sick damsel Help!!!

lunning

New member
I am currently quarentining a 3spot damsel, 2 percula's, and a yellow tang. After two weeks in the qt the clowns and tang are doing great, but my damsel just turned for the worst. He is breathing heavily and looks to be loosing his color. He shows no sign of ick anymore, but what could it be? I was planning on taking him back to the lfs after treatment, but I still dont want him to die. Can anyone help me save this guy?
 
Have you tested your water? Sometimes an ammonia spike can cause problems like this. Especially within the confines of a QT tank... frequently smallish, and the cycling capabilities are destroyed from whatever was used to treat them.
 
I've been testing the qt twice a week and my main tank once a week. I have nothing in my qt except a couple peices of pvc (no live sand or rock) I am running a small penguin filter, but did not use any filter in it until treatment was complete. It had a small amount of ammonia (.5ppm), but I do daily water changes to keep it at bay. The damsel was the worst looking when ick struck, but it had looked like he had recoveredfully after the first week. Should I remove him to prevent any illness from spreading?
 
Ich, even when the primary disease is gone, can open up the skin and gill membranes up to be vulnerable to secondary infection. That's another guess of mine. I would take the option of returning him to the LFS if that is still open to you.
 
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