new guy blues- flatworms and ick?

[saltyray]

I have had a 120 gallon tank for a couple of months now. I came from having a 20 gallon fish only that was up for about 3 years. I took the fish from the 20, put the lonely little four into the 120, and have been chugging away adding a couple of clams and some corals from LFS. No new fish though. I now have two fish with white spots on them, a sailfin with white spots along the bridge between its eyes and a gramma with white spots all over ever bit of it. This has just happened in the last week or so. I have read the FAQ and it seems that you canââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t get ick if you donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t introduce new infected fish. So what do I have now and what do I do about it since I have over 80 pounds of rock and no easy way of catching either fish? The last two fish, that have not shown any signs, are clowns. Is there something the two can have that is not ick? Do you dose the tank for ick? Can ick be carried by corals to later pop up in your tank?

I know it is a lot of stupid questions but I am not done yet.

I also have small critters that are on the glass that seem to be multiplying at an alarming rate. I have looked at http://melevsreef.com/id/flatworm.html trying to identify them as possibly flatworms and frankly I canââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t tell if they are good ones or bad ones. Does a preventive dose of flatworm exit help either way? Is this a bad idea? Do I wait to see if the population blows up?

My wife and I are new to this and do not want unwarranted deaths of anything. Any suggestions and help are appreciated.

Ray

 

[sage1970]

bump for new guy needing answers

 

[jerehmy]

To tell you the truth Im don't know it all but my 40g reef is 2.5mo old and has has ick and still am treating it. I use a product called KICK ICK made by RUBY REEF. I used this to treat my fish and is it reef safe! None of my mushroms were affected and my colt corals were fine also. Ick is a pain in the as$ but thats life

ON a 2nd note I also have the flatworms. Mine are white, and on the live rock. I just today purchased a black and blue nudibranch very strange creature. I was told he will eat the worms. After he dose then I will dose a FLATWORM EXIT to kill all of them

If ots any help I read that the white worms are better than the red ones, that is if any of them are and good at all :lol: :lol:



BUMP ON EVERYONE.......... BUMP ON INDEED:smokin:

 

[Yhee]

get a cleaner and a 6ln wrasse both issues WILL be sloved. To reduce the worms you will need to sorta starve the wrasse. Mine doesnt go for any food which floats. Hence he'll take up his normal food and eat them worms!!

 

[Freed]

Re: new guy blues- flatworms and ick?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7321354#post7321354 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by saltyray
have been chugging away adding a couple of clams and some corals from LFS. I now have two fish with white spots on them, a sailfin with white spots along the bridge between its eyes and a gramma with white spots all over ever bit of it.<----Now you know how you introduced the ich into the tank.

I have read the FAQ and it seems that you canââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t get ick if you donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t introduce new infected fish. <----- total misconception here and false information.



Can ick be carried by corals to later pop up in your tank?<----MOST DEFINITELY!!!

Ray

HI, please read the above that you posted to begin with. You have answered your own questions above. Yes, ich can be in the water you bring home with your corals, inverts and live rock. You don't necessarily have to bring home a fish to bring home ich. The ich does not feed off of corals, rock or inverts but can be hiding in or hitching on any one of them just waiting for a fish meal.


ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS QT anything wet you bring home for the fish tank.



Ick is a pain in the as$ but thats life<<<----- Does not have to be this way if you QT EVERYTHING WET.

 

[Jocko]

Your fish can actually have ich on them and not show signs. Here's what I think happened. The fish in your 20 had tiny trace amounts of ich but because the tank was in such good shape and you fed them well, it never developed because the fish were healthy enough to fight it off.

When you put them in the new tank, the water parameters were less stable since its new and also there is stress involved in moving the fish and them having to adjust to new surroundings. This would probably be enough to upset the previous equilibrium and give the ich a chance to take hold.

As far as the clowns, I think they have a more slimey coating (related to the whole anemone immunity thing), so that is probably why they have been unaffected.

If you still have the 20 set up then you should get all 4 fish out and back into it. Treat them there. What treatment you use I will leave to others to recommend. Leave the new reef tank without fish for 4 weeks and that should exceed the ich lifecycle and render your reef tank free of ich.

The suggestion to get a cleaner shrimp or wrasse is also very good since they will clean off the ich. You could try that I guess if you don't still have the 20 set up. You don't want to set the 20 back up from scratch and further stress the fish, but if its still running then use that to treat them since its fish only.

 

[DgenR8]

jerehmy and Freed,
Reef Central uses profanity filters for a reason. For future reference, if you can't get it past the filters without using symbols in place of letters, it is not welcome on the board, period.

 

[cornelious0_0]

In terms of the flatworms all over the glass, if they're just on the glass and not overly prevalent on your rockwork then they're probly the same thing that my tank went through a couple times in it's first 6 months. Easiest way I found to get rid of them was to add a couple yellowtail blue damsels to the tank. All I had in there was a couple Eels, so there was nothing to pick on, and the damsels seemed to think the flatworms were pretty yummy.

 

[Freed]

DgenR8, I DID NOT use profanity. I copied and pasted what someone else stated. Please reread the posts. Thanks, Jeff

 

[DgenR8]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7328341#post7328341 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cornelious0_0
In terms of the flatworms all over the glass, if they're just on the glass and not overly prevalent on your rockwork then they're probly the same thing that my tank went through a couple times in it's first 6 months. Easiest way I found to get rid of them was to add a couple yellowtail blue damsels to the tank. All I had in there was a couple Eels, so there was nothing to pick on, and the damsels seemed to think the flatworms were pretty yummy.

That's a new one on me. I've seen claims that certain wrasses, even manderins would eat flat worms, but I never heard damsels.

 

[littlemannin]

For the ick drop you salinity and raise the temp a couple degrees. as for the flat worms I have never had them but have heard arrow crabs love em'.

 

[DgenR8]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7328396#post7328396 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Freed
DgenR8, I DID NOT use profanity. I copied and pasted what someone else stated. Please reread the posts. Thanks, Jeff

YOU still posted it. I can understand what you're trying to say, but my mother would have washed out my mouth with soap whether someone else said it first or not. I can't make someone else responsible for what your account posts.
If you still want to discuss it, PM me. There's no need to foul this thread any further.

 

[littlemannin]

This guy is asking for advice....can we stop fighting and help him?

 

[DgenR8]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7328533#post7328533 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by littlemannin
This guy is asking for advice....can we stop fighting and help him?

You mean kinda like I already said?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7328482#post7328482 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DgenR8

If you still want to discuss it, PM me. There's no need to foul this thread any further.

 

[littlemannin]

exactly

 

[poedag]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7323324#post7323324 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jerehmy
To tell you the truth Im don't know it all but my 40g reef is 2.5mo old and has has ick and still am treating it. I use a product called KICK ICK made by RUBY REEF. I used this to treat my fish and is it reef safe! None of my mushroms were affected and my colt corals were fine also.

i had a good friend of mine use the same product in his 40gal and it worked like a champ. he claimed the trick was the more frequent than normal water changes really helped fluch out the system. perhaps?

 

[cornelious0_0]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7328403#post7328403 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DgenR8
That's a new one on me. I've seen claims that certain wrasses, even manderins would eat flat worms, but I never heard damsels.

That's why I never expected to see it happen myself. I had another "crop" of flatworms pop up in the tank after I had added the damsels, and they went to town cleaning up...very good move incidently on my behalf.

 

[DgenR8]

I'd love to give the damsels a shot, but I don't forsee harmony in my tank with a few of them there, and removing them would be a horror, to say the least.
Still, if a few more people chimed in to say that it worked for them.........

 

[colettem]

Be very careful if you are using flat worm exit - have seen a few posts on here where the volume of dying worms has caused a tank crash - apparently they release toxic substances into the water as they die. There are always more than you can see hidden in the rocks. It's very important if you take this route to siphon out as many dead worms as possible and run poly filter/carbon to try to remove the toxins.

 

[cornelious0_0]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7330727#post7330727 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DgenR8
I'd love to give the damsels a shot, but I don't forsee harmony in my tank with a few of them there, and removing them would be a horror, to say the least.
Still, if a few more people chimed in to say that it worked for them.........

yeah, I'm lucky enough that I ended up just tearing down my tank anyways when I took them out, but it would be a pain in a fully stocked tank, so unless you have a semi-aggresive tank or something with larger fish I wouldn't feel to great about leaving the damsels in there...one of mine was a ***** and harrased the other one, banishing it out of the rockwork each time it came looking for food.