Ick castastrophy-7 out of 8 of my fish are dead!

[trigges4me]

I have had my 80G FO tank for 1 year and 2 months,I thought I did everything right.Cycled the tank properly,damsels and LR.Took my time researching fish,adding them slowly.No I never had a QT set up,I regret now-BIG TIME!
Anyway,I had a beautiful tank without any problems until 6 weeks ago.
Humu Trigger aka-Harry
Clown Trigger aka-Kosmo
Niger Trigger aka -Nigel
Dog Face Puffer aka-Jake Jr.
Yellow Tang - aka Daisy
Harlequin Tusk- aka Tiger
Dragon Wrase - aka Bruno
Queen Angel- aka Queeny
I think the ick came from my Angel,she died within a month.She had a velvety slime on her and then her fin were rotting and blood in them.Everything was ok for 2 weeks.Then I added the puffer & the wrase.And then it spread like wild fire..I treated with rid-ick and things got better.Then it came back with a vengence.It got out of hand and some of the fish were breathing heavy and my clown had it bad and had blood in his fins.I had the last 4 fish die in the last few days.I tried to save my Tusk with a fresh water dip,but he freaked and died soon after.I am soo upset.I put a lot of work and time into this hobby and I am just devastated.My wife is soo upset she was attached to our fish,like I was and she helped me name them.
She wants me to tear down the tank.I want to know if anyone here has had this happen to them and did they give up the hobby? or did they rebuild and just chalk it up to expierience?And get a QT and start over.Any feedback would be appreciated.I only have the dragon wrasse left.I have spent over $1400 in that time and I got the tank and lights & stand for free.
A few notes:I always did a 20-25% water change every 2 weeks.Used tap water with prime.I use to buy RO water from Publix,but got expensive.All my levels were fine,temp etc.Never tested for Phosphates though.I also removed all of the live rock and replaced it with fake rubber and platics corals because of hair algae problems.I have the tank in front of a window,in the shade not direct sunlight.No temp spikes either.I was wondering if the benefical bacteria that was in the rocks and then was taken out,may have caused the fish to get stressed and get ick.I do not have a UV light but do use a Protein skimmer. :help:

 

[kogle]

Well reading through this, your ICH run in sounds like most. I would chalk it up under lessons learned.
It sounds like you may in fact have a phosphate problem (hair algea). Tap water with prime is not a good choice becasue your water might have heavy metals in it that the prime isn't going to take out.
Sorry to hear about your losses, but keep in mind a QT tank doesn't have to be elaborate. It could be a rubbermaid container from Wally world. It might save your fish from other diseases though and it allows you to treat your fish outside of your display should they get sick.

 

[trigges4me]

Kogle,
Thanks for the advice.But even if I had a 20gl QT Tank I couldn't possibly put all my fish in there at once.They would freak because of the small space,but I guess its better than the alternative of losing all of my pets.I miss them badly.Man this sucks!

 

[zsalinas]

I'm no expert trust me. I am sure since you took out that live rock you took out all the beneficial bacteria as well. With all those fish in there may have been way over the bio-load. Like I said I'm not expert just tryin to offer my opinon/help.

 

[trigges4me]

Zsalinas,
I understand what your saying.I was worried when I did it also.The wife hated the way the LR looked with all the hair algae on it.We have in front of a window.So we can see it when we hang out on our covered lanai (patio)
The wierd thing is that LR puts out a lot of garbage that my PSkim picked up-dark green-brown gunk.And after it was removed,my PSkim doesn't pick up anything,nothing in the collection cup.FYI its a SeaClone100 that I have learned is a big waste of $$$.If I stay with the hobby I am buying a Remora C!
So what I have learned

is I should have sarted a QT from the start and purchased a Remora PSkimmer,I also should have tried Hypsoalinty to save my fish(RIP).I wasn't aware of this site until 2 days ago.Bottom line,this hobby is very time consuming and very expensive.What do you guys do when you go on vacation for a week.Who feeds your fish?A friend that knows what to do?I think I am going to give up and maybe do this again when I have more time & money and a better set-up.

 

[seannmelly]

sorry to hear about your losses, like the other guy im no expert but i would say too many fish in the tank and you took the live rock out.

 

[zsalinas]

Hey man keep your head up. I barely started my tank last november or so. I happened to find this site before and do a lot of researching. This site has tons of information on it and you'll learn a ton. Also if something like this is happening you can ask and there are some experts on here who are happy to help. They've helped me a ton. As far as your live rock having hair algae I've heard if you use tap water that causes hair algae alot. Also a lawnmower blenny would eat the hair algae hence the name lawnmower. If you do decide to start it up again I would use strictly RO water and nothing else. Sometimes you can find good LFS who will hook you up. I get my RO water for free from my LFS for top offs. Another thing is you could invest in an RO/DI system. I don't have one they're kind of pricey but well worth it from what I understand. Stay positive and tell your wife to as well. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[zsalinas]

One more thing. My tank sits in a window bay so there's three windows around it. I just keep the blinds closed and it seems to do fine. I haven't had a problem with water temp or with algae. I would just make sure you have the blinds closed when the sun is shining through the window.

 

[beth]

This has happened countless times, to many hobbyists. The answer is so simple. Quarantine your fish before putting them in a display. What a lifesaver. Once you set up a QT, and follow appropriate quarantine practices, you will never suffer this type of thing again.

 

[madman33]

Also i know this isnt quite the thread for this but if you cut down on your stock list the fish's stress level will go way down helping prevent an outbreak. Im not trying to be mean but rather help you, you were way over stocked even before any of the fish grew to full length. The queen angel especially needs a much larger system. Again just trying to help...next time qt before adding to the display and not so many big fishies

 

[beth]

And, I do agree with that for over health of fish tank, you must consider each fish, and "IF" that fish is appropriate for your tank.

 

[scubadoo]

Your system was doomed to fail due too many reason some already stated. Several enviornmental factors contribute to a disease outbreak if the disease is present in the system
Overcrowding
Stress (many contributing factors)
Poor diet
poor water quality
constant temp flucs of greter than 2 degrees
From what you have posted you had a nuisance algae problem which is an indication of water quality issues. You were overstocked and your ystem unfortunately was inadequate to house some of your stock...this would lead to stress. Removing live rock IMO would certainly contribute to a rapid decline in water quality...which may have been poor to begin with given the algae problem. using tap water provides that undesirable algae with the nutrient souce it needs to thrive.
You had one fish die from obvious disease an added more 2 weeks after. This further could have contributed to a decline in water quality as you removed part of your biological filtration yet increased your bio-load in a short period.
A further contributor to your problem was heavy waste producers....you had plenty of those in a smaller system.
You had many factors working against you. Unfortunately, the outcome was predictable.
Only place animals that can live in your system through adulthood, invest some money in a small RO/DI unit (can be found for less than $100), do not overstock, and when undesirable algae appears identify the source and eliminate/imprcve, and QT your livestock to reduce the risk of introducing disease tp the display.
Sorry for your losses...best of luck in the future.