what are these salt like white spots on my fish?

[jabski]

i have had my saltwater tank set up for about three months. i put in a blue damsel to cycle my tank, he's still in my tank. the last two times i have bought fish to add to my tank within a day or two they have salt like grains/spots on their body then a week or so later they die, even though my damsel is in perfect health along with snails and crabs in the tank. just wondering what this problem is and what i have to do to get rid of it? thanks.

 

[puff(er) daddy]

The white spots are most likely "ick". I'll try to explaine as much as I can. The are free swimming paricites who need a living host to survive. Right now your fish is that host. Just removing the fish from the tank is not enough because the parasites(sp) live without a host for I believe 20 days to a month. There are a number of ways to get rid of ick. One way is freshwater dips do a search above it would tell you more than you want to know about freshwater dips. Another is hyposalinity. That's decreasing your salt levels. You can also search that. Someone should elaborate more on the subject soon I hope I've helped.

 

[livingwater]

ARE YOU BUYING ALL THE FISH FROM THE SAME SOURCE? THE FISH COULD ALREADY CARRY SOMETHING. WHAT TYPE OF FISH ARE YOU TRING TO ADD? I WOULD DO A FREASH WATER DIP BEFORE ADDING THEM AND CHECK YOUR WATER. JUST A LITTLE ADVISE ALSO....FOR A FEW MORE MONTHS STAY WITH REALLY HARDY FISH. CLOWNS. MORE DEMSELS. TRIGGERS ARE VERY HARDY IF YOU WANT TO GET FANCY. EVEN THOUGH YOUR LFS MAY TELL YOU GREEN CROMIS ARE HARDY STAY AWAY FROM THEM. OUT OF EVERY 100 ONLY 40 MAY MAKE IT. AND STAY AWAY FROM YELLOW TANGS. AGAIN LFS WILL TELL YOU ITS OK TO BUY THIS BEAUTIFUL FISH EARLY IN THE GAME. THIS IS NOT TRUE. TANGS NEED GOOD WATER QUALITY AND I WOULD ONLY ADD THEM TO A ESTABLISHED TANK.
I THINK IF YOUR OTHER FISH ARE FINE THEN ITS THE FISH YOU ARE BUYING. CONSIDER THE SOURCE. AND THE TYPE OF FISH YOU ARE ADDING. GOOD LUCK

 

[trigahappynigerog]

cryptocaryon(ich) is a disease that looks like grains of salt..
amyloodinium (velvet) look like dust..
someone in the disease forum should help ya out

 

[livingwater]

IN THE EVEN THAT THIS IS ICH......THERE ARE LOTS OF WAYS TO GET RID OF IT. SINCE YOU DONE HAVE ALOT IN THE TANK. I WOULD REMOVE THE SNAIL. (TAK E IT BACK) AND TREAT THE TANK AT THOS POINT. AND START A HOSIPITAL TANK. START QUARANTINING YOUR FISH BEFORE ADDING. YOU DONT WANT TO INTRODUCE DEATH TO YOUR TANK. HOWEVER IT SOUNDS LIKE ICH..I HATE ICK.

 

[kris walker]

Just to add, I would also suggest checking out the disease forum. While there seems like many ways to get rid of ich, most are not successful in the long run. Hyposalinity or copper are your best bets, and as stated above, this requires a quarantine (QT) or hospital tank setup for this purpose. Check the forum for more details.
Good luck, with ich you'll need it,
sam

 

[jakepilot]

ick my friend...go to ffexpress.com and they have a disease diagnoser, you plug in your problem and they diagnose it..get kick-ick, its great stuff, and get a uv sterilizer