterday.
I care about my fish, I care about my tank and I'm sorry that I introduced a disease into my tank because I bought inverts into it. I had no idea. I was ignorant and uneducated about it. But I'm doing my best to keep everyone alive and happy from now on.
I don't wake up several times a night to check on my tanks for no reason. I care about my tank and all in it, which is why I chose the route I'm taking.
BTW, the new clown is doing well today. I keep a very watchfull eye on him. I did not realize inverts were not affected by ich which is why I started the other thread asking if ich discriminates. The inverts in my tank were fine which is why I believed the tank was inch free. I know differently now.
I know you weren't flaming me, but I just needed to defend myself. Please keep the advice coming, I need it.

 

[nigerbang]

At this point, I would dose his food with focus and Metronindazole(sp?) 5:1 - that's an antibiotic sort of medication.. medicate it and feed for 5 days. Hopefully, that will help. I would give him 2 small meals a day and just make sure it's healthy... What are you feeding him by the way?? try mysis shrimp.. etc
/QUOTE]
Metronidazole is not an antibiotic...Its an antiparasite they give to human for Ghiridia. Seachem or kent sells it now...But the correct ratio for any effectivness is 1:1.. They have changed it now so works that way...I have used it only as a last resort..
The best thing for fish with ick is to feed the tank alot more then usual (I suppose with food with garlic) {If they are eating} and most times it will go away on its own..

 

[litoallie]

Originally Posted by litoallie
http:///forum/post/2749928
At this point, I would dose his food with focus and Metronindazole(sp?) 5:1 - that's an antibiotic sort of medication.. medicate it and feed for 5 days. Hopefully, that will help. I would give him 2 small meals a day and just make sure it's healthy... What are you feeding him by the way?? try mysis shrimp.. etc
/QUOTE]
Metronidazole is not an antibiotic...Its an antiparasite they give to human for Ghiridia. Seachem or kent sells it now...But the correct ratio for any effectivness is 1:1.. They have changed it now so works that way...I have used it only as a last resort..
The best thing for fish with ick is to feed the tank alot more then usual (I suppose with food with garlic) {If they are eating} and most times it will go away on its own..

Don't get me wrong... but on the back of my medications it says...5:1 ratio.. I guess my word choice of antibiotic really means anti-parasite because my LFS actually dose the fishes food with it for 3 weeks during quarantine. I've used it and it works great, nothings wrong with my tank or my fishes yet.

 

[litoallie]

Also, Ich has a 28 days life cycle, but it definitely does not going away on it's own. Ich can make your fish stop eating and can make your fish scratch itself on rocks in attempt to try to get it off it's skin. When you first see Ich, it can attach itself on it's host for a few days before it falls off to gravel or rocks to reproduce( in large numbers) and it'll start to swim to look for hosts again. Though, a healthy fish can probably fight Ich off on it's own, but the main part is to keep it eating..
I read from beth's garlic entry that you should mince fresh garlic and feed directly into the tank right away. Also, my LFS told me that feeding too much can stress out your fish also..don't ask me why.. I would think that it would make them happy, guess not. Anyway, I feed my sick fishes 2 small meals a day, you might want to watch your nitrates/nitrites.. as you are feeding more, you will probably need to do a water change every week- if you are not doing so already. Just keep doing what you are doing and I'm sure he'll get through it.
The reason I know all this stuff is because my hippo tang just go ich and I've been researching on the topic. Try whatever works.. but do it once at a time so you know what is working. I will definitely add vitamins to his food though, just to build up his immunity. Plus treatment of hypo, he'll be back in the DT in no time.

 

[nigerbang]

Originally Posted by NigerBang
http:///forum/post/2751079
Don't get me wrong... but on the back of my medications it says...5:1 ratio.. I guess my word choice of antibiotic really means anti-parasite because my LFS actually dose the fishes food with it for 3 weeks during quarantine. I've used it and it works great, nothings wrong with my tank or my fishes yet.
Agreed that it works..I love it...
Seachem has recently changed it to 1:1..wont hurt anything anyways..

 

[sepulatian]

leonalady, please read this https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/127007/faqs-fish-diseases-treatments-quarantine-health-info if you have not done so yet. It explains about ich, it's life cycle, and how to properly treat them.