New to hobby & Need Advice

Ricky Thomas · Dec 21, 2016

54g corner bow front
Petsmart fake reef
Temp 78° salinity 1.022
2 Penguin 350, 4 purigen
5 weeks old today. Used instant ocean salt, tap water, prime, & Dr. Tim's one & only. 2nd day put yellow tail damsel and clown in. 7 days later had water tested amonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 10, PH 8.0. I was told it was cycled so I bought a yellow tang and sm. Dory. 7 days later water tested same so I bought a purple queen and a flame angel. 7 days later PH 7.8 and nitrite 3ppm. 20% water changes every 3 days plus 5x prime daily since then. Dory looks horrible but eats and swims good. An occasional white spot on others but doesn't last long. I've used micro lift special blend, nite out 2, biospira and added extra ceramic rings. Nitrite have not moved in 3 weeks and Dory looks like a little ich along with cottony spots. I haven't dosed with prime or changed water today because I feel it don't help. What do I need to do?

twilliard · Dec 21, 2016

Welcome to the R2R community!
We need some people here
#reefsquad
A big start would be to not use tap water. RODI is the way to go.
Nitrates are fine, I run my system at 5ppm
The Ich is a problem

Ricky Thomas · Dec 21, 2016

twilliard said:
Welcome to the R2R community!
We need some people here
#reefsquad
A big start would be to not use tap water. RODI is the way to go.
Nitrates are fine, I run my system at 5ppm
The Ich is a problem

Nitrite is 3ppm, nitrate 40. I am fish only.

twilliard · Dec 21, 2016

Sorry I read you wrong!
No3 at 40 for FO is not an issue IMO
The denitrifying bacteria is hard at work converting the Ammonia and nitrite

redfishbluefish · Dec 21, 2016

You have ick! I'm almost temped to tell you to run the 54 as a hospital tank and do the copper treatment right in the tank since it's fish only with a fake reef.....and assuming no inverts (snails, shrimp, etc). But I'll let the fish doctors comment on this. @Humblefish and @melypr1985

One additional comment, that tank is too small for one tang, let alone two. Consider upgrading to a larger tank or re-homing once they are cured.

Humblefish · Dec 21, 2016

redfishbluefish said:
You have ick! I'm almost temped to tell you to run the 54 as a hospital tank and do the copper treatment right in the tank since it's fish only with a fake reef.....and assuming no inverts (snails, shrimp, etc). But I'll let the fish doctors comment on this. @Humblefish and @melypr1985

+1 However I'd like to see photos of the affected fish to confirm it is ich.