Going fishless

[pinda]

I have been having problems with my tank ever since I brought home a coral beauty that wasn't quarantined. My damsels have some small creatures on them. They are very small and their colour is translucent. I am at my wits end. I change the water every 2 weeks 20%. I think I will go fishless at this point. I need some advice from you guys. How long should I go fishless? Should I use a weak chlorine solution to help get rid of unwanted parasites? How do I feed my crabs? I recently bought brine shrimp and plankton, should I refridgerate them? I am grateful for any bits of advice.

 

[austinsdad]

Fishless for about 6-8 weeks. 8 I believe. Feed your inverts with pellets or any food that can reach/settle on the bottom or rocks. No need to clean the tank beyond the fishless thing. Those nasties can't live without fish hosts. All the established bacteria is something you wanna keep alive. No chlorine or other solution.

Can you get a decent pic of the infected fish?

So, gonna do a QT tanks next time??? Some never QT and NEVER have a problem. All it took was once for me long ago to change my ways.

Good luck.

 

[pinda]

I am definitely getting a qaurantine tank. I should have had one before but I thought the quarantine had to run continously. I am currently carrying out upgrades. I will also be adding a 20 gal sump.

 

[roka64]

It may not be ich, but another type of parasite. Can you describe them a little better, like size, do they move or drop off?

 

[melosu58]

Here is a good article on QT`s. As Scott asked you give a bit more info

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/sp/feature/index.php

 

[pinda]

They looked like small critters haning on to him. They were pretty small but I could still make out what looked to be their eyes. I caught him and put him back in the water and they fell off. It doesn't look like ich, its too large to be ich. I was wondering if it was a fluke or something along those lines.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Sounds kinda like an isopod.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/isopodfaqs.htm

I had a bunch in my tank at one point. Luckily they weren't the parasitic type. Eventually, between me siphoning them out at every opportunity and them eating themselves out of house and home, they eventually disappeared. I think.

If they are isopods, it's possible they came in off some of the stuff you got from the ocean. Weren't you putting crabs or something directly from the ocean into your tank?

 

[melosu58]

If you look at that article I gave you you will see some isopods on a clownfish. Do they look like that.

 

[pinda]

That is what they look like but the one on the clown looks huge, although i guess that could be the magnification.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

No... they can get that big. Take a look at this pic...

http://www.mbari.org/news/news_releases/2006/snailsize-images/giant_isopod_450.jpg

Whenever I see this picture, I just get the shivers all over!

The ones in my tank were no bigger than 1/4" inch long... at the most.

 

[pinda]

How do I get them out? I only saw them once on my damsel now he is missing I dont know if the queen conch or the hermits got to him when he died. That pic looks nasty. I recently put hermits from the ocean in my tank.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Read up on that wetwebmedia link I gave you before. There is nothing chemical you can do without making your tank inhospitable for inverts and corals, since isopods are crustaceans. Sounds like manual removal is the only way.

 

[pinda]

For now I will try some peppermint shrimp to see if they will remove them for me.