2nd battle with ich! Seriously frustrated. Really need some help to save my fish!

[Bpp124987]

That’s a shame. Now is probably a good time to read up on fish disease and care - I’d suggest reading all the stickeys in the disease forum.

Hobby has learned a lot in past couple decades but lfs people are often way behind. We’ve got to learn on our own.

Fish only tank makes it easier since you can treat the tank. Setting up a separate nano for corals and one fish like a goby could be cool too.

 

[ReefKeeper666]

sorry to hear this. might be hard for you to pick up and try a third time because that's some pretty bad luck. If you do decide to start again, avoid your LFS like the plague, at least until they clean and restart their system.

I have to try a 3rd time I just have too much time And money into the rest of the stuff. Hardware, corals, etc. there are 2 local fish stores that I am buying from. How can I figure which on is the problem? I have bought fish and frags from both. Would like to cease doing business with whomever the problem is. Anyway I can figure it out?

 

[Bpp124987]

I have to try a 3rd time I just have too much time And money into the rest of the stuff. Hardware, corals, etc. there are 2 local fish stores that I am buying from. How can I figure which on is the problem? I have bought fish and frags from both. Would like to cease doing business with whomever the problem is. Anyway I can figure it out?

Neither lfs is the problem, but neither Is the solution. The only solution is the fish keeper learning how to care for their pets. You do not have a lfs that can walk you through it. You have to learn yourself.

This is the case in most of the world. They’re a business. And they’re probably way behind the times. All the evidence for this is in front of you.

 

[Hugh Mann]

Ask them what their quarantine procedures are. The good ones will always tell you exactly what they do.

Watch their tanks, do the fish look healthy? How many fish are in each tank/system? Do they have a lot of stock, or are the tanks suspiciously empty? Water quality, is it crystal clear, or dirty?

I know my usual fish store has perfect water, and runs therapeutic doses of copper constantly in their fish systems. They keep all their inverts with other inverts, only fish are copper sensitive. Lots of fish in each system, perfect water.

I made that mistake, and bought snails from a smaller, new place that had like 4 fish, and given the time line of my own velvet infestation, that is almost certainly where mine came from.

 

[weamdog]

Ask them what their quarantine procedures are. The good ones will always tell you exactly what they do.

Watch their tanks, do the fish look healthy? How many fish are in each tank/system? Do they have a lot of stock, or are the tanks suspiciously empty? Water quality, is it crystal clear, or dirty?

I know my usual fish store has perfect water, and runs therapeutic doses of copper constantly in their fish systems. They keep all their inverts with other inverts, only fish are copper sensitive. Lots of fish in each system, perfect water.

I made that mistake, and bought snails from a smaller, new place that had like 4 fish, and given the time line of my own velvet infestation, that is almost certainly where mine came from.

+ 1

Observation is key. If they are on top of things, they will remove dead fish early in the morning so you have to observe the fish that have trouble getting adopted to see if the system is healthy. Never buy a fish from a system that shows signs of illness unless you're prepared to lose money or have a good quarantine/medication plan. It only takes one mistake to wipe out these closed systems. Remember an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

I'm frustrated with buying frags and introducing crap that i don't want in my tank which dips don't take care of. Lots of risks, many of which can be mitigated with varying levels of success and money.

 

[ReefKeeper666]

Neither lfs is the problem, but neither Is the solution. The only solution is the fish keeper learning how to care for their pets. You do not have a lfs that can walk you through it. You have to learn yourself.

This is the case in most of the world. They’re a business. And they’re probably way behind the times. All the evidence for this is in front of you.

im really not sure what I did wrong though. every frag was dipped. Every fish put in hydroplex.... my only thought is that I started with aggressive fish first- the tomato clowns and the went too fast in adding the other fish. this caused a lot of stress in the tank allowing the velvet to kill my fish.

 

[Fishbird]

I don’t know if this is the case for velvet, but ich can last for 72 days in its encysted state, and coral dips won’t hurt the cysts. So, in the case of ich you’d want to dip your corals and then have them in a fish-free environment for 76 days to give potential ich cysts time to hatch and for the parasites to die off when they don’t find a host. I think there is information on how long the various stages of velvet last in the disease forum as well. Basically, dipping corals and fish once won’t take care of all stages of parasites. I’m also not familiar with treating for velvet so I can’t say if hydroplex will effectively treat for it or not. Humblefish posted a lot of good information about parasite lifecycles and though he(I think he) isn’t around much anymore it seems BigG also knows a lot about medicating fish. I would definitely ready through all the sticky threads in the disease forum.

 

[Bpp124987]

Humble fish has his own site now too you can google for

 

[ReefKeeper666]

So as of this morning all my fish are dead. The rate at which this happens I have to assume it was velvet. The silver lining is that I made several mistakes in which how I introduced fish and it was another learning lesson. Also thankfully all my corals(about 500 bux worth are still looking good). I will just have to wait the fallow period of 45 days and try again. Just keep the system running as normal without fish. Sadly I didn’t get QT stuff up in time. But I now have plenty of time to get a fish QT started.

 

[DaddyFish]

Ok so I’m gonna get the UV stealizer for my DT. Also somehow pull out all the fish and do some sort of quarantine setup. I’m still trying to figure out where I live in older home that was remodeled it’s nice and all but I am defintky low on outlets

Be very careful of your UV Sterilizer selection. If you intend to effectively kill parasites (Ich, Brook etc.) you will need a much larger UV and slower flow rate than you might think. Properly sizing the UV for your intended purpose; Algaecide, Bacteriacide, Parasite Eradication, can be tricky. My recommendation for a 55-gal tank is an 18W unit.
As a study guide, Coralife has a handy chart for their Turbo Twist units that illustrates the flow rate and killing effect for their three units.

 

[DaddyFish]

So as of this morning all my fish are dead. The rate at which this happens I have to assume it was velvet. The silver lining is that I made several mistakes in which how I introduced fish and it was another learning lesson. Also thankfully all my corals(about 500 bux worth are still looking good). I will just have to wait the fallow period of 45 days and try again. Just keep the system running as normal without fish. Sadly I didn’t get QT stuff up in time. But I now have plenty of time to get a fish QT started.

Very sorry to hear this!!!
UV will not prevent parasites, but it will buy you time and help deter infection to other fish while you identify and treat the infected one(s).

 

[Tl02022020]

sorry about the fish! Take this time to enjoy your inverts and corals and plan for what fish you will eventually have. Smaller fish can be just as much fun as the flashier big fish and there are a lot that will be very happy in a 55. I know there are people who meticulously QT everything from the beginning, but a lot of us learn it the hard way. Nothing really beats a proper QT so it will be so worth it just to set up a small tank or large bin.

 

[Robertellis30]

I felt like I was constantly fighting ick last year. Then I finally broke down and bought a uv sterilizer. Helped a ton. Haven’t had an out break since. “Knock on wood”