1. How old is this aquarium? 3 months
2. If less than six months old, what is ammonia level? Below acceptable levels as measured by local fish store
3. What is SG of this aquarium? How measured? At time I noticed the disease, 1.024, hydrometer
4. When was the last fish added to this aquarium? I added 2 fish 3 weeks before I noticed the disease
5. Was it quarantined? If so, how? And how long? Was it prophylactically treated? How? They were not quarantined
6. If you are using a copper based medication, which one? How often do you measure level? When? Remaining 2 fish of 7 are in a 6g QT treated with Chloroquine Phosphate
7. If you are using hyposalinity, how did you calibrate your refractometer? No refractometer being used
8. Please describe in detail, the appearance of the fish? If there is one or more pimples, are they lumpy? What color? Initially, my yellow tang had sugar size white specs all over its body, it fell off within 24 hours. This began my journey of WTH am I doing?
9. Please describe the behavior of the fish as best you can. Is it acting reclusive? Is it always up towards the top of the aquarium? Is it avoiding light? How active is the fish? Surviving are a clown & a coral beauty after placement in a QT treated with chloroquine phosphate. The clown has a light whitish film and the coral beauty now has the sugar size white specs
10. Is the fish eating? What? The coral beauty is eating lightly, I do not see the clown eating but I only observe for like 5 minutes
Gear: 55 gallon DT, protein skimmer, bio pellet reactor, sump, 6 stage RO/DI.
Stock: Fish only tank - 1 wrasse, 2 tangs, 1 trigger, 1 coral beauty, 1 clown, 1 blenny, 3 nassarius snails that went into hiding since adding the trigger.
So, the whole story goes like this....
Day 1 - I notice my wrasse nipping at the fins of my yellow tang for about a week until white sugar like specks form all over the yellow tang. I order Chloroquine Phosphate off of eBay but wanted to do something now so I called my local fish store and he sells me on Kick-Ich saying it's what they use in all of their tanks. The instructions given were to turn off protein skimmer, turn temp up to 82 degrees, lower salinity to 1.009 and dose 4.5oz of Kick-Ich in my tank every other day for 14 days. Turned off protein skimmer, left on bio-pellet reactor and administered first day's dose. I asked if I should have a bubble maker in the tank and was told no.
Day 2 - The specks are now gone from the yellow tang. Wrasse now has the same specks.
Day 3 - Live rock & sand turning greenish brown (sorry color blind), 2nd dose of 4.5oz of Kick-Ich administered.
Day 4 - Specks are gone from wrasse but it started scratching up against rocks constantly. Larger bumpier white specks now present on yellow tang. Live rock & sand covered in more greenish brown stuff (algae?).
Day 5 - My blenny died even though showing no symptoms of anything. The small sugar like specs are now on my wrasse and both of my tangs. All fish appear to be breathing heavier than normal. 3rd dose of Kick-Ich administered. Tank just looks horrible at this point, covered in the greenish brown stuff. Concerned, I call the store and he asked the fish's symptoms. I told him about the breathing and asked me if I had bubbles going in the tank. Since my protein skimmer was off, there may be a lack of o2. He also suggested I bring in a water sample the next day. I immediately took 2 bubble makers and put them in the tank.
Day 6 - Wrasse and trigger fish were starting to go sideways, looked weaker. The wrasse stopped eating. Everyone else had an appetite, even the trigger. I took water sample to the store and they measured for salinity, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, alkalinity & ph. They showed me the results and the measurements were pretty much spot on where they should have been. I asked about the water changes and he said since the readings were good, it was better not to do one until the dosing is completed.
Day 7 - I woke up to a dead tang & wrasse. Throughout the day, the trigger & yellow tang died leaving me only the coral beauty & clown. The coral beauty was on her side breathing heavy and the clown had a whitish film on him but was swimming without issues. Pretty much assuming they would die without some kind of change in how I was attempting to save them, I quickly setup a 6 gallon tank, simple filter, bubble maker, put in a few pieces of PVC, got the temp to 80 degrees and salinity to 1.012. I then added 1/8 tsp of the Chloroquine Phosphate. I acclimated the clown for about 20 minutes then placed him in the tank. Having to blow the coral beauty from under the rock in the DT, I finally got her and I was certain she would be dead within minutes. I didn't acclimate, I just plopped her in the tank at which she sank to the bottom on her side still breathing heavy.
2 hours after placing the fish in the tank, the clown was just hanging out in the corner and the coral beauty was actually upright in one of the PVC pieces.
6 hours after placing the fish in the tank, the clown was being the same but the coral beauty was swimming around the tank. I fed some brine shrimp and the coral beauty ate a good amount. I did not see the clown eat.
Day 8 : 3/39/2015 - Clown fish doing the same, the coral beauty now has the white sugar size specks all over her but swimming with no issue. I fed some stuff called LRS which is supposed to be the best offered at the local fish store. It's like 13 different variety of mussel/fish/shrimp etc. I always add a drop or two of some potent garlic on the fish food so I did not change that and added a drop of garlic. The coral beauty lightly ate but again, I did not see the clown eat.
So here I am scratching my head. I've got the DT empty except the hidden snails. The temp is set to 82 degrees and am working on lowering the salinity to 1.009. I've turned back on my protein skimmer and the biopellet reactor is still running. It is my hope that all that, what I assume to be algae, and all parasites die a miserable horrible death.
My questions are:
1. Obvious, any ideas why so many fish died and so why so fast? Some not even showing signs of ich. With the water checking out as good, is it possible something else on top of ich was killing my fish?
2. Is 30 days long enough to nuke the bad stuff in my tank?
3. Any suggestions on the treatment of my 2 remaining fish? I just assume they will live in that tank for the 30 day treatment. I plan on doing 50% water changes every week in the QT replacing the lost dosage of Chlorquine Phosphate.
Thank you to everyone who is willing to help out a noob in advance!
Now empty tank minus the 3 snails:
QT tank:
2. If less than six months old, what is ammonia level? Below acceptable levels as measured by local fish store
3. What is SG of this aquarium? How measured? At time I noticed the disease, 1.024, hydrometer
4. When was the last fish added to this aquarium? I added 2 fish 3 weeks before I noticed the disease
5. Was it quarantined? If so, how? And how long? Was it prophylactically treated? How? They were not quarantined
6. If you are using a copper based medication, which one? How often do you measure level? When? Remaining 2 fish of 7 are in a 6g QT treated with Chloroquine Phosphate
7. If you are using hyposalinity, how did you calibrate your refractometer? No refractometer being used
8. Please describe in detail, the appearance of the fish? If there is one or more pimples, are they lumpy? What color? Initially, my yellow tang had sugar size white specs all over its body, it fell off within 24 hours. This began my journey of WTH am I doing?
9. Please describe the behavior of the fish as best you can. Is it acting reclusive? Is it always up towards the top of the aquarium? Is it avoiding light? How active is the fish? Surviving are a clown & a coral beauty after placement in a QT treated with chloroquine phosphate. The clown has a light whitish film and the coral beauty now has the sugar size white specs
10. Is the fish eating? What? The coral beauty is eating lightly, I do not see the clown eating but I only observe for like 5 minutes
Gear: 55 gallon DT, protein skimmer, bio pellet reactor, sump, 6 stage RO/DI.
Stock: Fish only tank - 1 wrasse, 2 tangs, 1 trigger, 1 coral beauty, 1 clown, 1 blenny, 3 nassarius snails that went into hiding since adding the trigger.
So, the whole story goes like this....
Day 1 - I notice my wrasse nipping at the fins of my yellow tang for about a week until white sugar like specks form all over the yellow tang. I order Chloroquine Phosphate off of eBay but wanted to do something now so I called my local fish store and he sells me on Kick-Ich saying it's what they use in all of their tanks. The instructions given were to turn off protein skimmer, turn temp up to 82 degrees, lower salinity to 1.009 and dose 4.5oz of Kick-Ich in my tank every other day for 14 days. Turned off protein skimmer, left on bio-pellet reactor and administered first day's dose. I asked if I should have a bubble maker in the tank and was told no.
Day 2 - The specks are now gone from the yellow tang. Wrasse now has the same specks.
Day 3 - Live rock & sand turning greenish brown (sorry color blind), 2nd dose of 4.5oz of Kick-Ich administered.
Day 4 - Specks are gone from wrasse but it started scratching up against rocks constantly. Larger bumpier white specks now present on yellow tang. Live rock & sand covered in more greenish brown stuff (algae?).
Day 5 - My blenny died even though showing no symptoms of anything. The small sugar like specs are now on my wrasse and both of my tangs. All fish appear to be breathing heavier than normal. 3rd dose of Kick-Ich administered. Tank just looks horrible at this point, covered in the greenish brown stuff. Concerned, I call the store and he asked the fish's symptoms. I told him about the breathing and asked me if I had bubbles going in the tank. Since my protein skimmer was off, there may be a lack of o2. He also suggested I bring in a water sample the next day. I immediately took 2 bubble makers and put them in the tank.
Day 6 - Wrasse and trigger fish were starting to go sideways, looked weaker. The wrasse stopped eating. Everyone else had an appetite, even the trigger. I took water sample to the store and they measured for salinity, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, alkalinity & ph. They showed me the results and the measurements were pretty much spot on where they should have been. I asked about the water changes and he said since the readings were good, it was better not to do one until the dosing is completed.
Day 7 - I woke up to a dead tang & wrasse. Throughout the day, the trigger & yellow tang died leaving me only the coral beauty & clown. The coral beauty was on her side breathing heavy and the clown had a whitish film on him but was swimming without issues. Pretty much assuming they would die without some kind of change in how I was attempting to save them, I quickly setup a 6 gallon tank, simple filter, bubble maker, put in a few pieces of PVC, got the temp to 80 degrees and salinity to 1.012. I then added 1/8 tsp of the Chloroquine Phosphate. I acclimated the clown for about 20 minutes then placed him in the tank. Having to blow the coral beauty from under the rock in the DT, I finally got her and I was certain she would be dead within minutes. I didn't acclimate, I just plopped her in the tank at which she sank to the bottom on her side still breathing heavy.
2 hours after placing the fish in the tank, the clown was just hanging out in the corner and the coral beauty was actually upright in one of the PVC pieces.
6 hours after placing the fish in the tank, the clown was being the same but the coral beauty was swimming around the tank. I fed some brine shrimp and the coral beauty ate a good amount. I did not see the clown eat.
Day 8 : 3/39/2015 - Clown fish doing the same, the coral beauty now has the white sugar size specks all over her but swimming with no issue. I fed some stuff called LRS which is supposed to be the best offered at the local fish store. It's like 13 different variety of mussel/fish/shrimp etc. I always add a drop or two of some potent garlic on the fish food so I did not change that and added a drop of garlic. The coral beauty lightly ate but again, I did not see the clown eat.
So here I am scratching my head. I've got the DT empty except the hidden snails. The temp is set to 82 degrees and am working on lowering the salinity to 1.009. I've turned back on my protein skimmer and the biopellet reactor is still running. It is my hope that all that, what I assume to be algae, and all parasites die a miserable horrible death.
My questions are:
1. Obvious, any ideas why so many fish died and so why so fast? Some not even showing signs of ich. With the water checking out as good, is it possible something else on top of ich was killing my fish?
2. Is 30 days long enough to nuke the bad stuff in my tank?
3. Any suggestions on the treatment of my 2 remaining fish? I just assume they will live in that tank for the 30 day treatment. I plan on doing 50% water changes every week in the QT replacing the lost dosage of Chlorquine Phosphate.
Thank you to everyone who is willing to help out a noob in advance!
Now empty tank minus the 3 snails:
QT tank:
