Never fails with new fish for me

[fishy7]

I brought home a powder Blue and a sailfin and they are covered with spots.
This tank has been set up for 4 months now and has no fish, 150lbs of LR and 3" sb, 4 cleaner shrimp and 50 hermits. This is a 208 gallon frag tank. 48X48X20
This is my procedure:
Bring home.
Drip acclimate for 3 hours
Keep lights off for 3 days
Feed food soaked in raw garlic everyday.
Any suggestions on my procedure.
TY.

 

[geridoc]

Yes, I do have advice - set up a quarantine tank and quarantine everything for 3-4 weeks before you put it into your display tank. Powder blues are notorious ich magnets, and it probably already had the disease when you bought the fish. Now, you have to leave your display fishless for 4 weeks or so to rid it of ich (do not treat the display, just leave it without fish). There is a thread nearby about "Lost My Blue Tang" where another person had the same experience you did, and there are directions there on how to set up a QT inexpensively. You cannot be successful in this hobby long term unless you quarantine.

 

[stanlalee]

If your tank was fishless for 4 months the fish brought it home. The whole purpose of quarantining is because ich and other ailments dont always show at the store or the first few days. Even if a fish didn't have visable ich IF it were to be exposed there is no way it wouldn't show up in a months time in a small quarantine tank (too easy to find the host after falling off and multiplying). IF you want to be sure you have to have the fish out of your display long enough to go thru the parasite cycle. If nothing shows up after 4wks or so its a pretty good bet
it isn't there (as stated ich will take over a fish in a small quarantine like system if its present).
At the very least you should:
a) watch the fish you are buying at the pet store for several weeks before buying (I do this and 9 times out of 10 the fish I look at are still there except for a few high volume stores)
b)buy from a store that quarantines ALL their livestock before selling and/or have seperate fish systems treated profilactically with copper (only works if you watch the fish, takes minimum 2wks for copper to work if fish does have ich). I know of one local shop that quarantines all their fish (they have as many tanks in the back as they do in the store front).
c) pH/temp matched fresh water dip to although this wont kill ich deeply imbeded into the fish. (I do this too, use a bicarbonate buffer, tiny bit is all thats needed to match pH). have to watch the fish closely and the whole time. if they get too. they get lethargic in there so you have to make sure they are alert and swimming right. If somethings off stop it.
d) some form of formulin or malachite green green dip (malachite green if not over done is pretty reef safe although not advertised to be so). I've done this too just make sure you dont combine b and c.
e) IF all that doesn't work and you get an outbreak put all your fish in a 30 gallon and culprimine the crap out em and then wait 4wks to return them to your tank. Yes done that one too!

 

[fishy7]

Thank you for the advice.