Adoption Question

[6 man reef]

I have been entrusted with caring for A 4" hippo tang, 4" yellow tang, 2" percula, Two 2&1/5"convict damsels. A fellow reefer "Buddy" met with a sudden death... His wife could no longer care for the fish and corals. I adopted them 2 weeks ago and have them in hypo due to the Hippo showing ich after the move. Additionally I have noticed his eyes appear cloudy and he has been extremely nervous and stressed. None of the other fish are showing these symptoms. I have no experience with any of the fishes behavior to draw from and the prior owners wife cant help. Only one other thing on the percula is his back is not bright his back looks "dirty". I have searched here to find that other perc owners claim the fish change color but I am not sure if this is what I am looking at.
I have been feeding fresh garlic soaked nori and mysis daily and all are eating well and are fattening up nicely.
The parameters were a mess when I arrived to move them. Nearly all of the corals were lost.
I have had no sucess getting a picture that would be helpfull.

 

[SAT]

Keeping them in hypo is probably the right move. Cloudy eyes are a common side effect of Ich, indicating a secondary bacterial infection. Most likely it will clear up as the parasites drop off. However, if gets worse or fails to clear up, an antibiotic such as Maracyn-Two can help him along.

Lacking more evidence of trouble, I would leave the clowns alone for the moment. If they have Ich, the hypo will take care of it. However, if they show any additional signs of distress some other treatment may be required. Excess mucous can be a sign of Brooklynella, which hypo will not clear up.

The garlic won't hurt anything, but probably isn't making any difference either. For a more complete diet, I like the frozen "formula" foods. Formula 2 is good for tangs and is fine for clowns as well. Formula 1 was derived from a clownfish hatchery blend.

I'm assuming they are in a quarantine tank? Watch the water parameters carefully and don't overfeed. Newly setup Q tanks usually have problems with ammonia within a few days. You can use water changes (big changes are OK; just make sure the water is completely mixed, well aerated for at least a few hours, preferably over night, and has a good match on pH and temperature). Let your test kit be the guide... don't be complacent about any value above 0.1ppm. You can also use an ammonia detox solution.

You probably now have Ich in your display tank, either because the fish were there for a while or because the corals can carry it. Best solution is to keep the tank free of fish for 6 weeks, allowing time for all the parasites to die out.

Good luck!

[ich]