ICh everytime i buy fish

[olimark]

Hey friends I have had a tank going now since October and every time I put a fish in it within 3 days they get covered in white spots. Her is the story about my set up. I have a 30 gallon tank with 2 filter systems. One filter sysem has 2 carbon bags plus a bio wheel. The other is a combo filter protein skimmer. So I can not see how my water can be dirty and it does not look dirty it is very clean. I have live sand and about 40 pounds of live rock. I have 2 damsels and 4 snails and 4 hermit crabs. I also have some kind of green plant my guess is it is like a see weed kinda thing. Well everytime i but fish they get spots and die. All my crabs and snail live. I also noticed recently that I will like your opinion on. My light I only have on a couple ours a night and thats all. I notice that they seem to get sick mostly in the eve hours and when I get up in morn they look bad. Also my plants look pale white in morn. After having my light on for a good part of the day the plant looks very green and the fish loose 99 percent of the white spots and look great and swim happily around. Is this strange?
I have a heater also on tank and the local fish store says my chems are great and I should be having fish in the tank with out a problem. I have had fish out of the tank sine xmas cause they dies of ich stuff. So please help me is this lighting thing have any substance or am I crazy.

 

[elfdoctors]

It sounds like you had an ich infestation.
If you leave the tank fishless for 1 month your tank will be ich-free. Your inverts will be fine.
It is normal for some macroalgae and certain fish to have color variations through the day. As long as you are not having an overgrowth of algae or cyanobacteria I would gradually increase your photoperiod (how long the lights are on) until you get around 8-12 hours per day.
If the LFS where you get your fish, is infected with ich, this will probably happen again. You should consider a QT. If a fish does come down with ich you could treat it with hyposalinity (preferred) or copper instead of letting your fish die. These treatments should be done in a different tank as they both are toxic to inverts and live rock.
I assume you tested for ammonia, nitrites and pH?

 

[olimark]

yes i have tested all the chems at 2 different store locations and on my own. All pass. Regarding your comment about the ich thing well it has been over 30 days since i had fish so my parasite if i had any should certainly be gone. I have been leaving the light on now for many exteded hours like 12 -15 hours and now both my plant and fish are lookin so much better. How long should i keep the tank light on and why does the lighting seem to affect the spots on my fish and the coling of my plant?

 

[elfdoctors]

Originally posted by olimark
Regarding your comment about the ich thing well it has been over 30 days since i had FISH so my parasite if i had any should certainly be gone. I have been leaving the light on now for many exteded hours like 12 -15 hours and now both my plant and FISH are lookin so much better.
Do you have fish in your tank or not? Your tank has to have NO fish in it for 30 days to become ich free. If you have them in another tank use this tank for your quarantine (and/or treatment) tank. Did you treat the survivors? You should consider this.
Most people recommend keeping their lights on around 12 hours per day. Most reef fish live in the tropics. Near the equator the day length is close to 12 hours year round. This is most natural for the fish. Many people turn on some smaller lights for longer times and their brightest ones only during midday to avoid shocking the fish. Any increases in light should be done gradually to avoid shocking corals or starting an algae explosion.

 

[olimark]

Yes the last time i had fish was xmas s it is now over 2 months. I have no alage growth so far. I now have 2 damssels and thyeare both looking great since i been keepin the light on for long hours

 

[stieger]

I had a similar problem, and the LFS, who I actually trust, said the ocean more or less only changes 2 degrees throughout the day/night. My guess is, based on what you said about them looking "bad" in the morning, is two fold - they are just waking up, so a lot of their color isn't completely being show in the dark.
2nd, check the temp in the morning before you put the lights on, and check it just before you turn the lights off. If the variation is more than 2-3 degrees, your fish are feeling the effect of the temp dropping, and hence could be one reason why they are getting ick.
Best,
stieger

 

[olimark]

Ok to answer your quest the temp has nothing to do with this problem. If you read my first message you will see that I have a heater and my temp no mater when I check day or night is the same 82 degrees. If you recall in my first comments listed all the way on the top you will see that I am not seeing this problem now that i actually have the light on in my tank for about 12 hrs a day. It is now about 3 days and my fish are looking good since I hjave been leaving the light on. I guess the question to the audience is how long do you leave your light on and does the light play an important role on the fishes health? I would think it does not but it seems to be working.