mass death

[nmlerman]

I have a 90 gallon that was well on the way to being a reef tank, minus the corals. All my fish died within a week after I bought a powder brown tang. I still have snails, anenima, purple lobster, and lots of live rock. I decided to wait a month and start a fo tank. I now bought a lion fish, and a spiny box fish. They are both ill with what i think is velvet. I bought a uv sterilizer, but i wanted to know what i can treat these fish with that will be safe to the other inhabitants of the tank.

 

[beth]

nmlerman, a UV will not cure velvet. You should leave your tank without fish for 2 mos.
In the meantime, think about setting up a Quarantine Tank. That is the only safe way to run a reef tank. Fish do have parasites and they will bring them home to your tank. Take a look at the FAQ Thread at the top of this forum and the info on Hospital Tanks.
What are the symptoms of your fish now? Velvet usally looks like a fine dusting powder on the fish. Fish will usually show rapid gilling, darting, and extreme stress. It kills rapidly.

 

[nmlerman]

im not sure if it is velvet. It might be ick. how can i tell the difference. They have the white salt grain all over their bodies and eyes. but the fins look dusty as well as having the white grains. fresh water dips havent helped any. They have had it for over a week now. Would velvet have killed them by now?

 

[beth]

Take a look at the Diseased Fish thread at the top of this forum. I don't have an example of velvet there [unfortunately] but there are plenty of ich examples.

 

[hogcr8]

i have found that if it is an ICK problem. Take some FRESH Garlic and mince it up as much as possible. Soak your food in it for approx. 1 min then feed them. I have a Coral Beauty that came down with ICK badly and after feeding it this way the ICK was gone in 5 days.....