Missing Fish & ich

[entice59]

This is for my 55 gallon tank.
nitrite/ammonia - 0
Ph- 84
nitrate - 10
salinity - 1.024
temp 78
There has been missing fish. First it started out with 2 chromis's which ended up missing. Then later that day, their corpses had been eaten up. Just two days i ago, i spotted one of the firefish being dragged by the cleaner, already dead, i thought it died from old age since it had no signs of ich and was perfectly fine the day before, there was no bittage. Now tonight, i believe my last chromis will share the same fate as the other chromis's since it went missing for today.
Now i noticed my fish now have ich. The lawnmower, 2 perc clowns and the firefish. Although no strange breathing has occured, they do rub themselves against the sand once in awhile. Tonight i am soaking the frozen mysis shrimp over night with garlic hopefully it will help with the ich.
I was wondering what you might think the problem is?
Can this be a reason why my fish has been getting ich: The natural light seeps through my curtains enough that the polyps open up fully. The sun comes out about 6:30 and then the light starts to fade off after 11. I turn on the lights at 12 and turn them off at 8 or nine. Theres a lamp next to the tank and its usually on until 10. This tank is in the living room. The clownfish was the first one i noticed with ich. And it usually stays on the corner sleeping where the lamp is shineing the light. Theres also the tube anomie that extends itself at night and is next to where the clown sleeps and where the firefish's lair is.

 

[sunken ship]

Ich comes from somewhere not from certain conditions. When was the last time you introduced a fish? How long has your tank been up and running?
You need to get your remaining fish into a quarantine tank and use hyposalinity, keep your main tank fishless for 30+ days and the parasite problem should be solved.

 

[beth]

Eric: No the light coming in from the window has nothing to do with ich. Ich is a parasite. The only way that fish get ich, is by being exposed to other fish who have ich and have contaminated the tank.
Have you seen white spots on the fish? You mention the rubing, but not spots.
Have you resently introduced new fish?
Do you have a hospital tank, because you can not treat fish in a FOWLR or reef tank.
Answer these and dirty's quesitons so we can get a clearer picture.

 

[entice59]

No i havent recently bought any fish recently. All my fish have ich, white speckss. But all the fish have been eating except for the lawnmower. Its almost impossible to catch my firefish. I do not have a quarintine tank. i thought ich can be released if a fish is stressed enough because its immune system has been lowered. That the light has been on longer then the fish has been up longer then its used to.

 

[beth]

If you have ich, you have it. There's no back tracking now. Once your fish show an infestation, you must treat it. It won't go away.
Most hobbysts don't recommend that the tank be hit by direct sunlight, but, I for one, let my tank get about 2 hrs of filtered sunlight in the morning. This has nothing to do with ich. Yes, if fish get stressed, if they have some ich, then the ich will get worse.

 

[entice59]

will garlic soaked food help? im worried about the lawnmower, it is not eating and it is wasting away. I tried everything from flakes, brine, mysis, garlicsoaked brine/mysis, algae sheets, lettace. Its not eating at all

 

[beth]

The lawnmower is wasting away because it has likely run out of a food source. Any algae in your tank for the lawnmower to eat??? If not, then it will starve to death; something that happens all too frequesntly with lawnmowers.
You can try the garlic, but don't count on it working on an all out infestation of ich.

 

[entice59]

i'll give garlic another two days to see the progress, right now i dont notice any rapid breathing or loss of aptitte. If it gets worse im going to set up a QT and try hypo
as for the lawnmower, i heard they were easy to take care over, i guess i was wrong. To me, its easier to take care of a scooter then a lawnmower
thanks beth for the quick response, i'll update if anything happens

 

[beth]

Lawnmowers diet is ALGAE, thus their common name, "lawnmower". Once the algae is gone, however, the lawnmower will usually waste away except in a larger well established system that generates a lot of algae.

 

[entice59]

some people in this board have had lawnmowers which ate flakes and brine. I guess im not so lucky

 

[entice59]

right now is 2pm for me, im setting up the QT tank, i want to use hypo so what should i do for hypo? wont the lower salinity shock my fish or do i have to do a longer acculimation? salinity should be 2.019 correct? Im doing the 50/50 water, half old half new, shoudl i wait over night to do the hypo? since im mixing old water with new water?
or do i have to slowly add more top off with more water each day?
thanks

 

[beth]

You set up the tank then put your fish in it. Wait for a day and let them get adjusted to the QT, then you can begin to lower the salinity gradually. If it is a dire emergency, then as soon as the fish are not stressed from the move anymore, you can begin to lower the salinity. Take a min of 24 hrs to lower the SG, but better to lower over 48 hrs.
Who has a lawnmower that eats flakes and brine? In any case, this is not really their diet.

 

[entice59]

there was a bunch of people who responded that they eat things other then algae
right now the salinity is at 2.019, i havent put the fish in, but can i just put it in still? Even if accumulate them for an hour? or should i raise the levels still?

 

[entice59]

now the lawnmower is dead and so is the smaller clown, there is a reddish spot on the white stripe on the clown, do you have any idea what this is? i dont even think the fish will even make it long enough to go through hypo now... the second clown fish looked healthier then the firefish and the last clown

 

[beth]

You should have the SG and the pH in the hospital tank exactly the same as in the main tank that the fish is in. Then put the fish in the hospital, then begin to gradually, in small increments, lower the SG. Right now, the SG is too low to just put the fish in. If you have set up your hospital using pretty much the same water from your main tank, and all of the about is the same as your main tank, as well as temp, then you really don't need to acclimate. Just put the fish in [preferably wo removing the fish from water during the transition over].
That red spot is likely a sign of stress due to being sick. Common with clowns who are sick, or stressed.

 

[entice59]

im havign a really hard time catching the firefish, its almost impossible for me to catch it, do you have any ideas?

 

[entice59]

nevermind, i caught it

 

[entice59]

i actually looked at peoples posts about the salinity, 2.009 is the right one?

 

[beth]

THAT IS A TYPO OR WHATEVER. Normally SG is around 1.023-1.025. The target with hyposalinity is 1.009.

 

[entice59]

whoops, i meant 1.009. i usually look at the last 3 numbers on my salinity tester thanks for clearing that up