Tank is slipping through my fingers!

[apayan]

So my fish have started contracting what I originally thought may be Ich, but now presents differently. I did a completely amateur thing and added 10lbs. of live sand over the course of two days to the tank about a week and a half ago. I'm pretty sure I had an ammonia spike but I didn't catch it because I didn't think I would have one (idiot!). I noticed his because two days after adding it I had high nitrates 20ppm (I did a 15% water change when i saw that). I have not had any algae blooms in over two months and the tank has been amazingly stable. Now I have this.
Sorry the pictures aren't the best but here they are. They started as white sandy spots and have now moved on to fuzzy cotton-like patches in some areas (with the sandy spots remaining). I started Ich treatment yesterday, protein skimmer is off and carbon filtration is removed. This is a 29 gallon tank. Also, about a week ago my signal goby disappeared and I haven't been able to find him. Having a 29 gallon tank after a search I presume him to be dead. Interestingly the perculas started hosting my torch coral the day before I noticed the spots. I later presumed it was them itching against the coral to get the Ich off, but now I am second guessing that. The picture of my green clown goby is pretty bad but what I want you guys to see is how much his dorsal fin s scraped up (same with my yellow clown goby). I have a really friendly tank so it isn't from other fish for sure. Please someone help here. I feel like my tank is slipping through my fingers. Is it a fungus? Is it Ich?
Also sorry I don't know how to properly insert photos, i followed the isntructiosn but it still doesn't work properly. Thanks!
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[MatthewLaw]

i am thinking of a fungal infection with those cottonlike growths.

i would do a very thorough search of your tank for that 'dead' goby since he may be giving off that amonia spike

have you moved these fish to QT yet?

 

[apayan]

I wish i had a QT, there are only two other fish (purple firefish and scissor tail goby) so it wouldn't be worth it. I searched and searched the other day and I can't find the goby. The ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are at zero again so that's one thing checked off luckily. I have two shrimp in there and an emerald crab so i figured they may have gotten to him in the back when i figured he was just hiding. Would I go with an antibiotic with a fungal growth? should I continue the Ich treatment? The problem is that the two are not always compatible because you need to do water changes with an antibiotic and with the Ich treatment you have to leave the water for two weeks.

 

[MatthewLaw]

why dont you buy a 10g QT ???

 

[apayan]

Lack of funds

 

[apayan]

I just have to figure out how to do this within my system with what.

 

[puffster]

Looks like ich wiht a secondary infection (fungus). Don't get too distrought, It is cureable with the right treatment, patients and time. There are products that can treat this and many other problems. But it does take time for the fish to heal. I have also heard that turning up the temp. will shorten the ich cycle and copious water changes to clear the water of what ever is causing the fungus. This also takes time and is a natural approach to the alterinative. Good luck. Don't feel bad, I swiched my fish from one tant to another two weeks ago. Woke up yesterday, looked at my purple tang and it was covered with ich and a few others had a few spots on them so now I have to treat for that my self. One product that I foud to be effective is Rxp by kent marine and kick ich for reefs.

 

[MatthewLaw]

you can buy a complete 10g setup at petsmart for $50. i would suggest saving up and getting this QT.

for ich you could either move the fish to the QT and treat there, leaving the DT fallow for 8 weeks. OR you could move the LR to the QT and treat the fish in the QT.

having a QT is also a good idea for new fish, incase they are carrying disease,etc from the LFS tank.

 

[REEF-n-Chicago]

check craigslist....complete 10 gallon systems for 10 or 20 bucks!

 

[apayan]

Right on. So upon this advice I went out and got a 10 gallon tank. I quickly realized that I already had a spare air pump, heater, thermometer, and light....all i needed was a $25 from the local LFS and I was set. I put half old fish tank water in and have been slowly adding half new water. I am dosing the QT with copper and Melafix, and I'm still dosing my main tank for Ich, let's hope things get better. I was able to catch the male in the pair of perculas to put in QT, but the female was so hard to get. I had to leave the house to get somewhere so hopefully i will get her in her sleep tonight (not the best way because i really don't want to shock her).
I have no idea how to get the goby's out. These are the most skiddish fish ever. The green goby will eat out of the turkey baster if I put it near him but will get the food then retreat to eat it on a rock. I have the darn set-up and now they are impossible to catch. I left the fish net in there to see if they get use to it and then when i feed I will squirt some food in the net. My cleaner shrimp always scares them away because he is way aggressive when I feed, so this proves to be pretty hard. Hopefully the combination of copper and Melafix will help with the male percula. I'll update with some pictures as I go on this adventure.

 

[600k4]

good choice on getting the QT, it's always worth having.

what ich treatment are you doing?

for posting pics, I use photobucket and copy the IMG Code for the pic you want to post and just paste the link in your post, your pic will display without having to click on it.

 

[apayan]

I'm using KickIch. To be honest with you I see no improvement, but the flair in the fungal patches have been distracting me a bit. Thanks for the advice in posting pictures

 

[MatthewLaw]

the ich medication is worthless.

 

[apayan]

I hope not. I think many people try it, but the fish is already in the second stage of the Ich life cycle so the chance of survival is really low. We'll see. I'll be able to let everyone know.

 

[MatthewLaw]

i tried using Melafix when my butterfly was in hyposalintiy for ich and he died an hour later. i am not sure if the melafix did him in or he was too stressed from the hyposalinity.

to get rid of the ich i would strongly suggest hyposalinity. for the fungal (i guess?) melafix, but am not convinced that melafix + hyposalinty does not equal near instant death.

 

[apayan]

I'm going to see how the melafix and copper go. As it is the transfer to the QT and the new environment are really stressful for these little guys. I don't think I'm going to throw hypo into the mix. But if things take a big turn for the worse then I will

 

[puffster]

Kick ich has worked for me in the past you just have to be patient. Ich life cycle is 12-14 days.

 

[apayan]

slowly but surely

slowly but surely

I tried to capture the yellow clown goby and female percula last night but they escaped my hand and I didn't feel like stressing them too much after the day of chasing them with a net. This morning I wake up and think to myself "give off peaceful energy" low and behold within two minutes I got the remaining percula and the green clown goby. So now they are in the tank and will hopefully do much better. I tried to catch the yellow clown goby but he has gone into a cave in the rock since this attempt. Tonight I will use the net to get him in his sleep. Since yesterday I have not seen any improvement in the female percula or green clown's skin. They do look relatively thinner though so that worries me.

The Male percula is doing great! It has been 24 hours since I put him in and the fungal cotton like patches are gone. There is still some discoloration in the skin and some few grains of white from the Ich remaining, but definitely less of the Ich. I don't want to get too excited, but so far so good. The green clown goby has some pretty bad fin rot so I'll be trying ot get that back to 100% before I put him back in my DT.

Here are some pics. For some reason even though I rotated them in photobucket they come out sideways here. One day I will figure out the photo feature for this site.

The QT Tank

The Female in the foreground

The Male

The green clown goby

 

[apayan]

Does anyone have a filter in their QT to get particulates?

 

[MatthewLaw]

i usea biowheel 200 for my 15g QT