ich, I think!

[willy]

Last Sat. I noticed my yellow tang and surgeonfish were looking skinny and blotchy, even though they were eating. The local guy said I should get algae and that would fatten them up. The yellow tang died. Two days later the surgeon fish, clown, 2 damsels and a pj cardinal showed signs of ich. White spots, glazed eyes, scratching and ripped fins. All but the PJ died last night. My starfish and feather duster are not looking too good now. There are also little stringy things on the glass, white about 1/4 inch long. Could I have a parasite. I changed the water out on Sat. and the water was fine. In 10 years I have never had something like this happen. Any idea?

 

[fmarini]

Willy:
We need more info on what the clinical symptoms look like on the fish. So first things first. skinny and blotchy are two different problems. Skinny is either worms or no food. W/ the tangs i suspect the latter, you really need to give tangs lots of veggie matter to keep them fat. Blotchy is another story.
Do you see any white salt like cystals on the fish, does the fish look like is been dusted w/ talc powder? Becuz of the speed in which everything died it migh not be ich.
Your starfish and feather duster should NOT be unaffected by ich, so if they look bad its for another reason.
So why not start off by providig more background on the tank, how long its been setup, fish load, tanmates, water paramters, when the fish were introduced. Anything you think is important.
While your waiting do a search in this forum for hyposalinity
frank

 

[willy]

Thanks for the reply. Yes the fish look like they have been dusted with powder. I have 3 fish left the cardinal and a large damsel. Starfish is dead.
water is about 78, ph 8, salt 1.020, ammonia low, nitrate low. It's been set up for 3 years. It is a reef set up. There is still a cleaner shrimp, brittle star, scallop and 1 small completely healthy damsel. The yellow tang has been in there for about a year and started looking bad about 5 days before he died, then the rest started going. I am still wondering about those little white strands that are attached to the glass and rock, they are 1/4 to 1/2 inch long and thin as thread, I have had these little white dots appearing in the tank for a while and they appear to be alive, I think these may be the adults. strangely enough they are also in my fresh water tank now, and I can't think of how I could have cross contaminated.