Lost 3 Fish in 2 Days - Help

euphoria

euphoria

Active Member
Well I lost 3 of my favorite fish in 2 days. At first it was the Powder Brown Tang, then today I lost my Lemonpeel Angel and little Blue Tang.
Everything was great in the tank before. My levels were all great. I think it was the addition of Blue Tang that did it. I'm thinking it had ich or got one very fast when I put it in the tank. Also before I got my chiller yesterday, my tank was hitting 82F almost during the day (86F according to my chiller). Could this high temp be a major cause of fish dying, or is the ich outbreak mainly to blame here?
My Powder Brown Tang was eating very good, like a pig, then next morning it was dead. The lemonpeel angel didn't eat for 2 days and I knew it would die soon. It had a few red spots on its body. Kinda looked like lacerations. Now all I have left is my blenny and clown, and clown doesn't look too good either.
I've been treating the water with "KICK ICH" for a week now, w/ all my filtration turned off. Also feeding garlic and metronidazole every day, but I don't think any of this is helping.
What can I do to stop this ich outbreak. I can't use copper cuz I got LR and inverts in it. Now that I have the chiller, my tank is at a steady 77.5F, so temperature is good.
Please help
Thanks
 
gmbnj

gmbnj

Member
I don't think that the temperature is the problem. 82 is not that hot, maybee better at 79-80 but 82 would not kill them.
If you turned off all of your filters for one week, that could be your problem. I am surprised that your levels are okay without any filtration for one week.
Your tank most likely lost its cycle.
 
euphoria

euphoria

Active Member
I am keeping an eye on the levels (since my filtration is off) and so far I'm at:
ammonia - 0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - 0
pH 7.9 - 8.2
I regret throwing the blue tang in there, cuz I think it was the cause of ich and like said, was one too many tangs in the tank. I'm going to stick to ONE tang from now on.
If I buy a UV sterilizer, will that take care of the problem and prevent future outbreaks?
I just don't want this to happen again. My tank is only 2 months old, maybe that's another reason why this happened, it's not very stable yet ???
 
euphoria

euphoria

Active Member

Originally posted by pacopetty
It's a young tank to have those fish in
Please clarify. I added each fish 2 weeks apart and things were perfect until the Blue Tang came in. Wish I never got it in the first place.
Anyways, damage is done. Now if my other 2 fish were to die, and I had nothing but LR and some hermit crabs/snails/urchin/cleaner shrimp in there, and I left the tank empty for a month, will the ich die or do I still need treatment?
 
stacyt

stacyt

Active Member
EUPHORIA,
There are probably a couple of reasons this happened. First the tank is to small to house 2 tangs, especially the 2 that you listed. Both of these require excellent water quality, and are not a good fish for beginners. They also require room, and in that small of a tank, they probably got really stressed.
The other problem is that the tank is not mature enough. Even with a larger system, most would say that the tank should be up and running for 6 months without any problems before trying to introduce a tang.
You should also quaranteen new fish before placing them into your main tank. This will help prevent problems with introducing problems into your display like ich. A UV sterilizer will not prevent an ich outbreak. If you take a look at the disease and treatment forum there is a lot of good info there regarding how to deal with and prevent disease.
 
euphoria

euphoria

Active Member

Originally posted by StacyT
EUPHORIA,
There are probably a couple of reasons this happened. First the tank is to small to house 2 tangs, especially the 2 that you listed. Both of these require excellent water quality, and are not a good fish for beginners. They also require room, and in that small of a tank, they probably got really stressed.
The other problem is that the tank is not mature enough. Even with a larger system, most would say that the tank should be up and running for 6 months without any problems before trying to introduce a tang.
You should also quaranteen new fish before placing them into your main tank. This will help prevent problems with introducing problems into your display like ich. A UV sterilizer will not prevent an ich outbreak. If you take a look at the disease and treatment forum there is a lot of good info there regarding how to deal with and prevent disease.
Thanks Stacy.
I've been reading that forum for hours, but can't come to a simple and single conclusion. Everyone has different methods, philosophies, and advice. It's very confusing. There's 1000 different opinions. You say sterilizer won't do much, someone there says it works great. One says use garlic and metro, one says "forget it, it's useless"....
But you are right, I shouldn't have added the Tangs yet. Should have stayed w/ the clown and maybe the blenny for a while.
 
stacyt

stacyt

Active Member
There are a few people that post some great info in the disease forum. Take a look at what Beth, TerryB, and elfdoctors have posted. They are very knowledgable when it comes to disease prevention, and treatment.
 
doris

doris

Member

Originally posted by EUPHORIA
I am keeping an eye on the levels (since my filtration is off) and so far I'm at:
ammonia - 0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - 0
pH 7.9 - 8.2

You have (had) two tangs in your tank and your nitrates are at 0. Does that mean they are not pooping? And if they are, where are the nitrates going in a two month old tank? Maybe it might be time to have your nitrates rechecked and if you still have no nitrates, maybe your tank has not even started to cycle yet.
 
euphoria

euphoria

Active Member
I went through the whole cycle process, leveled off, and then added fish. I got LR and LS and water changes, protein skimmer w/ bioballs and filtration to keep my levels down.
I'm 100% that I cycled and ended the cycle before adding any fish.
 
tankstare

tankstare

New Member
I had frequent outbreaks of ich
Once i got a UV kept PH high by buffering added Supliments weekly
Never had an out break again
Its been 1 year
The old school thinking and the fact some of us work have kids and a life that the QT is the only answer isnt the cure all.
If you ever had to do hypo, or watch the stress you put on the fish as you add them in a qt for 6 weeks i have lost more fish during the QT period thanif I observe them for 1 week at the LFS then adding them directly to the main tank.
I guarentee if you add a UV with the proper GPH flow for a protozoa kill rate.
Your tank will be in better shape
If you ever heard of the Scripps Aquarium
It was a the icthyologist there who recommended the plan of action.
 
saltymom

saltymom

Member
My lfs owner swears by a uv steriliser and cleaner shrimp for an ich free tank. He says if u have those two things and you still have ich..you are over feeding your tank..there by feeding your shrimp..and then they wont do thier jobs
Im not saying I totally agree with him..but I do have a uv steriliser for a three hundred gallon pond on my 180 tank..and I have four cleaner shrimp. Ive never had ich. Ive never QT any fish.
 
sting_ray29

sting_ray29

Member
I thing that when the temp gets so high, it makes them more prone to getting diseases... Your tank is too young.. I let mine sit for 7 months, adding a pair of damsels firts... You need to be parient with tanks or else it will cost you a lot of money, like it already has... Also, you had one too many tangs in there... Just be patient- I learned that in freshwater, butnluchily they are not as expensive as saltwater fish..
 
polarpooch

polarpooch

Active Member
I'm with TankStare 100%. Additives are crap to treat ich. UV sterilizers are the closest thing to a magic bullet as you can get for ich outbreaks.
Get one, you'll be happy you did. Nothing against the "natural" crowd on the board who say hypo at QT is the way to go...I am just of the other school of thought that says "screw this ich stuff, and get UV".
Honest to God, after I added a UV to my tank, I never had another ich outbreak. Ich sucks. It kills fish. It frustrates aquariasts. And it is hell to get rid of. Get UV. It DOES work. It IS awesome. However, it is tricky to get the water flow right...takes some trial and error.
BTW, if you can get it, Tetra's anti-parasite food also does a fine job of controlling minor ich...and some say garlic xtreme also has some anti-parastie properties (apparently parasites don't like garlic? silly parasites!). I use the garlic xtreme to soak the fish food...not for ich, but for general good health and feeding response.
As for what you can do now...well...UV probably won't save your other fish...so get the filtration going again, stop using the bottled stuff and do a search on hypo for the ich. You may have to do emergency intervention on your remaining fish (fresh water dips), though. Good luck. Ich is the worst!
P.S. I'll bet it was that blue tang you added...those pretty little things are ich magnets.
 
euphoria

euphoria

Active Member
I always dip the food in garlic. I guess it wasn't enough to fight the ich. I prefer to get the UV rather than setup QT tanks and do FW dips and all that. I've spent a lot of $ already, so a little extra for the UV won't kill me, as long as I know another damn ich outbreak won't happen. As of today, I"ve lost ALL My fish except my bicolor blenny, and well I'm sure he'll be gone by tomorrow.
So will I be correct in just stopping the kick ich treatment (proved useless), turning my filters all back on, doing a few water changes (maybe 20 percent per week for a month) and also getting the UV, then slowlyyyyyyyyy adding fish?
I've already lost the battle. I want to make sure when I get back on my feet again w/ the new fish, I"ll be safe from ich the second time.
Also, since my fluval was turned completely off, should I throw my carbon filtration and biomax away and put new ones in, and also was the canister before turning the unit on or what?.
It's been off for over a week now.
 
polarpooch

polarpooch

Active Member
:(
I feel so bad for you. The same thing happened to me, though when I first started out in the hobby. I had a young tank, added fish a little too early, didn't Q any of them...and lost every last one of them to the dreaded ICH>
Change your filters, do a water change or two....and get the tank cycling again. Go get a UV sterilizer and get it on your tank soon, let it run a few days minimum before you add anymore fish.
Stay away from the PBT and Blue Tangs until you have a very well established tank (and I aqree that a 55g is too small for these guys...especially THESE two tangs, because they stress so easily).
Try to be patient and wait to add anymore fish to your tank....start out with something hardy and inexpensive (a damsel or two), just to make sure everything's OK before you start adding the more delicate stuff like the lemonpeel, etc.
Personally, I still think you need a QT tank. You should always Q your fish, even with UV...Q is your first line of defense, UV is your last...see? UV does make tossing a fish into your setup without Q much less risky, but why even tempt fate at all?? You make your owns calls, though...this is just what I would do.
BEsides, if you had QT, you would have a place to put your little Bicolor blennie while you fix your tank setup. And a place to put injured fish to let them heal if something goes wrong in your tank, like a disease outbreak, or LR collapse, or something:) QT is not just for Ich, to me it's essential for lots of reasons. I've got my yellow tang in QT right now...after his fins were terrorized by a wrasse I have. He's healing up quite nicely, but he would probably have been harrassed to death had I left him in the main setup. Q is also useful as a borrowed home for fish you want to sell or take back.
ANyway, Q tanks are cheap to set up....a 20g is what I use, with a cheapie little mini-bio wheel. Very no frills. The tank was $13 and the biowheel was $20 at a local petstore. I don't even use real lighting on it...just a cheap little desk lamp aimed at it.
 
euphoria

euphoria

Active Member
You guys have been great help. I turned on my skimmer today and will turn on fluval also. I'm going to empty the fluval, wash everything w/ freshwater before turning it back on.
By the way, how much do UV sterilizers go for these days?
 
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