Lost two fish and need to prevent more - Aquarium Advice

PsiPro · 03-02-2009, 08:18 AM

Hey,

Yesterday I lost a blue-green chromis (Chromis viridis - The Free Freshwater and Saltwater Aquarium Encyclopedia Anyone Can Edit - The Aquarium Wiki). This was kinda expected as he was being bullied by another one and wasn't getting much food. I did think he was getting enough, but the yesterday morning I did find him dead, unfortunately the hermits and snails didn't leave much.

Today I found my royal grama had died. I noticed two days ago he wasn't coming out for food and looked to have labored breathing. Yesterday I noticed white on his head (as that is all I can really see). So I started treatment of ick on the tank.

Unfortunately as i have to many invertebrates, and no method of isolating the fish, this meant the heat method. When I found the body this morning there were clearly large white spots on his body.

No other fish show signs of ick, but of course I'm not sure if it was properly diagnosed or not. I think the other next best competitor is marine velvet, which I understand is not exactly a good diagnosis either. The blue green chromis had been in the tank less then a month (along with a few other misc-animals that came with).

The day I noticed the lethargy a starfish was added.I don't remember the species right off hand but the LPS, who has been honest and correct in the past, specifically recommended them when I asked for reef and community safe. Three nerite snails were also added.

My main question is, do I continue treatment for ick? or was it something else? What else do I do to insure the remaining fish stay healthy?

Copepod · 03-02-2009, 10:33 AM

You will need to have water parameters posted and a picture if possible for those who can diagnose your problem when they come around. When was a last water change done? What type of water do you use? Tap, Ro/Di, store-bought. You are registered since 2005? Ick would look like your fish were covered in salt....patches of white sounds like something else entirely. I am not qualified in fish disease. Hope you get this resolved.

PsiPro · 03-02-2009, 01:37 PM

Water params are

Ammonia: 0
pH: ~8.3-8.4
nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0-5ppm (somwhere in between, the scale isn't accurate enough to tell).
sg: 1.023 (a bit high)

The tank is topped off with 0.5 gallon of DI water from the supermarket every day. (tank size is 30gallons).

I just noticed the clownfish is starting to display a white film.... I'm going to try to get a picture of it but I do not have a camera.

The last waterchage was the day I noticed the change i the royal grama. I changed 5 gallons. I will be starting daily water changes today.

bawel · 03-02-2009, 01:59 PM

That SG is not high if you have corals, it's supposed to be around 1.025 anyway, so I doubht that's the case and as I read the above, you said you're treating the ick in the main tank. You should just purchase a QT tank so that you can separate the ick fish from the healthy ones, now since you're treating it there, other fishes might get ick too.

My suggestion will be getting a QT tank and do Hypo (ick treatment there). I hope the experts here will chime in for more information.

**melosu58** · 03-02-2009, 05:46 PM

AmylloodiniumArt

Is this what your clown has?

**austinsdad** · 03-02-2009, 07:19 PM

That's what I was thinking too since it killed so fast.

PsiPro · 03-02-2009, 08:34 PM

Unfortunately its not a great picture...but I do not think that is it.

I brought a fish into a pet-store (as well as a few long conversations with other shop owners) and all they could say was it looked bacterial. I specifically asked about velvet and they didn't think so but were not sure.

I'm currently dosing a medicine with formalin, the only reef-invert safe medication they had in stock. I'll be visiting another pet shop tomorrow for follow up advice.

Kurt_Nelson · 03-03-2009, 12:35 AM

You mention using "the heat method". That's not going to do anything for you. It may work with freshwater, but saltwater ich is a totally different parasite. What temperature are you running your tank at now?

If you're seeing a film, that's not ick. And I'm not a medicine expert, but I don't think formalin is normally considered reef safe. As others have suggested, I think your best bet is to isolate the fish in a QT and which will then open up your range of treatment options.