3/4 fish died from Ich, what do I do?!

[benr783]

Hi, this is my first post here.

So, I've had a 60 gallon salt water tank for almost 2 months, and it's a fish-only tank. 2 days ago, I had a clownfish, coral beauty, royal gramma, and an azure damsel (in order of purchase date). The azure damsel died around a week after I put it on. Shortly after, I started to notice everyone else acting strange, and then the spots. When I noticed the spots (Ich disease), yesterday, the fish store was closed so I was helpless. Overnight, the coral beauty and royal gramma died. Now, I only have a clownfish. As soon as the store opened, I went and bought a bottle of Cupramine. Right after I put in the necessary amount of drops.

My Clownfish, earlier today, was swimming around a lot, like he always has, but now he's staying in one place towards the substrate.

So, I'm devastated at this point with these last two days. What do I do?

Thanks

 

[azredsand]

Get ick kicker. Great stuff

 

[BrickFishHouse]

If the fish is eating, that's a good sign, and you can infuse frozen food with MetroPlex and Focus (I've had good luck with those).

Take a look at your heater setup. During these seasonal temperature shifts, a lot of aquariums also experience them, creating ich-friendly conditions.

In an ich situation, I typically try to keep the water consistent. The fish need to be able to develop the strength to shake it off. So to speak.

Ich sucks... But it can be survived. That's just my experience, though.

Hope this helps!

 

[benr783]

My tank temp fluctuates around 77.4ºF to 77.6ºF. Is that fine? @BrickFishHouse

So, right now my clown fish is maybe a centimeter above the ground and is just swimming in place, and is gulping a ton of water nonstop.

I put frozen food in earlier and he ate, but not as much as he used to.

Is it likely that he will survive?

 

[snorvich]

Mortality time line suggest velvet rather than ich and it is an almost certainty that your LFS runs a low level of copper in their system.

 

[BrickFishHouse]

3/4 fish died from Ich, what do I do?!

That's not a huge fluctuation, so you should be okay with it. Many tanks are kept slightly higher, but consistency is more Important right now.

Sounds like he's stressing some. If he's eating, even a little, it stacks the odds more in his favor.

It's hard to call on whether he survives or not.

Keeping things consistent and feeding will help his odds.

Follow the directions on the cupramine carefully. The copper in there can affect the fish, too.

 

[benr783]

Elaborate on that last point?

 

[ThRoewer]

First off, are you sure it's ich?
The speed and behavior sounds more like velvet or brook. Advanced cases of those can be confused with ich

With ick, unless something is seriously wrong in your tank and you add a very heavily infected fish, you should see a rather slow increase in infection and deaths take at least a week or two.
Also, in my experience, otherwise healthy fish acquire full or at least partial immunity to ich rather quickly.
A study by Burgess (1992) showed that all test fish acquired 100% immunity after an initial non lethal infection and then being held for 3 months. Though this was done only with a single species.

Get ick kicker. Great stuff

What is that? Some reef safe medicine?

 

[benr783]

Alrighty, I woke up and my clownfish is swimming upside down, going all around the tank, and looks discolored and half dead. I'm fairly doubtful he'll live at this point.

 

[Deinonych]

Sorry for your losses. Agree that it was likely velvet given the timeline of the deaths. A quarantine setup and protocol is highly recommended for long term success in this hobby.

 

[benr783]

Ahh welp. My clownfish died during the day. There goes my whole tank, in 2 days.

What should my next steps be?

 

[ThRoewer]

Ahh welp. My clownfish died during the day. There goes my whole tank, in 2 days.

Sorry for your losses.

What should my next steps be?

1. get a 10 gallon quarantine tank (or better two) with filter (internal or HOB) and heater. I would also add a small skimmer, but it's not mandatory for small fish. Light is optional, but I prefer Daylight LED bulbs from the local home improvement store.
All new fish go in there - ideally only after they got a formalin bath - for a minimum of 8 weeks. If ich is of concern you might also do TTM before putting the fish into either the QT or after QT into the display tank.

2. since you used copper in your display tank, all your rocks and sand are contaminated. If you ever plan to at inverts or coral you have to ditch your current decoration (you could still use it for QT)

So, in essence you will have to start over.

 

[benr783]

@ThRoewer

No, my game plan is always fish only. Anyways, I found a cheap 10 gallon tank start kit at PetSmart. I'm considering buying that for a QT tank. I have a ton of salt and I have a bag of sand laying around, so it won't cost too much.

Question: Are QT tanks constantly medicated? Meaning that if a fish shows any sign of a disease, I can move them right to my QT tank, and the water would already have medication in it?

Also, for my 60 gallon main tank, what do I do? Should I drain it completely and set it up brand new?

I'm so paranoid now, I've wasted nearly $100 on fish that survived for only a month. I can't let this happen again.