left my light on for 8 hours too long....AGAIN!!!!

[dendrodude]

darn!! crap!! stupid!! idiot!! .... sorry I had to get the frustration out.
So this is the second time now and I am losing another newer fish. first was a orange shoulder tang fine when I left dead when I got home covered in ich. Left home today happy healthy fish came home at 11 light still on and bam Jap dovetail covered in ich and wont eat a bit of food. kinda floating around staring at the side of the tank. I dropped a few extra garlic extreme drops in the water after feeding like the label said.

think it'll be there in the morn?

 

[Saltyveins]

I honestly don't think your lights have anything to do with it. Did you quarantine your fish before introducing them into your main system?

 

[LukFox]

Leaving your lights on a bit longer than usual shouldn't be enough to stress a fish into getting a full blown case of ich.

It depends on how bad it is regarding if it'll be alive tomorrow. Ich shouldn't be killing a fish in a matter of hours, though. The garlic in the water probably won't help, though.

 

[lisafoster]

how soon after you lost the first fish to ich did you add the second. Ich drops off the fish and waits for a new host. Alot of people will leave tank fallow for 2 months before adding a new fish. I did not do that I would hold off before adding any fish I kept making the mistake of adding new fish when I started and I lost quite a few to ich. If you get a fish qt it for awhile that way if the stress of the move causes him to break out with ich then you can treat him in your qt .Don't feel bad a reef tank is such a delicate balance there are bound to be mishaps.

 

[jbarr2000]

Like everyone said the lights probably weren't your problem, bit buy a 6 dollar timer from wal-mart anyway.

 

[dendrodude]

had it on a timer just switched on manual..again. there was not a sign of ich anywhere until I left the lights on. It has been about a month and a half from when the first fish died. Almost positive the lights on stressed them both just enough for ich to take them down. My other fish are clear. I assume they are stable and well adjusted to the tank and this is why only the new fish are bothered. I do understand why you don't think the lighting would cause this though after all the MH was only on for 12 hours and thats not too far off from most tanks. mine are normally on for 6 on the MH and 9 for the supplement lighting. My sand and glass get covered if I leave them on any longer then that.

 

[sedor]

A long light period would not cause ich, nor would ich cause a fish to die that quickly. Something else is going on in your water. Ich is not very often a fatal parasite, but it tends to show up when a fish is about to die because their immune system is generally compromised at this point. So, I hate to say it but something else is causing your problem. I am 100% positive that leaving your lights on for that long would not cause any problems with your fish.

 

[SATAN FISH]

A long light period would not cause ich, nor would ich cause a fish to die that quickly. Something else is going on in your water. Ich is not very often a fatal parasite, but it tends to show up when a fish is about to die because their immune system is generally compromised at this point. So, I hate to say it but something else is causing your problem. I am 100% positive that leaving your lights on for that long would not cause any problems with your fish.

I agree with this. Although I am confused as to why you are messing with the manual setting on your timer? I have timers on my tank and I leave them alone. If the lights are not on, I don't turn them on.

Are your water perameters in check? I am with everyone else, the ich only shows up heavily when the fish's immune system finally just can't keep up. So the fish was most likely on its last leg (so to speak) and the ich got a good foot hold.

Do you have anymore info on the tank? Is it a reef tank? Does it have corals? Can you do hypo or hyper salinity?

 

[nikon187]

as people have already said, lighting did not give your fish ick. It is a water issue.

 

[dendrodude]

negative on the water issue. I test for everything then have my friend who works at a lfs recheck once a week. the only thing a little out of line is nitrate is around 20. Is a reef tank 90g corner this is the second time and same situation new fish not yet recovered from the stress of being added to the new tank and pushed it over the edge. It was in my tank for about 2 weeks fine eating wonderful then lights on and bam dead

 

[dendrodude]

forgot to add that i have a scopas tang and a pink tail trigger that i have had for a year and a pompom crab and coral there is no water quality issue.

 

[dendrodude]

and also it was qtd

 

[GoingPostal]

Lights on didn't kill your fish, the ich that is in your tank did and chances are the same thing will happen next time anything stressful happens, honestly I'm not sure why you are bothering to qt only to put fish into a tank that has ich. Whether your fish are showing signs or not they have it, they just aren't stressed enough to be weakened by it, new fish are more stressed and will break into full blown ich, this is likely to repeat every time you add a new fish. Especially fish prone to it like tangs, which really don't belong in that size tank anyways. Angels are also rather touchy. Your scopus and pinktail I would take out and find larger homes for, leave the tank fishless for two months and stock more suitably sized fish (i.e. not huge active swimmers like you seem to be choosing).

 

[dendrodude]

thank you for your opinion. there is plenty of room for the fish to swim in the tank they seem very happy. I was using this thread to vent and discuss my screw up about leaving my lights on and stressing a weak fish, and how it died in one day from first showing symptoms, not are my fish suited to this size tank.although I am in the planning stages of a large in wall tank. they are both around 3-4 inches as of now and are rated for this size tank per all the different sites that I looked at I have googled it. I do understand that ich is in my system but it is not harming anything then so be it. If I could not mess it up the fish will not have an attack. Im sure that if i told you that i was keeping them in a smaller qt tank for 2 months there would be lots of yelling.

 

[nikon187]

No yelling if it was going to fix your fish. A qt tank is the only way of ridding your tank of ick 100%. Having ick in your tank is a water quality issue whether you admit it or not. A disease is an issue with water quality.

I also work in a LFS and do this for a living. Of the thousands of ick ridden fish to get shipped out i have never ever saw one caused by lighting.

 

[GoingPostal]

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+43+363&pcatid=363

A fish that reaches 14" is suited for a corner 90 gallon in your opinion?

Scopus can hit 12" according to liveaquaria. It's ok though, cause they "seem happy". Ich in your system IS harming something, like the two fish you already killed, lights being on too long isn't enough to stress something to death and if your fish are weakened enough where it would something is wrong in your tank.

 

[dendrodude]

maybe you should email liveaquaria about the fact that they have a minimum of 70 gallons for the scopus at 12" and the pink tail also at 14" then. But mine are 3-4 inches so yes they are happy.Refer to previous post about new bigger tank in planning. Other than the ich what could be wrong? tell me what to test for that is outside of regular testing.I test for everything possable at my lfs with my friend at least every other week.

 

[GoingPostal]

LiveAquaria SELLS fish, like any fish store that's making money off fish, they vastly underestimate tank size. No one on reefcentral has a monetary interest in your tank, you're a lot more likely to get sound advice from fellow reefers. I had a pinktail in my 135 btw and quickly regretted it, he was only a little bigger than yours but still didn't seem to have enough room.

Also don't stock for a tank you don't have, none of the fish you are buying are rare, hard to find or won't be around when and if your new tank gets up and running, I planned my upgrade for years before it actually happened.

 

[jbarr2000]

Sounds like he doesn't care, and it was his lights. Good luck to you then.

 

[dendrodude]

What trouble did you have with the pink tail? knocking into stuff? eating stuff? what should I look out for? I don't think the 2 fish will outgrow my tank in the next few months until I start putting together the larger tank. I am being sincere when I ask what to test for. I really am interested in getting to the bottom of this If there is a problem I want to fix it. I agree that the lighting did not kill the fish just stressed a weak fish to allow the ich to kill it. there was not a spot on it but when I got home to turn off the lights it was mouth to tail covered. but if you believe you there is another problem I am open to suggestions where to look.