My fish are dying!

[blennyluv]

help!!
so far i have lost my royal gramma, i think my hi fin
my star fish is missing two legs, like they are rotting off, its still alive, but sheesh. my little clown goby, i can't believe he is still alive. looks like he got a sunburn and his skin is peeling off. my clown now has the spotty cloudiness over his eyes, and so does my blue tang and my wrasse. they seem to get a weird coating over thier scales and well, they just sorta look different, not like a fungus how it hangs off them. my decorated goby is doing great. thinking of moving him to the other tank
should i hyposalinitate the whole tank?? i have the other tank i could put all my rock and inverts in. i am so scared of losing any more fish, the ones left are my blue tang. my clown, my clown goby (not sure why) my bi color, my wrasse and my decorated goby. so far i have lost my gramma, my green clown goby (never saw any symptoms, hid in the coral) my hi fin (just cant' find him)
ammonia is not the problem, just tested the water.

 

[beth]

What are your water readings? Why is this happening? Have you added new fish recently? I can't tell much from the pics you provided. Can you go into more detail about what is happeneing?

 

[blennyluv]

hi beth. the only thing i can tell you is i am seeing white cloudy spots on the eyes. otherwise the fish seem ok. the yellow goby has skin around his head mostly that has come off in chunks, its just hanging on him. like he got a sunburn and its peeling, only pretty deep. hes not really yellow, hes turning white and i can see some small bloody spots. the gramma died and really showed no sign of anything. it seems they may have a very thin white coat of something, but i cant really tell. i have tried to take pics, but my camera is just not good enough. i went to the id thing you have and it could be the brooknella (butchered that i am sure)but i don't know. i put a coral in may 14th. that was the last thing i put in. 2 hermit crabs from my other tank but that is a healthy tank.
if i take my lr out and put it in my other tank, and my inverts. am i going to transfer this? i was going to do that and treat the tank. i also ordered a uv sterilizer, will this help?
what do i treat with????

 

[beth]

How is the water conditions in your tank? I'm assuming you don't have a QT?

 

[blennyluv]

hi
parameters are good. i set up a 29 gallon qt, and my fish are in it, not real happy, but in it. they actually looked better today, but i said, to heck iwth it, tore everything apart, caught them and took them downstairs to the qt tank where it is quiet. used coppersafe in there. is there anything else i need to add? now i used half water from the main tank and half good water, i also used the hob filter for them. and a powerhead. i am hoping it will help it not to cyce.
how long before i can put them back home?
dani

 

[beth]

Don't use coppersafe. Do they have ich? I would let them settle in a bit. Once they are calm, then tell me exactly what you see.
Have you added anything new recently?

 

[blennyluv]

oooo, i had already used coppersafe. is that bad?? right now i don't see much, they seem to be eating and doing well. the only thing i can say i saw is a patch of skin missing from on nemos head, but that could be from trying to catch his butt. my wrasse has some white spots on him, and dory has been battling ich since christmas. it would come and go. tried ruby reef kick ich, it seemed to help for awhile and then would return if she got the least bit stressed. they look a bit ragged, but like i said, seems fish get that way when you have to catch them. nemo looks way better today then say 3 days ago, he was starting to clamp fins and hover in one spot facing the back of the tank. my bi color just quit on me. no signs, just looked real pale and kinda see through.
i added a coral on may 14th. last thing. added some fish like 6 weeks ago. i guess i have learned a lesson here. always quarentine. not buying any more fish until i get my own qt tank. final answer.
so i will watch them and then i will get back at you
thanks for your help.
should i use an antibiotic? i can do a water change or run some carbon to get the copper out if i need to.
dani

 

[beth]

Are you treating your main tank with copper?? Do you have LR, LS, inverts?

 

[blennyluv]

no, i moved the fish to a 29 qt tank. pvc pipe and some fake stuff for them to hide in, barebottom. nemo died. my coral beauty has spots, and one of her fins had spots and it looked like it was being ate off. dory has spots on her tail, but her eyes look clear now, my lffairywrasse, has spots. its really hard to tell if they are spots or bubbles, they are so quick (the fish) the decorated goby seems unaffected. thats all i have left. they are all eating, i have been feeding them 1x per day, just a little.i read digestion takes energy and they need to conserve to get better. is this true? or should they eat a bit more? i am so sad i lost so many fish, i just want to save the 4 that are left. please help

 

[blennyluv]

beth
wow, my fish look great, looks like we saved 4 of them. they have been in copper now 8 days and i see no signs of anything on them. the tank they were in is going to sit with no fish, my question is, i only have one fish in my other 55, its in good shape and well established. can i move my fish into there. my qt tank is beginning to spike, ammonia up a bit and trites too. havent tested anything else, i am scared my fish will die from this. so, what do you think? i would drip acclimate for 3 hours, but i really think i need to get them out of there.
please respond
dani

 

[beth]

If you are asking if you can discontinue the copper treatment prior to 3 week, the answer is no. You need to continue the full treatment course. This is why hyposalinity would have been a better choice. You would not be fighting an uphill battle trying to maintain the stability in QT where the bioload is being killed off by the medication.
You are going to have to do large water changes. Be sure to bring the change out water up to the theraputic copper levels.

 

[blennyluv]

ok. i didn't know how long the copper treatment needed to be applied. so i have like 2 weeks to go. now, is it too late to do the hyposalinity???? I guess i wasn't sure that was an option.
so if i take out 4 gallons, i copper treat for 4 gallons, correct??
gosh, now i know why it is so important to have a qt tank ready.
thanks again

 

[beth]

IMO, hyposalinity is always a better choice than copper treatment for ich. Its not too late to do it, but you will have to leave the fish in the QT for the full course of treatment. The procedure is detailed in the FAQ.
There are a lot of reasons not to use copper unless absolutely necessary.

 

[blennyluv]

i have really found this is a live and learn hobby. when i can finally get my fish out of the qt tank, i am setting up a permanent qt. i have a couple of fish in my healthy 55 that i dont want, a chromis and some kind of damsel, came with the tank. so i will use them to cycle the tank. i am going to get fish one at a time, quarentine them for at least 2 weeks. i guess it is just one of those things you don't think will happen to you, i have great tank maintenence, i keep a log, test water etc... still got sick. and i am only putting 4 or 5 fish in each tank. so, since i am half done with the copper treatment i guess i will just stick it out.
will check out the hypo on the faq.
thanks again beth. i am really thankful for the fish i saved. i will keep doing large water changes on the tank downstairs. we will make it, only 8 days to go.....
happy hobbying
dani

 

[ophiura]

It is really important to know your specific water parameters especially ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, specific gravity, pH, alkalinity and temperature. There are very few diseases that would affect a seastar and your fish...so the fact that both are ill indicates there is something additionally wrong (unless you medicated the main tank and then the seastar started disintegrating). But if your fish were ill, the seastar was losing its arms and you hadn't done anything to the tank --> something is wrong with the water parameters or similar.

 

[blennyluv]

thats the weird thing. all is well, the only sea star affected was the linkia, the brittles are both good. my calcium is a bit high. i will test again. but no fish in there right now, just inverts. did a water change yesterday. all 4 shrimp are great, corals great, stars great. crab doing well. hmmmm :notsure:
whatever it is is really really weird.