Not a complete wipeout but now what

[ksmmike]

Hello,

I have a 2 month old 120 gallon tank where I had 2 cardinals, 2 tangs, 2 clowns die this past weekend. I assume it was ich, though only one clown had one spot last week and all the fish seemed healthy until the day they died. They were all eating and didn't show any signs of distress until the day they all perished, except for 2 fish, which are still alive.

I have one yellow tang and one leopard wrasse remaining. The yellow tang is showing some signs, but so far is still eating and swimming around. Assuming those 2 fish stay alive, my question is, is the only way to get ich removed is to take out the fish and leave the tank fallow (I do have coral) for 72 day or longer, or can I leave those 2 fish in there and not repopulate for at least 72 days?

Is it possible to eradicate the ich even though there would still be 2 fish or who knows maybe only the leopard wrasse. I hope the yellow survives. I had him in another tank since he was very tiny. thanks for the help. If remaining fish fight off the ich, is it possible the parasites will die off, or will the remaining fish still be carriers and will only infect any new fish even after months of not adding any new fish?

thanks
Mike

 

[HBtank]

Doubtful it was ich based on the description, it is usually not that sudden and widespread without obvious symptoms before. I mean it could have been only in the gills, but then again you would see distress if that were the case.

 

[ksmmike]

I would agree with you, but today I see white spots all over the yellow tang and he has cloudy eyes. The kole tang had a puffed out mouth near the end and one of his fins was tattered, which happened quickly. None of the other fish looked distressed. One clown did
have a white dot on his tail fin that did drop off after a few days. The leopard wrasse is still acting normal and I don't see any distress with him.

 

[HBtank]

The symptoms and quickness make me think Marine Velvet, not ich.

 

[ksmmike]

thanks, HBTank, it could be.

 

[ksmmike]

thanks HB,
I did some reading about the differences between Marine Velvet and Ich. I believe you're right, it was more likely Marine Velvet. It killed them so fast with little warning.
My yellow is barely hanging on. A layer of skin near his fins is falling off. He's fighting hard. He leopard is showing no signs at all. That leads me to think that the leopard was the carrier and has built up an immune to it. Or it came in from snails and the leopard has built up immunity to it.

My question is do I leave the leopard in the tank and let it sit for 6 weeks without adding any other fish or remove the leopard. I don't have an easy way to catch him or really a place to put him. Id have to set up a new tank just for him since I don't want to put him in my biocube and risk infecting my fish in there. Not sure I want a 3rd tank, unless I can find a cheap one.

thanks
mike

 

[Jdub968]

thanks HB,
I did some reading about the differences between Marine Velvet and Ich. I believe you're right, it was more likely Marine Velvet. It killed them so fast with little warning.
My yellow is barely hanging on. A layer of skin near his fins is falling off. He's fighting hard. He leopard is showing no signs at all. That leads me to think that the leopard was the carrier and has built up an immune to it. Or it came in from snails and the leopard has built up immunity to it.

My question is do I leave the leopard in the tank and let it sit for 6 weeks without adding any other fish or remove the leopard. I don't have an easy way to catch him or really a place to put him. Id have to set up a new tank just for him since I don't want to put him in my biocube and risk infecting my fish in there. Not sure I want a 3rd tank, unless I can find a cheap one.

thanks
mike

Can you post a picture this does sound more like velvet and the cloudy eyes also leads me to believe velvet. You will need to get the fish out of the dt and give them an acriflavin bath and into a qt and start dozing cu. your gonna have to get cu levels up quick over 2-3 days to beat velvet. If you don't have acriflvin I would do a fw dip and into qt. The dt will have to sit fallow "œno fish" for 6 weeks for velvet inverts /coral can remain in tank during fallow period

 

[ksmmike]

these aren't the best photos because the lights are about to go out in the tank
but I tried to get them the best I could. You can see where the skin is shedding.
Hes not looking good. He's still swimming but on his side a lot.

 

[ksmmike]

I went by the LFS today and he told me it was likely too late to do anything and wouldn't sell me what I needed. If you think theres still hope, I'd like to save the poor guy. The LFS guy thought trying to catch him and putting him into a new tank might stress him more and kill him just from that.. idk..though this is my first bought with any parasites.
Ive run a biodcube for a year with the same fish and no fish loss. so I'm not used to losing fish.. its made me very upset. I know its part of the hobby, but I'm still upset.

 

[Louis Z]

What was it that he wasn t going to sell you? Hmmm. I question his response . Did you purchase the fish from them. You could have had the medication for the next time you encounter velvet or Brooklynella . Especially since you will be restocking the tank again. But also Because there is no time to waste once you figure out if you have either of these two parasites . Yes, the fish looks far to gone now . Even if you medicated , the quickest med formaldehyde would probably be too much for him to handle at this late stage of infection . Tangs , once they go down that far usually can't recover from that type of trauma. Either they stop eating or don't eat enough and waste away . I do t know what to tell you about your tank. A complete breakdown and restart would be my path. Maybe others can chime in .

 

[Jdub968]

Ya picture is hard to tell but it
Does look like he’s got a lot of tiny dots on him almost like sugar sprinkled all over him is that correct? One other possible disease it could be is brooklynella from the picture he looks to have a heavy slime coat that’s coming off is this
Correct?either way you have nothing to
Lose , do nothing and he will die try to treat him with a fw dip or an acriflavin bath might kill him but I would try to treat acriflavin will cure brooklynella but not velvet it just buys time

 

[ksmmike]

Louis,

No, I bought the fish from a different store. He thought the fish was too far gone to medicate and he was right. The tang didn't make it through the night. sad. Now, only the leopard wrasse remains and he's perfectly healthy. I assume he's the carrier. I guess I have to take him out and let the tank sit fallow. I'm going on vacation in June, so I'll let it sit with only coral until then. I guess Ill have to set up a QT and medicate the wrasse before putting him back in the DT in late June or July.
thanks
Mike

 

[Jdub968]

Louis,

No, I bought the fish from a different store. He thought the fish was too far gone to medicate and he was right. The tang didn't make it through the night. sad. Now, only the leopard wrasse remains and he's perfectly healthy. I assume he's the carrier. I guess I have to take him out and let the tank sit fallow. I'm going on vacation in June, so I'll let it sit with only coral until then. I guess Ill have to set up a QT and medicate the wrasse before putting him back in the DT in late June or July.
thanks
Mike

Keep in mind the Wrasse may look ok now but these parasites can multiply very fast and this fish can go down hill very quick I would play it safe get him out of the dt and start treating him before

 

[ksmmike]

Thanks Jdub,
Yeah I intend to pull him out as soon as I can get this QT tank set up again today or tomorrow.

Mike