what am I doing wrong?

[lost fish]

I have been on this board before with an ick problem and unfortunately am on here again with the same problem. I have a 58 gal with protein skimmer, fluval filter, flourescent lighting, substrate,and heater. Occupants are inverts with live rock. I had an ick outbreak in the beginning of summer, waited six weeks with no fish. I then added 2 clowns which have done fine. Then I purchased a nonaggressive Humu Humu Trigger and 4 days later he/she broke out with ick. He is in my HT being treated, but I don't know if I am doing anything wrong since I keep having this problem or what. I am really frustrated as I have had this tank for 10 months now. I have done a lot of reading, however feel as if I am doing something wrong. My parameters are as follows: Ph 8.2 Salinity 1.023 Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 20. Thanks in advance.

 

[broomer5]

I don't spend much time in this forum - just popping in now and then.
I don't know enough about your tank and habits to say whether you're doing anything wrong.
If you have a hospital tank - I suppose you could have isolated the trigger in the HT/QT for several weeks first, to watch it for signs of disease.
bump^

 

[hnf2k]

how do you have a non-aggressive huma huma? i thought they were all very aggressive.

 

[slothy]

my old huma huma was a tame beast... only went after frozen foods..

 

[beth]

The problem is that you are not quarantining new fish. Just about all fish that you bring home have ich. If you don't QT, then you will introduce and re-introduce ich in to your main tank time and time again. If you QT first, then you can treat the ich before it gets into your main tank, thereby avoiding this problem.
Hope this helps.

 

[lost fish]

Thanks Beth that does help. I have a small QT tank- 10 gals which is why I did not put him in there first. When reading at the start of this hobby, I understood that a small QT would suffice, however when bringing home my new trigger I thought this would be too small for him. I now have him in the 10 gal and am treating him. From now on I will QT first. Thanks a mill!
My trigger is nonaggressive. He does not bother any of my inhabitants, which is one of the reasons why I purchased him.

 

[beth]

A 10 gal is too small for a larger fish. The way to avoid this problem is to get larger fish while they are still small [juvenile] or get a larger QT.
20gal will suit most QT needs, and a permanent 30 gal is ideal.