New fish die fast

[sting_ray29]

I recently added a clownfish and two donimo damselfish to my 55 gal. FOWLR setup that has been cycleing for 2 months... THe one domino died the other day but I saw the scratch or ick on him when it arrived in the tank... Now the other domino looks like it has a spot or scrach by his white spot.. If the picture works you can see the smaller spot next to his white mark. My levels are all good and my temp is 80, salinity 1.23... Are there regularly spots in the tank? How do I prevent ick?

 

[sting_ray29]

does it look lik eick to you and how can I cure it??? He is not swiming around as normally as he usually does.. What about a freshwater dip? And what is a freshwater dip? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[dreeves]

Can't tell on the ick...look closely to the tissue in the fins...cloudy eyes, labored breathing...flashing (scratching on the rocks)...go to disease forum and inquire about the ick...
Prevention of ick begins prior to putting any fish in your tank...they go to a QT for 2-3 weeks first. If the parasite is present, it is treated in this tank...once fixed...then the fish waits out a cushoining period (insurance) and then placed into the main tank...prevention is the key...
Freshwater dips...is a fish placed into a small container of dechlorinated freshwater...parasites and other marine organisms cannot survive the change in the osmotic pressure and thus destroys them...FW dips are stressfull to fish and can sometimes lead to worse problems then you had prior...a FW dip should last in duration of 2-4 minutes...water should be of equal temp to the tank the fish was removed from...also to consider is that if your fish does have ick, the encapsulated parasites in the fish's flesh will leave wounds once they are removed...it is best to place the treated fish into a QT and to monitor closely for a few weeks...
Many here do not recommend FW dips due to the stress...I use them faithfully on newly introduced fish and have been extremely successful with them...many here advocate hyposalinity which is nothing more then an extremely slowed and less stressful FW dip...
Good luck with your fish...

 

[sting_ray29]

ok now he is hiding in the live rock but comes out when I feed them.. It looks like it has become worse and I think he will be dead by tonight... To me it looks like his skin is rotting.. Should I Clean the tank out (lots of brown algae) and clean out fluval, or at least change the carbon (haven't for 2 months when I put it up.) Can anyone diagnose what he has? The fins aren't really wrotting....

 

[sting_ray29]

ok, I ts wore and i am going to give him a freshwater dip/ that or it dies.. How do I do this? I have a plastic bag filled with distilled water in the tank and is becoming the temp of it... But how do you get the ph up? or does it even matter?

 

[sting_ray29]

No replies, I guess I will just try the freshwater dip. It will be dead soon so i guess it doesn't matter if the low ph kills it first...

 

[ophiura]

If it is distilled water, it will kill the fish. Tap water is better, with dechlorinator. The pH of distilled water can be quite low, and is incredibly stressful to fish. A buffer powder is used to bring it up.
FYI, there is a disease forum here on SWF, and searching for freshwater dip would probably have turned up lots of how to's.
What are the other water parameters of your tank? Ph? Ammonia? Nitrite? Nitrate? Alkalinity? Temperature and specific gravity are only two of the important parameters...and perhaps not the most important. To stress out and kill damselfish so quickly, something else is going on, or you have a crappy LFS.
Please hold off getting any more fish for awhile, until this is sorted out. Also consider setting up a Q tank or hospital tank...instructions in the disease forum.

 

[killafins]

Originally posted by ophiura
If it is distilled water, it will kill the fish. Tap water is better, with dechlorinator. The pH of distilled water can be quite low, and is incredibly stressful to fish.
Really.... so uhhh... is all bottled water bad? that's really all i use... distilled and poland springs

 

[jumpfrog]

The ph of distilled water, and r/o for that matter is close to neutral 7.0. Our saltwater friends are used to 8 to 8.2. Such a drastic change would be fatal to our fish if it happened all at once. Good freshwater (ie. no chlorines or chloramines) with common baking soda can work as a freshwater dip. Seems like a teaspoon per cup is about right but don't quote me on that. Use your ph test kit. Try to match the ph of your tank as close as you can and then dip for a couple of minutes. The parasites can't take the lack of salinity. Your fish can for a very short time.
Mixed opinions on the efficacy of dips. But hopefully I've answered your question.
Good Luck!

 

[ryebread]

I am moving this over to the disease forum where you will get some more advice and a better understanding of taking precautions before introducing fish into a system.
Key words to look for will be QT- Quarantine Tank and Hyposalinity. Not Freshwater dip.

 

[sting_ray29]

he died last night... The clow that is left in my tank is doing good.. I think I am going to make a 10 gallon tank and have it be a quarantien tank... Do I need sand in it? And for cleaning could I use a power filter(smaller one) and a sponge filter (the one on that connects to the air pump)?

 

[dreeves]

No you don't need substrate in the QT...maybe have a couple of rocks or other objects available to give your fish something to seek refuge in...
As for treating ich in the future...research all treatment methods...not just hypo and QT...