help :(

[smashrt]

see posting, "am pretty confident my fish has ich now what"
so this morning i woke up to find my small clownfish missing... cant find him the larger clown is even more covered in spots than he was before,he looks like hes on his way out..
how important is it that i take apart our rock to find out where the heck he is? could the crab have eaten his whole body already he was just a small one

 

[smashrt]

and also.. i might add.. this guy that is alive... looks like he is on his way out.. he is swimming funny.. kind of on his side.. gets pushed really easily by the protein skimmer thingy..
if he dies..which i think he will...... do i just make sure i feed the other fish with garlic and that umm.. selecon (sp ?) to boost their immunity?

 

[meowzer]

You need to get started on the vitamins asap....so are you not going to treat your other fish????

 

[smashrt]

i want to treat him for sure.. but he looks so bad.. i think he will be dead before i can get him some vitamins. he keeps getting sucked up to the filter.. nothing is open here for another two hours

 

[meowzer]

Have you done a fresh water dip as I read someone tell you to do in one of your other threads???? I think you need to stick to one thread....this could get confusing

 

[smashrt]

needed help fairly quickly.. didnt think anyone would look at my old post.
i dont know how to fresh water dip.. i dont have a spare tank. i tried to help my boyfriend as much as i could with reading and lots of prep.. but never thought it would be this hard. i feel im a bit in over my head
so he died just now.. i scooped him out.

do i need to tear apart the tank to find the other clown body? will the ammonia spike and kill my other fish if i cant find him?

 

[flower]

I am so sorry to hear of your problems....If your fish is getting sucked up by the filter...it is too late for vitamins. What type of CUC do you have to determine if you need to go body hunting.
What other fish are in the tank?

 

[smashrt]

one emerald crab, one fire shrimp, 2 turbo snails and three hermit crabs. working on getting more in
this is our fourth and fifth fish death. i feel like our water is stable.. and i think we are doing everything right.. just getting unhealthy fish.

 

[flower]

Okay...I went to the other post...your CUC is not enough to clean up your dead fish...only a serpent star or brittle star can get deep into the rocks. If your dead fish were out enough for that CUC you would see them eating the body. So I would go hunting.
Feed vitamins and fresh garlic lased shrimp to the fish that are still strong enough to try and fight off the ich. Take the sick fish out and place in the QT because it will be easier to get him out now than trying to hunt for a body later.
Turn up your heat to 82/84 this and the fresh garlic will help boost the immune system of the remaining fish.

 

[smashrt]

So i just tore apart our rock.. and throughly looked for our desceased friend.. and hes no where to be found.. do we have an unwanted critter in our tank thats killing our fish?

 

[smashrt]

there were a few crabs that came with our rock.. i looked them up and am pretty sure they are porcelin crabs.. which are ok to be in the tank right?
also noted something which might be a bristleworm.. was kinda pinkish purple.. with points on it. and a different big assed worm..we tried to get them out of the tank earlier.. but the fish guy told us it shoudlnt be a big deal
could any of these things have eaten the fish so rapidly?

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by smashrt
http:///forum/post/3135377
So i just tore apart our rock.. and throughly looked for our desceased friend.. and hes no where to be found.. do we have an unwanted critter in our tank thats killing our fish?

Nothing you listed sounds like a fish killer. Maybe the body was out in the open during he night and it is now cleaned up...you said it was small, if I recall. It is best to check and make sure. It was an iffy situation. So now that worry is past.
You said you have 5 dead fish...how long did they last, and what hapened to each? I know 2 died from ich, so the other 3????

 

[smashrt]

yes five!
we initially got three chromis. we noticed one being more dominant over the other two.was chasing after the other two and nipping at them.. then one of them started hanging out in the corner.. all the time.. just in the corner.. and the other two started hanging out together.. one in the corner wasnt eating.. seemed to be hidding and died. called the store.. they say one was being a bully.. so i brought the bully into the store and they gave me a new one. then his other friend.. the 2nd of the three started hanging in the corner... he died too. the replaced chromis is doing well.. eating like crazy and is getting bigger by the day.
friday we went to the store and decided to take the leap.. and actually get some fish that we really wanted for our tank. we got two clowns and one bengai cardinal. noticed the clowns were just sort of hanging around at the top of the tank. during the day.. (we got them about 5pm fri) came home from our evening out and the guy was stuck to the filter. moved him away from it.. and woke up in the am to find the emerald crab munching out on him
bengai cardinal is healthy.. eats a lot
so we took the remaining clown back..and got two new ones.. which are now dead.
so i guess the first chromis lasted about two days.. the second.. maybe five.. our first clown less than 12 hours.. now these guys are dead monday morning.. purchased saturday am

 

[smashrt]

im also kind of wondering if we arent purchasing the healthiest fish in the world.. the dealer that we go to .. is my bfs bosses son .. his place is really new.. and am always seeing dead fish in his store.
so all the fish that are in our tank right now appear to be healthy, and happy.
i should up the tank temp to 82 deg, give them garlic soaked food
is that all? maybe do all the tests again to see where we are at?

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by smashrt
http:///forum/post/3135401
yes five!
we initially got three chromis. we noticed one being more dominant over the other two.was chasing after the other two and nipping at them.. then one of them started hanging out in the corner.. all the time.. just in the corner.. and the other two started hanging out together.. one in the corner wasnt eating.. seemed to be hidding and died. called the store.. they say one was being a bully.. so i brought the bully into the store and they gave me a new one. then his other friend.. the 2nd of the three started hanging in the corner... he died too. the replaced chromis is doing well.. eating like crazy and is getting bigger by the day.
friday we went to the store and decided to take the leap.. and actually get some fish that we really wanted for our tank. we got two clowns and one bengai cardinal. noticed the clowns were just sort of hanging around at the top of the tank. during the day.. (we got them about 5pm fri) came home from our evening out and the guy was stuck to the filter. moved him away from it.. and woke up in the am to find the emerald crab munching out on him
bengai cardinal is healthy.. eats a lot
so we took the remaining clown back..and got two new ones.. which are now dead.
so i guess the first chromis lasted about two days.. the second.. maybe five.. our first clown less than 12 hours.. now these guys are dead monday morning.. purchased saturday am

WOW...lets take it by steps...
I personally never had a chromis...they are in the damsel family...I looked them up, I attached a page from my book. For you it seems the bully survived, so don't any more of those. I think they need to be all brought at the same time, and the same size...but the book doesn't really say.
Cardinals are hardy and you are fine with him.
You got bad luck on your clowns (ich infested) a QT would have helped allot.
Now the hanging around at the top of the tank...What kind of flow do you have? I mean by power heads and outflow from the filter? Can you see the top of the water agitate? I ask because your clowns are corner huggers, but not usually top dwellers. They are seeking oxygen when they hang up by the top all the time. Were the sticking their faces out of the water every now and again?

 

[smashrt]

Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3135420

WOW...lets take it by steps...
I personally never had a chromis...they are in the damsel family...I looked them up, I attached a page from my book. For you it seems the bully survived, so don't any more of those. I think they need to be all brought at the same time, and the same size...but the book doesn't really say.
Cardinals are hardy and you are fine with him.
You got bad luck on your clowns (ich infested) a QT would have helped allot.
Now the hanging around at the top of the tank...What kind of flow do you have? I mean by power heads and outflow from the filter? Can you see the top of the water agitate? I ask because your clowns are corner huggers, but not usually top dwellers. They are seeking oxygen when they hang up by the top all the time. Were the sticking their faces out of the water every now and again?
t
the fish guy told us they were school fish.. easy hardy beginner fish.. so thats why we picked them up. we got rid of the bully ..but i think he had already stressed out that fish too much.
um as far as filters and powerheads.. i dont know much about them as this is my bfs hobby.. and i kinda got suckered into helping as the tank is in our house. as far as i know.. we have a protein skimmer and a filter that is a toms aquarium rapid pro.. its called.. apparently is supposed to be a good one. the top of the water does move around.. you can see it.. it doesnt bubble or anything.. but theres def movement.. the flake swirl around when we drop it in
we have no powerhead in situ right now.. someone said for approx 46gal..u might not need one. i didnt notice them popping their heads out of the water.

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by smashrt
http:///forum/post/3135426
t
the fish guy told us they were school fish.. easy hardy beginner fish.. so thats why we picked them up. we got rid of the bully ..but i think he had already stressed out that fish too much.
um as far as filters and powerheads.. i dont know much about them as this is my bfs hobby.. and i kinda got suckered into helping as the tank is in our house. as far as i know.. we have a protein skimmer and a filter that is a toms aquarium rapid pro.. its called.. apparently is supposed to be a good one. the top of the water does move around.. you can see it.. it doesnt bubble or anything.. but theres def movement.. the flake swirl around when we drop it in
we have no powerhead in situ right now.. someone said for approx 46gal..u might not need one. i didnt notice them popping their heads out of the water.

My book says the school as well..page shown..if you didn't notice heads bobbing then that fear is past and gone as well. Sounds like plenty of water movement.
Okay...it doesn't sound to me like the tank is the killer, just bad luck on fish. So for now deal with the ich...up the temp to 82/84, and feed a fresh galic juice lased shrimp chunk every other day (makes the tank smell like garlic) to those fish remaining to help them resist and fight the ich parasite. On that day feed nothing else just the garlic shrimp.
Don't add anything until you see no ich for 6 to 8 weeks on any fish. Then QT any new fish so you can prevent future problems like this one.

 

[smashrt]

Thank you so much for all your help. will keep you posted!

 

[smashrt]

so i went in and got a new powerhead.. a coralia 1 ..did a water change and got the kents garlic and some vitamins for my surviving fish.
i tested my ammonia this am before i left... and it did go up to .3 overnight is this just caused from the decay of my lost clown?

 

[contraband629]

It's quite possible the ammonia went up from your dead fish. I wanna applaude you though for taking this in stide even though you said this isn't your tank. Keep up the good work.