10 of 12 fish gone! Six to ich!

[duaumun]

I guess i should post this here. Hey everyone. My aunt has a really nice FO tank, 72 gal bowfront. One problem...10/12 attempted fish have died. She has a sump and adequate lighting, i checked all that. she cycled the tank with to blue damsels and 2 clowns (percula or false percula, not sure.) After that she added a yellow tang and two bengiia cardinals. One died and she added two more cardinals. Her stocker had a niger trigger and two other fish and that is where the real trouble started. She only quarantined them for two weeks. They all became infected of ich and 6 died from it. Now only the damsels remain. Oh, and the six all died in one day. What should she do? Go fallow? the damsels had it but got rid of it and now they are doing fine. They have been using ich medicine for a week. I don't think they should fallow, maybe they should let the damsels cycle and test the tank for a month. I dunno. I'll see them tomorrow.

They are thinking of changing the tank to an agressive tank. I don't think that the ich will be gone, it'll hang around. Anyways, help is appreciated.

[tundar]

Sorry about you fish but you're not giving us enough info? What are your parameters? (PH,Salinity,Nitrite,NitrateAmmonia levels? Temp?...

Also when you transfer the fish to your main display, how are you doing it?

What are the time intervals between placing in new fish?

All are important factors in keeping a good SW environment.

If you can.. Try to have the main tank fishless for at least 4weeks. That should be enough time for the Ich to die off without a host. Otherwise every time you add a fish there's a good chance they're gonna get it. This is the best way you can go about it.

[duaumun]

Parameters, fine. Temp, fine. Intro method, fine. It's not my tank, it's my Aunt's. Everything is fine, i think, except the stocking guy and when she introduces fish. She only let the guy quarintine the 3 fish for 2 weeks. I think she put those three in at the same time. She put them in a bowl and dripped water from the main aquarium into the bowl. Two fish jumped onto the floor, but she got them back in quick (stress, easy for the ich). After an hour, she let them loose. 6 fish died in one day, all to ich. Does she really need to take the damsels out for four weeks? They have recovered. They had to mercy kill the Yellow Tang because all the other fish got mean. The other 3 were dead cardinals, i guess they died from stress, i dunno. No outward signs of stress or disease. Help her please. She is too stubborn to take my advice and switch the stocking guy. My stocking guy is great, i want her to go to him.

[duaumun]

Can you guys help me, please? She might make it a freshwater, because she is getting frustrated.

Originally Posted by duaumun

She only let the guy quarintine the 3 fish for 2 weeks. I think she put those three in at the same time. She put them in a bowl and dripped water from the main aquarium into the bowl. Two fish jumped onto the floor, but she got them back in quick (stress, easy for the ich). After an hour, she let them loose. 6 fish died in one day, all to ich.

The main issue she has is the way the fish are being introduced and there are too many too quickly. C. irritans is most likely not the cause here as it does not kill in one day unless heavily infested prior to purchase. If you saw the fish before they died you would be the better judge of what they had but I would lean more towards marine velvet and/or acclimation stress as the direct cause.

Does she really need to take the damsels out for four weeks? They have recovered.

If she wants to be sure whatever parasite (if that was the cause) is eradicted, the fish will need to be QT'd, observed for 4 weeks and treated if needed. Only by leaving the main tank fallow will the problem clear itself up.

What ick med was used in the main tank?

Help her please. She is too stubborn to take my advice and switch the stocking guy. My stocking guy is great, i want her to go to him.

She will need to make that desicion but you may want to point out to her that any person that keeps adding animals to a tank and they kept dieing should have ascertained why before adding new ones. This "stockin guy" is seeing $$ not animals.

Cheers
Steve