Fish disease outbreak in large system

nezw0001

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I really didn't want to post this because it is all so depressing.

To start with I have a very mature full on SPS dominate mixed reef of 450G and a 750 FOWLR that shares the sump. Both tanks have a lot of rock work. The 450 had been set up for 3 years with most of the fish and coral coming from my 10 year old 220G that I upgraded from. About 8 weeks ago an anemone decided to go for a walk and got sucked into a powerhead. Yes, the powerhead had a nem guard on it but somehow it still got sucked in and shredded. Well long story short 90% of my fish perished in the incident. It was traumatic and devastating but that's not the worst part.

After the loss I waited till things were stabilized and did several big water changes, then started restocking. Now I know I have always had ICK all the way back to my 220G but it has never been a problem. Fish get a few spots and get over it. Well not this time. I suspect due to adding such a large number of fish at the same time the ICH or VELVET exploded where before it was just a trickle. So now I'm to the point of basically loosing a fish a day or so.

So here is where i get to my question. I suspect at least a couple of fish will survive. There is no way to getting them out without removing all the rock likely 700LBS between the two tanks, which will probably lead to coral loss or at least major damage.

I planning on dramatically increasing my UV capacity. Currently I have 80W, moving to 240W. Setting up a full on QT system, not the half system I had before. Planning on doing a freshwater dip, 30 day treatment with copper or CP, deworm, and antibiotic treatment as recommended in other threads. But how do I deal with the fact that my system likely is infected forever? I was thinking of moving the new fish once they leave QT to a 60G that is attached to the system to acclimate them to the systems parasite load and observe them. At least if they die there I can get them out easily. Any other suggestions. Maybe all the fish will die and I wont have this conundrum.

Thanks in advance for any feedback
 

fishguy242

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Tamberav

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Some have been dabbling with peroxide dosing in reef systems to cure/reduce velvet/ich systems. UV makes it work better. Something worth researching.
 

Eugene233

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Hey man, I feel your pain I just lost over 20 clown fish 4 tangs the list goes on. Depressing stuff. I've been down over it for 2 weeks now. Kind of forcing myself to take care of what I have left which is not much 7 fish and about 6 coral.
I had a 29g nano sitting around so I cleaned it. And made is my QT for the next 3 months for the 7 fish I have left. From what I have been reading if you keep a reef tank empty of fish long enough about 3 months. Water changes weekly with sand cleaning, the ich should be removed from the tank. Again this is what I have read online and I also had a nem get sucked into my mp10 while I was at my moms house and when I came back it was completely gone. I tiny little piece left of what was such a beauty. So after the nem incident, I got an ich break out I would lose a fish or 2 a day.
I have 120 main and a sump set up that is rated for about 240 to maybe 300. I know for a fact the main sump is 200 gallons rated and the second sump that it is inline with the first is rated for 75. I had about 35 fish. I only lost about 4 corals from having to move things break things down and what not. Like I said I have 7 fish left. Oh and two of them did not come from my 120. So really only 5 survived.
Sorry to say it is what it is and be ready to lose more if you don't take proper precautions on caring for the tank as a whole. Thats not just the fish but everything.
TBH, I was thinking about this the other day.
In the ocean nature is doing everything we must in the hobby. And in nature there is no such thing as a wave maker that plugs in and is programmable. If a nem get taken by the current of the ocean, what happens? Nothing. It doesn't get shredded is my point. I'm not kidding I have been watching my tank like a hawk because I bought another nem and I have lost count of how many times I have found the nem in my wave maker. SMH. Hope I helped in anyway. All the true advise I can give is read about the ich velvet etc.... self education is very powerful. And failures only mean you are closer to success.
 

Jay Hemdal

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A large UV would work well reducing/eliminating parasites in water between systems, but is much less effective when used as a side-stream on a single tank. Uronema, bacteria, trematodes and sometimes velvet don't need to leave the host, so they are not exposed to the UV. Cyrptocaryon's life cycle is such that it is supposed to be killed during its free-floating stage, but in practical use, that is not always true (just ask public aquarists).

If you can get all of the fish out of the tank, let it lay fallow for 80 days, during which time you can comprehensively quarantine some new fish.

Jay
 
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nezw0001

nezw0001

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I think my point is, there is no way II can get all the fish out. I have a couple of very small fish that will bury themselves in the rockwork (approx 700LBS worth). In fact when I moved I thought several fish had died as we never found them when dismantling the rockwork, which was moved dry, they showed up several days after the tank was moved. So they survived 30 min out of water lodge in holes in the rock.

Jay, what do you mean side stream?
 

Thaxxx

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How many fish are we talking about catching?
Fish traps work, but take some time and patients.
Then there is always a chance in such a big system you forgot about one.
But if it was me, I would try that first if there isn't too many to catch.
 

Jay Hemdal

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I think my point is, there is no way II can get all the fish out. I have a couple of very small fish that will bury themselves in the rockwork (approx 700LBS worth). In fact when I moved I thought several fish had died as we never found them when dismantling the rockwork, which was moved dry, they showed up several days after the tank was moved. So they survived 30 min out of water lodge in holes in the rock.

Jay, what do you mean side stream?
I misunderstood your scenario. I guess you don’t have any option but to run UV 24/7 and just leave your fish where they are and quarantine all new fish very well.
Side stream is when the water leaves the tank, flows through the UV then back to the same tank (almost all hobbyist systems run this way). The other system, sometimes called slug flow, is when 100% of the water passes through the UV and then to another tank. Dealers and public aquariums use this method....it is very effective at stopping transfer between systems. Side stream doesn’t work as well because the life cycle of many parasites is fast enough that they don’t go through the UV before infecting fish.
 
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nezw0001

nezw0001

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Roger that. I guess I will see how many, and which fish are still alive when this is over. Maybe there is a way to get the survivors out, depending who they are. Some of them will not trap well as they are feeding on the rocks and really don't eat food i put in.

Is there anyway to install a slug flow UV in a large home aquarium?
 

Jay Hemdal

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No way to do that. The best you can do is oversize the unit, make sure the bulb is within its hours and use the prescribed flow rate.
Jay
 

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