I think I have a problem

[jv hermit]

I have a 90 gal. FOWLR tank that has been running for about a year now. Filtration is a large wet/dry with a Lifeguard canister filter and 15w UV sterilizer. It is stocked with:
80 lbs. of LR
1 4" Blueface Angel
2 Semilarvatus Butterflies
1 Flame Angel
Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, Ph 8.2, Nitrates 10. I only use RO/DI water. I do weekly, sometimes bi-weekly water changes of 15% or so. Everything was going fine until 3 days ago when I lost power for about 1 1/2 hours. I did what I could to keep the water oxygenated. This morning I noticed a white dusting on my fish and my Semilarvatus are swimming very fast and sometimes acting like they are having a seizure. I assume they might have oodinium or ick. I do have a running 29 gal. QT but it is too small to handle all of my fish. Can I do the Hyposalinity in the main tank? The live rock does not have any corals or critters on it. I bought it to give the tank a natural look. What can I do? Thanks

 

[beth]

How long have you had these fish? Did you QT them before they went into your display? Take a look at the Diseased Fish thread and see the pictures there of fish with ich and tell us it that looks like what your fish have.
If you can post a picture, that would be helpful.

 

[jv hermit]

Thanks for the reply. I've had the Semilarvatus for about 5 months. Yes they were quarantined. I have had the Flame angel for about 8 months. He was not quarantined. I added the Blueface about a month ago. He was not quarantined. I was told by my lfs that the blueface would not tolerate the small 29g qt tank and to put him in the display because he said that he was "clean". My lfs told me to take out any inverts that I had on the live rock and put them in the qt and do the hyposalinity (1.010) in the main tank because they said it would not harm any of the worms or anything else in the live rock. Is this the case? The fish are still eating but the ick is getting worse. Please help.

 

[beth]

LFS is generally wrong on all fronts. Obviously, stop listening to them. The LR will take a major hit under hyposalinity, but it can recover. You will loose many bristleworms, other worms, brittlestars, and really most inverts that are live rock fauna. But some will make it.
Alternatively, you can get a very large rubbermaid and house your LR in it safely with a couple of PH's and a heater, then do hypo on the tank.
Do you have a DSB with sand fauna?