parasites

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dramsfan

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Apr 1, 2006
Messages
39
I have been treating my tank for over 4 weeks. They will not go away. I have a brand new tank and NO FISH. I am currently using rid-ick. Any suggestions??
 
If you have no fish then how do you have parasites? If its been empty for this long then you don't have any parasites. You also may have made it impossible to keep any inverts in that tank if you treated with copper. What is in Rid-ick?
 
Here is a description of it:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=4734&N=2004+113016

Like scottm said, if you used this product in your main, you might not be able to add any inverts, as the chemicals in this product will seep into your LR/substrate/filter media and such.

I have to agree, again with scottm, what kind of parasites are in your tank? Can you get a pic. I have a feeling you might be seeing pods, which are good.
How long has your tank been up and running? What do you have in there now? Do you have a test kit?
 
roka64 said:
Here is a description of it:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=4734&N=2004+113016

Like scottm said, if you used this product in your main, you might not be able to add any inverts, as the chemicals in this product will seep into your LR/substrate/filter media and such.

I have to agree, again with scottm, what kind of parasites are in your tank? Can you get a pic. I have a feeling you might be seeing pods, which are good.
How long has your tank been up and running? What do you have in there now? Do you have a test kit?
I cycled my tank with damsels. After the cycle I purchased 5 fish. The type is probably irrelevent. I noticed tiny little specs moving around in my tank. Shortly after my fish started acting funny and died. My fish guy came over and said I had parasites. Also, I returned 2 fish to him before they died. He fresh water dipped them but they still died. The damsels I returned to him infected his whole system. He reccomended melefix. It didnt work. We then went to rid-ick. It still did not get rid of all the little creepies. I really dont want to drain and re-do my whole tank. It is 250 gallons. I will if I have to. That is why I am asking here. Help help help.
 
Hmm. I'd have to agree it sounds like pods. Ick you wouldn't see free swimming. The attached link may help.
I think what you are seeing are either amphipods and/or copepods, both of which are beneficial to your system. Look at figures 2 and 5 in the link. If not, then as stated, a picture would be needed to help identify what you have.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-08/rs/index.php

Your fish could have died for lots of reason associated with cycling a new tank with fish.
 
FishFrik said:
I have to agree, again with scottm, what kind of parasites are in your tank? Can you get a pic. I have a feeling you might be seeing pods, which are good.

lol, i agree with scottm too XD
I dont think its very funny. All my fish died and it didnt look very pleasant. How about a little compassion for a new fish owner.
 
I am with the guys i dont think its ICH, you cant see it i reckon its PODS.
either way if it is ich it needs a fish to host it and if not it will die by itself so stop treating it.
Just DONT add any fish for 8 weeks and you will be ich less.
Also hopefully for your sake that the product you brought dosnt have copper as said if it does you cant add inverts, they will die otherwise.
 
I dont think its very funny. All my fish died and it didnt look very pleasant. How about a little compassion for a new fish owner.

:O sry, u didn't say anything about having any fish in the tank yet. I wasn't laughing at ur problem but i was laughiing cuz when i first saw those "specs" that ur seeing, i thought they were bad too.

I agree with others that what ur seeing are pods (copepods). Google it for urself. It's really weird how ur "fish guy" attempted to treat those specs with rid ick. It sounds like he doesn't know what he is doing cuz he suggested u to "try" 2 different medications in a newly cycled tank.
 
I will have compassion on you this time. We will see if YOU pass the test of time. You made a lot of bad choices, No.1 being your choice of LFS. No. 2 was cycling your tank with fish. All I ask is that you have compassion on the occupants in your tank.
 
I have a brand new tank and NO FISH.

I was also under the impression that you had no fish in your tank. I am sorry for your losses! I have had a few and the reason was, I didn't take the avoids of these folks on this forum. I would take the advice of your "fish guy" with a few grains of salt!

Ok, let's start over. It sounds like you were cycling your tank with fish. I would not recommend this. It is like them living in very poor water conditions. Most fish become stressed and die. They are really living in sewage sludge. IMO, it is our job to simulate the best or better than their natural habitats, since we have more control over our tanks as opposed to the world and it's oceans (hope that made since, I'm still in vacation mode).
Another thing I would suggest, ask folks here (there is a LOT of experience), read, take things slowly.
I would also not suggest a FW dip on a SW fish. This stresses an already stressed fish. A great tool we have is a QT. This is where we can control the sick fish's environment, and if done properly can save the fish and the other inhabitants of the main tank.

I cycled my tank with damsels. After the cycle I purchased 5 fish. The type is probably irrelevent.
Ok, now we know this probably isn't a good idea. The other fish are very important. There are many factors, how big of a tank they will need, if they are aggressive and will attack other fish, if the tank is established enough to support that species needs.

Do you have a test kit?
What is going on with the tank right now?
Do you have any fish or inverts in there now?

Just take is slow and ask a ton of questions and LISTEN to the advice, here, more so thank your "fish guy". To me, he sounds like he might be new or not be too knowledgable in the SW field.

No one here is bashing you or laughing. We are trying to help, but I feel I kind of got half the story at first, unless I missed it in another post.
 
Also, I returned 2 fish to him before they died. He fresh water dipped them but they still died. The damsels I returned to him infected his whole system.

This right here shows you the lack of knowledge your LFS contact has. First of all, not only is a freshwater dip a poor choice of treatment, as it will only cause SOME of the parasites to jump off, it is unbelievably stressful on the fish. Not to mention, if the ich is already free swimming in the water, taking him out and putting him in freshwater only to put him right back in the same infected saltwater is a complete waste of time. He then had his entire system infected? What was he doing taking a fish he knew was infected with ich and placing it into his system?

Personally, I would say you have made mistakes, but they have been honest mistakes because you expected (and appropriately) someone in the business of selling fish to know how to take care of them. Unfortunately, this guy clearly does NOT. Buying fish there might not be bad if they are healthy, but please double check his advice here, where you can get advice from people who have decades of experience with everything to do with this hobby.

Paul
 
Im very curious to meet this "fishguy".
We have a local LFS here, sometimes I ask "dummy" questions to see how much they know, if I followed their advice, I would have to get a HAZMAT team out to my house ASAP.

Stick with AA or reefcentral for advice
 
pkremer said:
Also, I returned 2 fish to him before they died. He fresh water dipped them but they still died. The damsels I returned to him infected his whole system.

This right here shows you the lack of knowledge your LFS contact has. First of all, not only is a freshwater dip a poor choice of treatment, as it will only cause SOME of the parasites to jump off, it is unbelievably stressful on the fish. Not to mention, if the ich is already free swimming in the water, taking him out and putting him in freshwater only to put him right back in the same infected saltwater is a complete waste of time. He then had his entire system infected? What was he doing taking a fish he knew was infected with ich and placing it into his system?

Personally, I would say you have made mistakes, but they have been honest mistakes because you expected (and appropriately) someone in the business of selling fish to know how to take care of them. Unfortunately, this guy clearly does NOT. Buying fish there might not be bad if they are healthy, but please double check his advice here, where you can get advice from people who have decades of experience with everything to do with this hobby.

Paul
sorry I took so long. I really like posting here and learning from you guys.
I have treated my tank with 4 different kind of treatments. None of them have copper. I took every invert out of my tank and put them into my sons 20 gal tank. The only live animal left is my african star and he is doing fine. He ate my other snails I put in there. I just did a 25 gallon water change and I was hoping to start putting fish back in. I still see little tiny creatures moving around on the side of my tank. I can see them because one side is made of black plexy glass. These are the same things my fish guy said was causing my fish to die. But how can they servive so much treatment?????? How do I really know if they are pods? They are to small to identify from the links I have been given. Should I try more fish and see what happens? I hate to see any kind of animal die. Especially in my care. I have had my water checked several times since I started the treatments and it is good. My salt level is good also. Hopefully I have given enough info for you to go by. I am still very new at this. Thanks for any more advice you can give.
 
Is your "fish guy" testing your water? I'd be wary if so. Do you have test kits of your own? If you don't, you should get them and post the results here so the "experts" can tell you how you're doing and what your next step should be.

Believe me, these guys have given me so much advice over the past year and a half, both directly and indirectly because I read almost everything that's posted! My tank has been stable for a year, with very little gone wrong, and it's because I take this forum's advice!
 
Can u give us the specific parameters? I really really doubt that the "tiny specs" ur seeing are killing ur fish.

have treated my tank with 4 different kind of treatments.

WOW...Sounds like ur fish guy is just suggesting u random treatments... He said he knows that the dots are killing ur fish and yet he fails to know what exactly they are...

IMO, stop all the treatments, find out exactly what are ur parameters then we'll go from there
 
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