time to kick the ick...

[hana]

Ok! so the other day I asked for help for my clown fish, and the only one who even said anything was loin. Thank you loin for responding. Im very new to this chat and i need some advise on my fish. The local fish stores all say some thing diff. to do. Its driving me crazy

. So now my yellow tail blue tang has 2 white spots on her, and my yellow tang looks like he might be getting the black ick. but he also has white sppots on his fins. And my clown is still hanging in there, but still at the top of the tank with spots where scales are up and a greyish color. She will only eat out of my hand.
My water is
ph: 8.2
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 0
ammon: 0
salt: 1.020
temp: 79
80gal. tank
Live rock about 45lbs
2 cleaner shrimp(to busy in eachother to do their job)
lownmower, sand sifter, clam, 2 firefish, mandarin, pacific wreese, and 4 small light blue group fish(?).
The fish get vegie flakes, frozen multi pack, dried seaweed, and i soak it in Vite. C, and garlic.
So what is the best treatment, and why are they all braking out at the same time????
Please help. I have never had to deal with my fish getting sick before. I have had my tank for 11 months. I have a fluval 404, 2 power heads, and a protien skimmer.
I do a 20% water change every 2 weeks, and always make sure the water is same temp, and the same salt level. :help:

 

[lion_crazz]

Personally, I think that salt level may be stressing the fish out. Fish like the salt level to be as close to natural sea water as possible. They live a much longer life at natural sea water.
Black ich is best treated with a formalin bath. The details are described in the sticky thread above.

 

[hana]

Thank you. I will try the bath for my yellow tang. What should the salt level be. Im going off of what the fish store told me. Thats what its been at for 1 yr. And now seems like some of my fish are freaking out. Is there a way to get rid of ick in my main tank?
Thanks for the info.

 

[lion_crazz]

Natural seawater is about 1.025-1.026. 1.025 is where I recommend keeping the salinity in saltwater tanks. It is closest to nature.
What worries me about your tank is also the lack of live rock, for both the yellow tang and mandarin. Both of those fish need rock to graze on and get their daily supply of food on. That could be stressing them a bit also.
Being that you do not have a QT tank, the formalin baths for the yellow tang might not be the best idea because he will only become re-infected when placed into the tank.
Do you know your alkalinity level?

 

[hana]

I do not know the alkalinity level. Should I test for that? Sounds like it. I do add a calcium buffer part A & B about twice a week. Is this ok? I was told the live rock can take that out of the water, and then lowering the ph levels. My mandrine is the best lookinf fish in my tank. Funny cause they are the hardest to keep out of everyone that i have. I have raised the salinity level to 1.022, should i raise it all at once? or take a few days to raise it to 1.025? Thanks for your help. Im loosing faith in the fish store. What they have been telling me sounds wrong, they said to keep the salinity level at 1.020 that way the parasiteshave a harder time living. any truth to this? :notsure:

 

[hana]

o-ya what should i do about helping my yellow tang if i shouldnt do a bath? is there something that i can treat the whole tank to get rid of all those nasty little parasites?

 

[hana]

also sounds like i should get more live rock (something i was going to do anyways).

 

[hana]

I have to go out soon, anything that i need to pick up for my little friends

 

[hana]

p.s i do have a QT tank. At the moment it has coppersafe in it. (which i dont like). Should i do the formalin bath,or is there a less toxic treatment, that works as well?

 

[lion_crazz]

Originally Posted by hana
I do not know the alkalinity level. Should I test for that? Sounds like it. I do add a calcium buffer part A & B about twice a week. Is this ok? I was told the live rock can take that out of the water, and then lowering the ph levels. My mandrine is the best lookinf fish in my tank. Funny cause they are the hardest to keep out of everyone that i have. I have raised the salinity level to 1.022, should i raise it all at once? or take a few days to raise it to 1.025? Thanks for your help. Im loosing faith in the fish store. What they have been telling me sounds wrong, they said to keep the salinity level at 1.020 that way the parasiteshave a harder time living. any truth to this? :notsure:
Alright, let me see if I can answer all these questions for you.
First off, alkalinity is definitely something to be tested for on a regular basis, just like pH, nitrates, and salinity.
Next, it is not a good idea to add any kind of calcium buffer unless you are testing your calcium on a regular basis as well.
I would not raise your salinity all at once. Each water change I would raise it one point, until you eventually get it to 1.025.
Keeping your salinity at 1.020 will help only slightly at keeping parasites from reproducing, however, if they are going to attack your fish, it will happen regardless whether your salinity is 1.020 or 1.025. Keeping your tank at 1.025 will help the fish be less stressed because it is closer to nature.
Don't lose faith in the fish store. Some of the things they tell you may be a little off, but that is what we are here for. It is always good to get a second opinion.

 

[lion_crazz]

Originally Posted by hana
o-ya what should i do about helping my yellow tang if i shouldnt do a bath? is there something that i can treat the whole tank to get rid of all those nasty little parasites?
I have never experieced black ich in my display tank, but another poster on here, PSUScor1, whom I talk to on here frequently, treated his unicorn tang with Stop Parasite and it got rid of the black ich on his tang very well he said. You need to know your alk in order to use it though. It is, however, completely safe to use in your display tank.

 

[lion_crazz]

Originally Posted by hana
also sounds like i should get more live rock (something i was going to do anyways).

More rock would certainly help! There is no doubt about that.
You would need to cure it though, as you could not put it right into your tank.

 

[hana]

Loin, Thank you for the input. I will be going to the LFS to get some live rock, and see what they have for meds. I will get a tester for the other. Thanks!!!

 

[mavgi]

Originally Posted by hana
p.s i do have a QT tank. At the moment it has coppersafe in it. (which i dont like). Should i do the formalin bath,or is there a less toxic treatment, that works as well?

first it's better to use with cupramine by seachem it's less toxin more safe and stable then all the other cooper product. (and i hope you have a good cooper test kit because the cooper level can be danger more then 0.5 mg and for correct treatment the first time the dose need to be at 0.25mg like that you can see if the fish sensitive to the cooper after 24 hour you make the second dose)
about the black ich i treat in tha past powder tang at the begin it was very hard to see it it was on one side on his body and it was come and go (it take me 3 days to be sure that it's black ich) i treat the fish with formalin bath i use a 2 5 gallon bucket. at the first bucket i put air stone (connect to my air pump)to creat aeration i use with 1 gallon water from my main tank and i wait 5 minute after i put the medication and then i put the fish. after the treatment i rains the fish in the other bucket and then i put him back in the QT .i use with a plastic glove and i did this treatment in my bath room . important things it's when you do this treatment the temp can not be more then 80F.
if your fish will shown a clearly black ich so my suggest to treat him with the formalin bath but be careful when you do it and watch on the fish .

 

[hana]

If its black ick, would my Pacific cleaner wrasse clean that off of my yellow tang?
Im still not sure thats what it is. She is new to the tank. black spots not covering her body, just some around the eyes and down her body (straight line going back) Could this be something else?

 

[mavgi]

Originally Posted by hana
If its black ick, would my Pacific cleaner wrasse clean that off of my yellow tang?
Im still not sure thats what it is. She is new to the tank. black spots not covering her body, just some around the eyes and down her body (straight line going back) Could this be something else?

if it's black spot and they look very teeny and they cover the fish body so it's the raction of the skin because of the parasite and it's mean that the fish infect in the black ich. i realy don't suggest to you to add any other fish to your tank as i read at first post here that you have ich to ,at this moment it will be better if you treat all the fish in your QT but first test the cooper level that you have there because it's can be toxin and danger to the fish (or if you can empty the QT and put for one day in the filter if you have one in the QT new carbon and polyfilter and after that fill the QT half from your display and half new r/o water test the water parameter and then treat the fish with hypo) your yellow tang will need behind that formalin bath treatment because the hypo will be good for the white spot that he have (ich) but will not cure the black ich.

 

[hana]

Thanks. I will do. I have been running carbin in my QT tank for 3 days now. im going to change the carb.filters today. And i will test the QT tank for copper. I have not put anything in the dis. tank before, but i think i might have to. Just scared my fish and cleaner shrimp, and all others might not like that. Im thinking this ick came from the yellow tang. But not sure. By the way my clown is doing much better. The spots on her body are healing, and shes not sticking her head out of the water any more. My first clue was when one fish got in her space and she chased it away.

Im still wondering what was (is) wrong with her :notsure: . I stopped treating her in the copper, cause she was getting really stressed. So i thought if she is going to go, she will go feeling better in her home :happyfish Well thank you everybody thats out there helping all of us who need some one who cares, and takes the time to give us help and ideas on our fish probs. with the good, and the bad.

 

[mavgi]

befor you change the caarbon make water change about 35% like that the new carbon will be more efective.
about the clown (the cooper sulfate not stable and the fish get strees) it was good that you take it out but you nedd to rains the fish before you add it back to the tank. breathing hard and head out of the water are normal sign of brooklynella .maybe the spot gone but if the fish not finish the treatment the disease can show again . it will be a good idea to treat all the fish in the QT with hypo. remmber again do not try to treat the invert (shrimps) they will die.and for the yellow tang if you see a black spot with a white spot he will need to treat by hypo and formalin bath to.
good luck

 

[hana]

WOW! Do i do the Hypo, and the formalin bath at the same time? and how do i go about that? ALL fish? or just the ones with spots. hippo tang,yellow tang, and then theres my clown. The strange thing about the clown is she was never breathing hard. She would just go up to the top and lay sidesways and then swim really fast to the other side with her head going in and out of the water. She never rubed on rocks. Is this norm for brook?

 

[lion_crazz]

Take a glance at the pictures of brook in the sticky thread above. Did your fish ever have that on his body? There is no need to treat for something that is not there, especially with something as stressful as a formalin bath. I am not saying you don't have brook, but it is better to know that you definitely do before treating for it.
For example, my maroon clown always hangs at the top of the water, in her little spot next to the overflow box, but I know she does not have brook. That is just the way she is.