need help please thanks !

[exnjc]

Hi I've been having the 55 gallon tank for almost 2 months , I got couple questions and I need advice. 4 fishes died with ick,bcuz my brother in law over stock my tank , all I have is a cardinal , chalk basslet,1 cleaner shrimp,2 peppermint shrimp, 4 turbo snails n 10-20 hermit, my live rocks n live sandw are kinda brown I haven't add any new fishes for 3 weeks I'm just wondering is it ok for me to add a pair of clown fishes this Saturday , I've read that if a tank has ick then I should go fishless for 8 weeks atleast, but I have 2 fishes still living in there , should I wait few more weeks to add the clowns or I am ok to add them this week ? Thank you

 

[snakeblitz33]

A quarantine system would be your best bet. Something like a 10g aquarium ($12) and a small filter ($20) and something for the fish to hide in is a great start. QT systems allow you to inspect fish for disease and to treat it in a tank away from your display tank. Treatments are not reef safe - and if you dose chemicals in your display tank then your sand and rocks will "suck up" the treatments and become unusable for reef tanks. So, don't compromise your display tank by adding treatments to it. A small quarantine system is right up your alley.
Take the fish that you have now out of your display tank and put them in a quarantine tank. Monitor your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels with a new API test kit. (If you want to go more expensive, invest in Seachem.) or you can have your water tested at your local fish store (LFS) for free or nearly free.
You should have one or two fish in your 10g tank at a time. Once one fish goes through the process, put him in the display and buy your next couple of fish and put them in quarantine. This ensures that once fish reach the display tank they should be completely disease free.
This hobby is a big waiting game. Patience is key to a successful tank. Go slow and easy and you will have a lot of success.

 

[flower]

Hi,
Ich isn't caused from overstocking..it is a parasite. Stress is caused from overstocking and Ich is easier for the fish to succumb to it. 6 to 8 weeks without a fish and the parasite dies off. Any new fish will be stressed, because moving is stressful. So don't add any new fish until you are rid of the parasite. If you quarantine your new fish, you can avoid contaminating your display with disease or parasites.
So put the fish you have now into another tank (6 to 8 weeks) and then when you are ready to begin stocking, do as Snake said.

 

[geridoc]

First, how do you know it was ich? I find that most hew hobbyists tend to call everything that leads to fish death "ich". What were the symptoms? If it does turn out to be ich, then the only way to rid your display of ;this parasite is, as mentioned earlier, to leave the tank without vertebrates for 6-8 weeks so the parasite dies due to lack of a host. Then restock s-l-o-w-l-y with animals that have been quarantined adequately. The best investment you will ever make in this hobby is in a quarantine system, and the best time you will ever spend in this hobby is in waiting patiently.

 

[sweatervest13]

Great advice everyone. The only thing I can add is my agreement on just how important an QT system is.

Here is a pic of my QT system. Nothing special, and nothing that needs to be kept spotless (as you can see I have a few different colors of algae growing in there). Just a few different places for fish to hide (the coffee cup and large PVC works very well), a heater, powerhead, and HOB filter (I had an extra HOB skimmer not in use that I put on this QT {of course it does not work during hypo treatment}).
All in all I would say that I have maybe $100.00 into this little QT tank (minus the skimmer of course). Its probably the best use of $100.00 I can think of for a healthy DT.

 

[exnjc]

My yellow eyes kole tang was doing great , glazing around all the time, after my brother in law put the yellow tang into my tank, they both started to hide behide the rocks, I saw them have really really tiny white dots and sorta pale, the next morning,yellow tang layed on my sandbed and my pepermint shrimp was having a buffet of it, the following day same thing happened to my yellow eyes kole. A week before this happened, I added almost 70+ liverocks, few days after the tang died, I came home after work, I saw my clown fishes cover with many many many white dots, one died on the day, the second one died couple days later. Everytime I add distiller water from the grocery store , I didn't match the temp of the tank, I just pour them in to lower my salinty of the water, will that stress my fish also ? Do I have to take my snails n shrimp out into a qt?

 

[exnjc]

Bump

 

[btldreef]

If there are fish present in your tank, the parasite is still present in your tank. Some fish are just better at fighting it off, and of showing severe symptoms if it than others. Sort of like people, some get suck if someone sneezes in the same room as them, while others have the immunity of an impenetrable fortress. Either way, they've been exposed and they are carriers. A new fish is likely to be stressed, which makes it easier for the parasite to take hold and do harm.
I have ich present in my system. But I have too large of a tank and too many fish to do a proper treatment. Because my fish are very healthy, I barely ever see it, but since the tank and fish have never been properly treated, I know it's there waiting to pounce on a new fish or a stressed fish.
You need a quarantine setup, as already suggested. Your current fish need to be treated in it and your main tank needs to be FISHLESS for a minimum of 8 weeks. You can read about quarantining fish in the fish and disease forum recommended threads. I recommend doing hypo salinity treatments rather than copper as its much less stressful to the fish.
Your top off water should be as close to tank temperature as possible to create less stress.

 

[btldreef]

You can leave the shrimp, crabs and snails in the main tank while you treat your fish in quarantine. Inverts can be carriers of ich, but without a fish to feed off of, the ich will die off. This is why the 8 week time frame is recommended.
In the future, before adding ANYTHING to your tank, you should quarantine. Snail shells can not host the ich parasite, but they can carry it short term, long enough to make it possible to introduce it to your tank. Same is true of any invert, live rock or even coral.

 

[exnjc]

Thanks a lot ill get a qt asap , does the qt needs to be cycle or just take the water from my tank ?

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by exnjc http:///t/394321/need-help-please-thanks#post_3509930
Thanks a lot ill get a qt asap , does the qt needs to be cycle or just take the water from my tank ?
Hi...
My QT set up method:
Us water from your DT...you also need some kind of sponge or filter material from the DT, to put in the QT with good bacteria loaded. An air tube (no stone) to move the water unless you have a nano power head. You also need something to give the fish a hiding place, a piece of PVC pipe is what some folks use. I use a fish tank decoration since I have to look at it for 8 weeks, so I want it to look nice.
I also keep test strips for ammonia...I test the water everyday, and if I see a spike at all...I have premixed water waiting just in case I have to do a water change.

 

[exnjc]

Thank you so much