main tank prob!

[francky's]

Hello everyone.
I have a 33 gal, with 37 pounds of live rock and a sand bed of crushed coral, protein skimmer, filter and power head. The tank is cycled for a few months now, and I had four clowns( false percula). One by one, starting with the smallest. the clowns went in hiding, had rapid breathing and pale color. Looks like ich. Now I am left with only one clown and a naso tang.

Now the tang as a little ich on him and the clown is good looking, breathing normally, but has a fuzzy white substance on the body. I will be setting up a 130 gal in september when i move.( That is why i have this tang in a so small system).

My problem is do I treat in a separate hospital tank ( I have a 5 gal and a 20 gal ready for that), or treat in the main tank with no protein skimming and carbon filter. I plan on curing the live rock in the 20 gal before putting in the new 130 gal, and I dont plan on reusing the crushed coral in the 130 gal.

I was planning to let things go naturally for a few days, and add a cleaner shrimp in one or two days. Could this work, or should I add medication.

thanks, Franck

 

[mulron]

"fuzzy white substance" on the clown is a fungus. At this point I'd treat the tank, but I am not familiar with the SW meds yet. I'll leave that up to a few others.

 

[francky's]

Hello again!

I just had this idea. Let's say I take out all live rock and put them in the 20 gal quarantine and treat my main tank for 1 month. Then I would get some new substrate and sterilize my main and start over. When I put back the cured live rock will I have to recycle the tank or will this setup be almost cycled?

I do not like my substrate because I think it was used crushed coral from a display tank of the LFS. So This could solve two of my problems.

 

[mulron]

2 things on that. The live rock(LR) is the main filtration on the tank, you would get major spikes in ammonia and nitrites if you did that. Also IIRC the fungus and ich can live in LR also and quite simply you don't want to transfer that to the new tank. (don't quote me on that)

Medicines:
Need a Second opinion
Only 2 medicines I have ever used besides Formaldehyde
is
Maracyn for the fungus
Nox-Ich for ich
BUT I don't know how those react with Live rock and sand

Is there any ammonia or nitrites in the water now? We can solve the initial fungus/ich problem now but we have not found the cause as of yet.

If the Ammonia and nitrites are ok(meaning 0), it could be the tang that is stressing the clowns out. Due to the small size tank he could be zipping around and bothering the clowns.

or

You mention a filter in your main post, what kind of filter is it?

 

[francky's]

The filter is aquaclear 300 that came with the tank. seaclone skimmer. Amm had a little spike when the tang was introduced, but now is 0. nitrite 0, nitrate close to 50 (but I have trouble reading the Hagen test, it skips from 20 to 50) The tang is not bothering the clown at all and both are eating very well. Salinity is 1.0235, ph 8.25 and temp 81.

My idea was to get the Live rock away from the fish so the life cycle of the parasite would end on the rocks. Once the fish are cured, I could clean the main and start over with a new sustrate. I understand what you mean about the ammomnia spikes if i take the live rock away. But if I did it slowly, like 1 or 2 pieces per week. Could this work, or maybe do the opposite take the sustrate out.

MOst probably i will just treat the main tank. Thanks
franck

 

[Guest]

Ok, You should really never treat the main tank, copper will kill all LR and stays resident for a long time and would require a lot of carbon fitration to rid it of it... Now also, the LR will not host the parasite much at all, because it requires the living tissue of the fish to thrive. I would take the fish out of the main tank and treat them together in the 20 gal setup as a quarantine. Use the water from the 33 and mix new water for the 33. then place the fish in the 20. Then, crank the heat up to 82 to 84* in the main tank. and also in the quarantine. Then let the fish stay in there for no less than 14 days. after that, the main tank should be parasite free, as the life cycle for ICH will have passed on, and your fish, providing the treatment was good, should be parasite free.

 

[mulron]

As far as treating the whole tank, I'd do what Tim said. I saw whole tank had a problem and got my fungus mixed up with Bacterial Fungus. Treat the tang and clown in the Hospital tank.


Timbo2: Who's using copper?

 

[Guest]

Most ICH treatment is a form of copper or a mixture containing it...Formallin is also used...

 

[francky's]

I have quick cure at home, but used it as a bath. Should I prepare a bath of quick cure in the 5 gal, and use copper in the 20gal ,or just copper or just quick cure. Is quick cure any good?

I know this question is redundant, but i'm so stressed out about the health of the fish. Funny fact, I just proposed sunday to my girlfriend, and I think I'm more nervous about the fish than that. Hope she dosen't read this