I have a male lytail anthias that is sick

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Jessl17

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
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Oct 10, 2017
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I have a male lytail anthias that I bought from my lfs about a week and a half ago that is really sick. Let me just start with I have a 40 gallon tank with live sand, live rock, powerhead ,hob filters and skimmer. No sump. I don’t even know where to start... I switched over to saltwater about 4 months ago and within the last week everything has gone down hill. At this point everyone of my fish have ich. The anthias was fine for the first couple days and no I don’t have a QT set up.. first mistake I know. I do have the stuff to set one up just didn’t do it �� needless to say I have learned my lesson. I don’t even know what to do for him or them at this point but mostly him he hasn’t eaten in 2 days, is laying at the bottom of the tank clamped fins, not swimming at all, covered in ich and super lethargic. He has not eaten in 2 days and usually goes crazy over the brine even have tried soaking in garlic the last 3 days. Has pretty much lost all his color. I was going to set up a QT tank and move him over but didn’t know if that would be worse considering everything else in my tank now has ich too. My orchid Dottyback is taking a turn as well and is hiding and when it does come out is freaking out rubbing off everything. My water parameters have been tested twice this week by my lfs and I have tested twice with api tubes and there’s is nothing off with my parameters. One day my ammonia was a little high but nothing crazy. In the tank with him is a mandarin goby, tiger pistol, 2 miniature clowns, and 3 red fire fish goby. I have 2 corals in there as well. Any advice on where to go from here would be much appreciated because I really don’t know what to do from here..
 

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I just pulled him out of my main tank and put him in another tank with general cure and then see this thing on him!! What is this???
 

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That is a lot of info all thrown together there.
The tank hasn’t been up for very long, but I’m suspecting that it wasn’t cycled properly if at all.
When you detect ammonia, the livestock are overwhelming the little beneficial bacteria in the system.
Ammonia and nitrite are toxic to fish and burn gills, which would be what is causing all the stress and disease.
I would suggest water changes, which might be daily at this point. You’ll need to test daily. If you detect any ammonia or nitrite you’ll need to do a water change. This is on top of needing to do weekly 10% water changes on the system.
 
Only 3 proven methods to 'cure ' marine ich .
It is not at all like in freshwater..For many it is a death sentence for the whole tank....Very contagious and very hard to get rid of …..The general cure I will guess is useless....
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...hp?t=1985626&usg=AOvVaw2Gvhy22IirjM5U4qwbbKtN
^^All you need to read is the second post in this link...^^
I will add on a personal note that IMO the anthius is horrible choice of fish for almost all who mistakenly get them..They require [not like ,require] multiple feedings daily and a pretty large tank with a good flow..With anything less it usually just a matter of time before they fail and the keeper is left to wonder why....:nono:
The mandarin will probably not get the ich even if the whole tank crashes ..Some fish have better a defense then others .The fire fish and clowns will succumb quickly if it is in your tank IMO..
I would treat fish with copper in a hospital tank and leave your 40g without ANY fish[fallow] for over a month at least before trying to replace any of them.
Good luck ,I have learned my lessons on marine ich the hard and expensive way....The fish that brought it via being infected or just from stressing my other fish into my 120 cost over $200 and then the whole tank[emperor angel, cheveron tang, powder blue tang] and other smaller more peaceful fish all were lost....Only survivors were a comet and mandarin, which in theory were then sub clinical carriers of the ich although reportedly 'immune' themselves for the rest of their life ?..
30 day life cycle is what is easily accepted but I side with other links stating a possible life cycle of over a year...
 
Thanks for your reply... yes I have 2 freshwater tanks as well and dealt with A very minor case compared to this in one of them. But was taken care of quickly and haven’t had any issues yet. This however is becoming a disaster!!! My anthias died this morning and I’m not sure if the other picture I put up even posted but I pulled him last night and I’m not sure what he had on him but it was moving and came out as soon as I put him in with the general cure. It was then trying to get back in him I’m guessing.. and surprisingly enough my mandarin does have the ich... I have read they couldn’t but when I saw it did some investigating and it is possible.i have metro and focus so I mixed that up with garlic in frozen food tonight and gave that to them but I think this is a lost cause at this point for the most part. I don’t know what to do...
 
That is a lot of info all thrown together there.
The tank hasn’t been up for very long, but I’m suspecting that it wasn’t cycled properly if at all.
When you detect ammonia, the livestock are overwhelming the little beneficial bacteria in the system.
Ammonia and nitrite are toxic to fish and burn gills, which would be what is causing all the stress and disease.
I would suggest water changes, which might be daily at this point. You’ll need to test daily. If you detect any ammonia or nitrite you’ll need to do a water change. This is on top of needing to do weekly 10% water changes on the system.


I know I was freaking out sorry �� the anthias died today at some point and yes I am sure I was not given proper advice when setting this whole thing up but it’s done now.. the last 2 times I’ve tested my water this week there has been no ammonia it was only one day that tested slight levels. I do water changes religiously once a week prob more like 20%. isint copper not safe for the firefish, mandarin or the pistol shrimp though? That’s just what I’ve read everywhere . The anthias had something on him after I put him in the other tank I tried to post a picture but don’t know if it posted. It was moving looked like possibly lice but I’m not sure because I’ve never dealt with that before. I have posted a really close up picture in hopes someone knows what it is. Thanks for your reply
 

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