making or breaking my clownfish? could it be ich?

[roxy jorja]

i have a 6 gallon eclipse reef tank. as of saturday i had one:
anenome
cleaner shrimp
pygmy angel
black (?) clownfish
4 turbo snails
live rock
i introduced everythig but the cleaner shrimp on saturday. with my salinity at 28 - specific gravity 1.020 i made a stupid mistake and purchased the fish with unclear eyes and blemished skin, so im guessing they are the hosts of the problem, and i believe the problem is ich. anyways the pygymy died this morning and the clownfish is holding on but i am unsure as to how long it will stay with me. when the pygymy died it had small salt like spots on it, but it had been dead for some time- up to 7 hours. i also noticed the entire time the fish was alive in my tank the cleaner shrimp fulled its duty and remained on the fish cleaning it the entire time.. eating something i could not see. well the clownfish is on the bottom of my tank, "breathing" short and fast- and swims only when spookedby my hand. i went to my LFS and looked for an ich treatment solution, only to find out the treatment would kill my anenome and shrimp- and snails as well. the advice i was given was to lower my salinity (because the stores was at 24 and mine 28) so i dropped it to 24 as soon as i got home. i also took the carbon filter out and shut off the lights, and covered the tank with a balck blanket- ommiting all light. the owner told me that if it was ich, the ick would grow with the carbon in the water and the light as well. iv been checking the fish every 30 minutes, and it doesnt seem to improve or get worse. is there something else i can do? the nitrites and nitrates are low.. at a level of 10-20 i believe. any advice ? much apreciated. if it wasnt the fish that brought it into my tank, and i had it there first, what would cause this outbreak? there were no fish in my tank for a week, and i did a 30% water change on friday... adding fish on saturday. thanks - Jorja <img src="graemlins//confused.gif" border="0" alt="[confused]" />

 

[ren]

sure sounds like ick. I'm going through it now with my purple tang. From what I've read and learned here for hypo therapy(lowering SG) you need a good meter - not the cheap plastic ones - and set it to 1.009. Ick will run its life cycle in 1 month. Look at the other posts here about Ick and see what the sharks say to do- they are the experts here.

 

[roxy jorja]

yeah, i did a search in the forum and its ich alright... but this fish is really suffering, what should be a black and white striped "percula" clown has got more black then white, the stripes being over run. anyways im still doing my checks, should i really drop the salinity to 1.009?? thats a full 14 ppts. im very scared ill kill everything. if the fish dies tonight, the ick will die off soon if it has no host correct? thanks for the fast response up there. i appreciate it. - Jorja

 

[roxy jorja]

wow- the clownfish was on the floor of my tank all day, and white spots are clearly visible all over the body. but as earlier i mentioned the white stripes had clouds of black, and now the stripes have returned to solid white, but there are those spots still. i dont expect to have cured ich in on day, but the fish which was just an hour ago on its side, barely with me still, is now more active then iv seen yet- and normally so. its not scratching or twitchingand it looks great BESIDES those damn white spots. i have a medium sized jar of water heated to 77 degrees - the temp of my tank, and the specific gravity at 1.009. should i dunk it for 2 minutes? i dont have a filteration system because the jar is the only thing i could find to yse as a "tank". pretty pathetic huh? anyways the fish looks better , alot better, but should i trust it? i really dont. what should i do? the water is in the jar is from my tank, so the ph should be good, i only lowered the salinity. help quick pleasE? why would the fish be so active but not suspecious about it. its doing very normal activities. and now its resting again! was it hungry? im so confused! <img src="graemlins//confused.gif" border="0" alt="[confused]" /> <img src="graemlins//confused.gif" border="0" alt="[confused]" /> <img src="graemlins//eek.gif" border="0" alt="[eek]" />

 

[roxy jorja]

well i took my chances and more then likely made the dumbest descision i could have if i tried. i put the fish into the jar, and it seemed to do better, i still think it did, but because of the low oxygen quanity in the water- i knew i couldnt keep it in the jar for long. so i slowly brought the salinity back up to 24 and im waiting for the fish to die, which i highly expect it will do . i had it in the jar for maybe 15 minutes. i kept the heat sufficient, i tried to rig up an oxygen system, but considering its 1 o clock in the morning on a school night where i am now, theres not a whole lot i can do. so i when i wake up today, ill do my best to finish my post, but bets are i killed my fish.thanks for the help i got- the only thing i ned to know now is if i get new fish on thursday- will it be too soon to add them to the tank? will there still be ich / ick parasites living in my tank? once the fish dies it will be an anenome a cleaner shrimp and 4 turbo snails. and the live rock - thursday has got to be to soon- am i right? thanks again- Jorja <img src="graemlins//angel.gif" border="0" alt="[angel]" /> rest in peace- to the poor fish im sure wil be dead by morning.

 

[roxy jorja]

i hate LFSs <img src="graemlins//yell.gif" border="0" alt="[yell]" /> - how they lie and i believe them-and i hate that you think im uneducated <img src="graemlins//uhuh.gif" border="0" alt="[U-Huh]" /> - i have books and i read them- some specifically on clownfish. and i did research on the pygymy angel but it wasnt in the information for hobbyists section of the site. i didnt even know about the search forum until last night, after it had died. the clownfish died <img src="graemlins//dead.gif" border="0" alt="[dead]" /> and im sorry but im very frustrated- could someone tell me when it will be safe to add A new fish? thank you. <img src="graemlins//uhuh.gif" border="0" alt="[U-Huh]" /> <img src="graemlins//uhuh.gif" border="0" alt="[U-Huh]" />

 

[beth]

What books do you have? Also, spend at least a month on this forum, every day, before you consider continuing with the hobby, especially before adding any more creatures to a 6 gal tank.

 

[roxy jorja]

sorry i think you miss read- the angel has died due to your advice- iv made a decision to leave my LFS out in the cold (so to speak) we will no longer be doing buisness unless absolutely necessary. thanks very much for the wake up call.

 

[maryc137]

You guys need to read the messages better and stop bashing the new guy. He didn't say the fish died as a result of your advise. He said he is leaving his LFS because of your advise. Please be more careful before picking on people!All he wants is advise and some people only know how to attack!