What the Heck!

[theshermans]

We have just recently restarted out 55gal tank. We were down for about 2 1/2 years after loosing a small fortune in fish. We did more research this time, and decided to try again. Our tank has been up for 2 1/2 months now. We have a bio ball system with skimmer. All levels were perfect as of 2 weeks ago per local fish store. We traded in our blue, yelow tailed and striped damsels and added a naso tang and yellow tang and purple psuedo. The naso got sick within 3-4 days. Took him back hoping they could save him, but they couldn't. They thought it was just the stress from him having just coming into the store and then leaving to come home with us the following day. He never did eat. Now we've replaced him with a passer angel. Unfortunately now, everything appears to be getting sick. The naso never had any signs except that he didn't eat. The remaining fish though, appear to have ick - maybe. I've been treating them with Seachem Paraguard for 3 days now. They appear to be somewhat better but now my water is really cloudy. Any suggestions?

 

[beth]

Is your tank a fish only? Meaning no inverts, live rock, corals, etc.?

 

[theshermans]

Yes Fish only - so far

 

[musipilot]

If its fish only so far, I would suggest you do two things -- First...hyposalinate your show tank, and rid yourself of ich forever.
Second-- get a hospital/quarantine tank for future purchases, so you will not reintroduce ich to your show tank. PLEASE take this advice to heart...it will save you a ton of problems and money in the future, and considering your prior comments, you will be a happier aquarist for it.

 

[theshermans]

Thanks for the advice. I'm willling to try anything. As for the hospital tank, I've been thinking about that anyway. But, how large does it need to be? Any specifics on the filtration system? Any suggestions you have would be great!

 

[musipilot]

I my humble opinion, you want a hospital tank to mimic the show tank as much as possible as far as filtration. I know this is tough to do, but it helps. Don't bother with live rock and live sand in the hospital, since hyposalinity will destroy most of the creatures that make it "live".
The simplest method is to set up a bare bottom tank with a good hang on filter (Aquaclear or Penguin) rated for twice the tank's volume. For hiding places, get pcv pipes and place them on the bottom. A heater, thermometer and a light are all you'll need. A 10 gallon will do the job, but a 20 long is perfect in my opinion.
Let me know if you need anything else!

 

[theshermans]

Great - Good info! Now how do I get around the regular cycle time? Obviously I need my hospital tank asap, but using any of the water from the current tank is defeating the purpose.

 

[musipilot]

Good question. Is letting the fish run into a possible mini-cycle worse or better then the disease?
You CAN use water from your tank to start it, you'll be going into hyposalinity by removing tank water and replacing it with fresh water (over the course of 48 hours) so there really is no harm in that.
BE CAREFUL NOT TO OVERFEED the hospital tank. Proper hyposalinity has an added by product of slowing cycle anyway, since the water is changed out so much.
Good luck, and keep me posted.

 

[theshermans]

Okay - here's the udate. Last night I set up a 10gal hospital tank (complete with heater, themometer, hiding spaces and light. But I have a couple of questions about it. I think I saw on one of the threads that you shouldn't use a carbon filter - correct? Or that if you did, you'd have to remove the carbon from the water. The setup I have came with the Aqua-Tech carbon filter and obviously to begin the cycling process, I turned it on - what's your take? I used some of my water from my main tank to setup. However, when I got the water tested today, it says that my nitrites are high. This, of course was the result of the test from my main tank as well. Apparantly, when I treated them in the main tank (unforunately I didn't have a choice), it killed off all my bacteria. Any suggestions on solving this delimma? I was thinking of a water change-will this help? - or does it really matter since they will be going into hypo almost immediately? Lastly, I picked up some copper to try to keep my fish alive long enough for my hospital to cycle. Is this a good idea or should I be doing something else? I hate to treat in my main tank but feel helpless. Thanks for all your help!