Yellow tail Pygmy and tank in trouble

[saltygrl]

I got a pair of clowns from lfs on a sat. my roomate ignored all advice and pu them direct into the display tank housing 2 baby mollies, orange tail damsel, and the yellow tail pygmy angel. All the fish looked fine, they all swam fine, and the water qual is right on except high salinity because the water is evaporating faster then we can keep up. by tues even 1 clown was whitish and clamped fins, by wed morn fish was dead. the lfs said the water was fine, too bad about the fish and suggested a f/w dip or treamnt. we then immediately f/w dip and quantined the fish in a 10 gal. 1 wk later, tonight, the roomate again went against advide and put the clown back in. immediatly after ward he noticed white spots on the pygmy. there is no film but definite spots on tail, fins, and body. So we comenced the capture in which the fish became very stressed. in the transfer bowl the fish clamped his fins to the body and scrunded his tail down and was breathing very fast. we waited 10 mins then fw dip and put in the 10 gal. Will he be okay and what about the rest of the tank? i cant copper treat because i have several crabs, 2 snails, feather dusters and small things i dont want to kill and dont know if they will be affected by copper. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[cleantank]

First of all, DO NOT use copper in your display tank! Sounds like ick or velvet from what your describing, and it sounds as if was brought on by stess. A FW dip isn't the correct treatment. A couple of questions?
1. were you treating while the fish was in quarantine, after the first F/W dip?
2. Your probably going to have problems with other fish in tank, so be prepared.
There are several good S/W ick medications, but I would change LFS since F/W dips
are good for gill flukes and a couple of things. Not a whiteish slime or clamped fins.
Stess was present from the start, with the fish being dumped and not acclimated.
All new fish should be quarantined from the store.
Hope this helps.

 

[hoveboy]

Firstly, either get rid of ur room mate or tie their hands behind their back when u get new fish!!!!

Try reading the article post at the top of this group and see if it helps

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=7

You could also try lowering the sg in your qt tank, this is called hyposalinity and should hopefully alleviate the infection. Works a bit like a FW dip but a LOT less stressful to the fish.

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/hyposalinity.html

Let us know how you get on....

Stu

 

[hoveboy]

Firstly, either get rid of ur room mate or tie their hands behind their back when u get new fish!!!!

Try reading the article post at the top of this group and see if it helps

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=7

You could also try lowering the sg in your qt tank, this is called hyposalinity and should hopefully alleviate the infection. Works a bit like a FW dip but a LOT less stressful to the fish.

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/hyposalinity.html

Let us know how you get on....

Stu

 

[saltygrl]

The fish were all aclimated to the display tank at first by letting the bag sit in the tank for several hours. Then we mix the water in the bag or in a bowl first for the salinity acclimation. The things we are seeing are different symptoms. The pygmy is currently in quantine with a sailfin molly and a black molly. he has rocks so he seems okay. f/w dips work for parasitic infections from what i've read. We are watching the display tank closely because the clown and the damsel along with 2 baby mollies are still in there.


if i was going to lower the salinty, do you mean in the display tank to kill any parasites there or in the quantine tank for the fish?

 

[saltygrl]

i read the article. So i cant treat the display with hyposalinity because the inverts will still be in danger. the 10 gal has an undergravel filter so no bio filter. (We did not set up this tank) We cant afford really to get another bio filter for the small tank. We were actually trying to get every one in the display so we could stop heating the small. i cant catch al the crabs and move them because i have a horse shoe crab that lives under the sand and 6 or more hermits that are running around. If you look at the pic of my tank you will see i have a gravel side and a sand side. the hermits are nearly impossible to see unless they are on the rocks.


if the prob is bacterial and not parasitic what would you all suggest?

 

[hoveboy]

i read the article. So i cant treat the display with hyposalinity because the inverts will still be in danger.

Yeah I did mean your quarantine tank (qt), sorry for the confusion.
This is a method I favour as it still kills the parasites but is much less stressful to the fish.

the 10 gal has an undergravel filter so no bio filter. (We did not set up this tank) We cant afford really to get another bio filter for the small tank.

I dont actually have a filter either in my quarantine tank, just a heater, air stone and plenty of live sand with a piece of rock. This seems to work fine for me.

i have a horse shoe crab that lives under the sand

Just wondering how big your tank is and how much ls you have for your horseshoe crab, as I have read in the forums that they are very big eaters and can decimate a ls bed in no time at all.


If you do have a bacterial infection, since your fish are in quarantine, I would try treating with e-mycin and minocycline for 5 days, repeating the treatment if necessary.


This another link with useful advice on identifying and treating infections...
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=32

HTH
Stu

 

[hoveboy]

Just found this bit of useful advice from Steve-s (advisor)
HTH

Antibiotics will have no affect on parasitic problems except to stave off secondary infection but it can be a good addition to any treatment. Best remedy for oodinium is actually hyposalinity. If treated early enough, it is a very effective treatment. The problem with most copper based treatments is it has limited impact on the trophonts and zero affect on the other stages much like C. irritans. No matter the parasitic problem, hypo will usually take care of it where typical remedies cannot.

The same rules apply however as other parasitic problems. All fish must be treated wether they show signs or not. The main tank must be left fallow for a period of 4-6 weeks to ensure the parasite dies off without the need to treat the main display tank.

 

[hoveboy]

Just found this bit of useful advice from Steve-s (advisor)
HTH

Antibiotics will have no affect on parasitic problems except to stave off secondary infection but it can be a good addition to any treatment. Best remedy for oodinium is actually hyposalinity. If treated early enough, it is a very effective treatment. The problem with most copper based treatments is it has limited impact on the trophonts and zero affect on the other stages much like C. irritans. No matter the parasitic problem, hypo will usually take care of it where typical remedies cannot.

The same rules apply however as other parasitic problems. All fish must be treated wether they show signs or not. The main tank must be left fallow for a period of 4-6 weeks to ensure the parasite dies off without the need to treat the main display tank.