Ich problem 29 gallon bowfront. Levels are ideal plus more questions

[ivanrad]

1. I have lowered my salinity to 1.020 and i have tried upping my temperature and lowering it . No luck i have treated eith garlic extreme by kent marine and i have treated with kordon ich attack.. It goes away perfectly after 6-8 hours .
What do i do?

2. I also have this pink explosion of color in my tank not coraline algae what is it ?

3. Let me know if you guys see anything in my tank
.
Phosphates 0
Nitrate 0
Calcium was high until last night when i corrected it . Its at 520
Ph at 8.1

I have a tomato clown
Condy anenome
Six line wrasse
Blue damsel
Strawberry basslet ( horrible ich problem it looked like the fish did cocaine)
Coral banded shrimp
Lawnmower blenny
3 turbo snails

I have an 8 gallon refugium
protein skimmer
30 gal aqua clear filter hob
Nano powerhead
I have phosguard in the hob filter

http://imgur.com/FO1gj7N
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http://imgur.com/JZSQ7zu
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http://imgur.com/8KBZQPw
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http://imgur.com/ipVgYs0

I think that when the ich goes away i immediately turn my filters back on maybe thats the problem

 

[ivanrad]

No ideas ?

 

[Mr. Limpid]

Lowering to 1.020 will do nothing but make your inverts and anemone unhappy. You'll need a hospital tank and do hypo (correctly), copper will kill your lawnmower.

 

[ivanrad]

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+525+698&pcatid=698
Suggests that the coral banded shrimp does fine at 1.023
I retested my salinity and its actually now at 1.023 so im sure my anenome and inverts are fine.
I have a biocube setup with a couple liverocks but it has the same water as my old tank so ich is probably in there . Should i treat the biocube with formalin since all fish stores treat with that ?

How long should i cycle the bio cube faster ? I just performed a water change

 

[Saltwaternooby]

1. Ick will not go away in 6 hrs no matter what you are using, it has a life cycle that must be broken with copper, hypo, or another to get rid of it. This cant be done in the display and that must be with out fish for 8+ weeks. Most tanks have it, but if the fish are healthy wont show signs(not that this is the correct way, but many dont use a QT tank).

2. Cyano bacteria for sure, add more flow, less nutrients, ect.

3. What is your alk and Mag if your cal is 520? There must be a balance.

Seems like a bunch of fish to me, and tank seems new(how long has it been running).

What are you using to test salinity? Swing arm or Refractometer?

 

[ivanrad]

Okay lowered nutrients to tank less feeding no more dosing .
Added another powerhead
My alk is 10 on my test kit .
I think with the amount of filtration and water changes weekly my stock is fine for now they will be going into the 55 gallon in 2 weeks once i have set it up .
The 55 gallon will contain a 25 gallon sump and the refugium that i already have .

Every level i just tested a min away seems fine .
Nitrate 0
Ph 8.1
Phosphate 0
Calcium steady at 520
Alk 10 test kit says stay between 8-12

I use both a hydrometer and refractometer

 

[snorvich]

I suggest that you read the stickies at the top of this forum. It will give you a much better feel for dealing with parasites.

 

[ivanrad]

I did and one post says increase salinity and the other post says lower it

 

[shifty51008]

if you truely wanna get rid of the ich, skip upping and lowering the salinity and garlic. setup a QT tank, transfer ALL fish to the QT (leave the inverts and such in the main tank) and treat with copper while leaving the main tank fishless for 10-12 weeks.

 

[snorvich]

I did and one post says increase salinity and the other post says lower it

Please provide a reference link for a post that says increase salinity.

 

[snorvich]

if you truely wanna get rid of the ich, skip upping and lowering the salinity and garlic. setup a QT tank, transfer ALL fish to the QT (leave the inverts and such in the main tank) and treat with copper while leaving the main tank fishless for 10-12 weeks.

This.

 

[ivanrad]

I have already setup a quanrantine tank i have to wait for it to finish cycling . I put corals in the quarantine tank and they died

 

[ivanrad]

Heres the most amazing thing i find with saltwater . An anemome is perfectly fine with not having ich but all my fish start to die .... How does that work when an anenome can die from just a smidge of phosphate or nitrate spike

 

[HumbleFish]

Heres the most amazing thing i find with saltwater . An anemome is perfectly fine with not having ich but all my fish start to die .... How does that work when an anenome can die from just a smidge of phosphate or nitrate spike

Because Ich is a fish only parasite which literally feeds on s/w fish, and that can ultimately do enough damage to kill them. Ich does not feed on anemones/corals/inverts, so no damage is done.

By contrast, elevated phosphates or nitrates can harm anemones/corals/inverts... but have no effect on fish (except at insanely extreme levels).

 

[Deinonych]

Because Ich is a fish only parasite which literally feeds on s/w fish, and that can ultimately do enough damage to kill them. Ich does not feed on anemones/corals/inverts, so no damage is done.

By contrast, elevated phosphates or nitrates can harm anemones/corals/inverts... but have no effect on fish (except at insanely extreme levels).

Exactly. It's an apples vs. oranges comparison. Crypto (ich) is biological, and PO4/NH4 are chemical.