Sick tank?

[motherofdragons]

Hi everyone! I am new to Reef Central, but I have used you all as a resource many many times over the last 9 months as I am just starting out in the hobby!

A little background information first: I started the hobby with a 33 gallon tank and after 5 months of that decided to upgrade. I finally got my 70 gallon last month and transitioned everyone over. I tried to make it a quick and painless as possible, but I'm sure it was still very stressful on the fish (and on me lol). I also had a domino damselfish (has since been given up for adoption) that kicked the crap out of my royal gramma. This happened about 2 weeks ago and she really hasn't been the same since. Well 2 days ago we noticed that she was acting pretty lethargic. We then noticed that all 4 of our clowns looked like they had something on them; they were spotty and kinda looked powdery. The clowns are acting normal. I gave the tank a few really good hearty feedings and my gramma seems less lethargic, but she still looks rough. I have attached pictures (sorry for the quality). Parameters are good: SG 1.024, Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 5, Temp 78.7.So my questions are:
1. Is this Ich or velvet?
2. If it is either should I quarantine them and begin copper treatment?
3. Should I also quarantine/treat the fish that have no symptoms. (My firefish goby, blue damselfish, and lawnmower blenny are showing no symptoms)

 

[Bruce51]

that dosnt look good, I would qt all fish right away, you should post this in the fish disease forum

 

[thegrun]

It looks like primarily ich, although the Royal Gramma is also still scared from the Damsel. You need to remove and treat all fish, leaving your display fallow for 72 days. On a side note unless your tank is huge (over 200 gallons) keeping more than two clown fish rarely works out long term. One pair will eventually kill off the others.

 

[lagatbezan]

you are definitely dealing with ich and/or possibly velvet. all fish would need to be treated in qt as soon as possible with either copper or Chloroquine Phosphate and main display tank needs to be fishless for a minimum of 76 days.
Hopefully a Mod can move this thread to the disease section for you.

 

[motherofdragons]

Thank you! and sorry....this is my 1st post so hopefully it can be put in the correct category. Everyone has been successfully quarantined. My lfs only had Imagitarium Parasite Remedy and API General Cure. I am starting with that but have an order in for Seachem's Cupramine that will be here tuesday. Hopefully they make it until then

 

[billdogg]

I would suggest that you stay away from the use of copper. The problem is that it can be toxic to the fish too.

It is difficult to dose properly. Too low and it is ineffective. Too high and you'll kill the fish too.

Read the sticky at the top of this forum about Tank Transfer Method. It can be a little labor intensive, but requires no medication at all. The second best choice would be Chlorquine Phosphate. In any case, they'll have to remain in QT for a minimum of 72 days while the DT remains fallow.

I'm guessing that you did not QT the fish before you put them in your system? Ich cannot appear out of thin air. Even if they showed no signs previously, at least one must have been infected.

 

[nereefpat]

It could be Brook, too. Clownfish are famous for that.

 

[Uncle99]

I have used cupramine and hypo both worked great for me. I chose copper when Ick is heavy and the fish is not delicate, hypo for all others.

Keep careful watch on ammonia while treating and getting them to feed is very important.
If they don't feed at first, no worries, just keep at it and be sure to vacuum out the non eaten food.

 

[lagatbezan]

All of the above are great advice. Except TTM and hypo will not work if dealing with velvet. If brook then would need formalin or cp.

 

[motherofdragons]

Thank you all for the advise! I didn't quarantine my new fish before introducing them to the DT. Lesson definitely learned! I'm going the cp route just because I'm not 100% sure what I'm dealing with between Ich, Velvet, or Brook. I am 100% sure that all new fish from here on out will be quarantined before being put in my DT.

 

[billdogg]

IMHO/IME, if it was, indeed, Brooklynella, the fish would almost certainly already be dead.

 

[motherofdragons]

Lost 1 of my clowns this morning :sad1:

 

[kiMxD]

This doesn't look very good. I have had this issue before, was Ich and I've cured my fish within one week under copper treatment. Despite everyone saying to use Cupramine, I'd like to suggest to take a look at Copper Safe, it's a white bottle with a blue liquid inside, the bottle looks cheap, but it worked for me. Copper Safe is chelated copper, which means that you need a higher (way higher) concentration then Cupramine, for example. Therefore, you will need the API copper test kit, it's the only one I've found to measure high concentration of copper (we are talking about 4.0ppm), most copper tests won't go over 1.0ppm.

I wish you good luck, and make sure you quarantine fish all the time.

Two weeks ago I purchased a Powder Blue Tang and an Atlantic Blue Tang, they looked beautiful and healthy at my LFS, they were swimming in a copper treated tank as well. Two days after bringing them home, both showed signs of ich, the Atlantic Blue Tang was a baby(3 weeks old) and died on the third day.

This is a lesson, you never know, regardless where they come from, QT QT QT QT!

 

[lagatbezan]

This doesn't look very good. I have had this issue before, was Ich and I've cured my fish within one week under copper treatment. Despite everyone saying to use Cupramine, I'd like to suggest to take a look at Copper Safe, it's a white bottle with a blue liquid inside, the bottle looks cheap, but it worked for me. Copper Safe is chelated copper, which means that you need a higher (way higher) concentration then Cupramine, for example. Therefore, you will need the API copper test kit, it's the only one I've found to measure high concentration of copper (we are talking about 4.0ppm), most copper tests won't go over 1.0ppm.

I wish you good luck, and make sure you quarantine fish all the time.

Two weeks ago I purchased a Powder Blue Tang and an Atlantic Blue Tang, they looked beautiful and healthy at my LFS, they were swimming in a copper treated tank as well. Two days after bringing them home, both showed signs of ich, the Atlantic Blue Tang was a baby(3 weeks old) and died on the third day.

This is a lesson, you never know, regardless where they come from, QT QT QT QT!

I would like to agree with you with the coppersafe copper but there has been a lot of reports of inconsistency with the content of that brand copper lately where the concentration was not consistent. copper power would be better option till that gets resolved with coppersafe. Also if you have a hard time reading the color test kits, the best type of test kit to use would be the Hanna high range copper test kit. Its not cheap, about $50 but it will give you a digital more accurate reading.

 

[motherofdragons]

Two weeks ago I purchased a Powder Blue Tang and an Atlantic Blue Tang, they looked beautiful and healthy at my LFS, they were swimming in a copper treated tank as well. Two days after bringing them home, both showed signs of ich, the Atlantic Blue Tang was a baby(3 weeks old) and died on the third day.

This is a lesson, you never know, regardless where they come from, QT QT QT QT!

Sorry to hear about your Tang:sad2: I definitely learned my lesson and will be QTing everthing in the future.