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Ich now something else? Emergency! Help!


Ronjunior

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My tank mates all came down with ich and spread very fast after my Kole tang ended up not looking so hot first. He was impossible to catch so I ended up treating the whole tank with Ich Attack by Kordon, supposed to be 100% organic without copper. (said to be reaf safe for what it's worth). The Kole started losing color like one I saw at the store before treatment. After treatment for 2-3 days, the spots started clearing from him, angel and the others. Unfortunately, a few of the fish started having clowdy eyes and skin obviously not looking good either..like sluffing off here and there. The Kole died this morning and I think my black clown is next, his eyes look clowdy and one is puffing out, skin getting holes around the mouth (sluffing off)....must be some secondary infections going on??? Now my coral angel is doing the same with the skin and eyes...what the heck is going on now? (Naso had clowdy eye for 2 days) The Mfg. is not answering the phone on weekends to find out exactly what in the hell is in their product. I don't know if it's that, or secondary problems going on. I have a hospital tank with fresh water being brewed as we speak, don't know if I should dump everyone in the 10 gallon when it's ready or not??? Any quick ideas?

pH 8.4

Nitrates under 20

Nitrite 0

KH300ish

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Unfortunately you are probably experiencing secondary bacterial infections as a result of the primary parasitic infection. I have never seen any problems from dosing the Ich Attack but have not seen it do much good in the way of treating the parasites also. The problem is that usually by the time that you can see the parasites the damage has already been done. These parasites start by attacking any soft tissue they can find like the gills and the eyes. Sometimes the damage done by the time the parasites are mature enough to see is to severe for the animal to recover even if giving proper treatment. Realistically you need much stronger meds than you can administer in your reef tank. I personally would go with copper and a good multi ingredient antibiotic that way you don't have to play around with finding the right antibiotic for the particular bacteria.

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I would do a WC. would also readjust the temp' date=' what are you at now?[/quote']

The temp is at 78 right now.

I have a 10g tank and I'm going to be using it for quarantine from now on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've read both sides of this in the past and like many others, you make your opinion from experience and this one just plainly sucks, I love my black clown and Kole! (hopefully I can catch the others in time before they go downhill too much further and end up in the backyard like my kole tang)

 

I'm going to leave the 10g BB treatment tank with no rocks or sand due to the erythromycin being wasted on killing bacteria other than what is around the fish that need it. I have corals and inverts in my 125 gallon and don't want to mess with the good bacteria and end up with yet another issue down the line in my display tank.

 

I'm a little confused as to why the packaging on the Erythromycin says to only use for 4 changes. (about 4 1/2 days worth) DennisW can back me up on this, but sometimes humans end up with bacteria that CAN become drug resistant because antibiotics are often only taken until the "symptoms" are gone, when in fact, the body still has the bad bacteria in them and the prescriptions should be continued nonetheless. Most very broad spectrum antibiotics are given for about 2 weeks, not just 4 doses, so why are the manufacturers saying to use such short dosages for fish? Is there a difference with fish; are the manufactures assuming this stuff will continue to be available in the tank; does the antibiotic last longer in fish; or are the pet companies clueless on proper prescribing….or is it just me not knowing a damned thing about pet medicine? (I do have a Bachelors degree in nursing with plenty of experience in drug dosages, but just not in pet prescriptions). This does have me wondering if I should just leave the fish in the tank for 2 weeks and make partial water changes every day or 2 to keep the ammonia and whatnot in check. Any fish vets out there?

 

I will also do a 25% water change in my main tank before putting the sick ones back in there as well.

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Watch out for Brooklynella too, if slime is sluffing off of the fish, it sounds like it could be this.

It is a type of saltwater ich caused by an infestation of a ciliated protozoan called Brooklynella.

It seems the most effective method of treatment is formaldehyde. A 37% solution of formalin and fresh or saltwater in a quarantine tank should do the trick if this is in fact what it is. You can either do a dip or a prolonged bath to eradicate the pathogen, but take care in this as some fish are more sensitive to freshwater dips.

 

Some people say copper and malachite green work too, but a quarantine tank is always a great way to treat.

 

I wish you good luck.

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as with treating fresh water fish for ick. I would change the temp about 4 degrees, in your case up. it will not harm your corals or fish by doing so. It is a tough call. i would keep the meds that you spoke of out of the main tank. I would also drop the salinity to .21 to .22 if your at .25 This is just my opinion, but is what I would do, Also [language filter] ozone to skimmer and UV if possible.

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as with treating fresh water fish for ick. I would change the temp about 4 degrees' date=' in your case up. it will not harm your corals or fish by doing so. It is a tough call. i would keep the meds that you spoke of out of the main tank. I would also drop the salinity to .21 to .22 if your at .25 This is just my opinion, but is what I would do, Also [language filter] ozone to skimmer and UV if possible.[/quote']

Guess I didn't mention the specific gravity. I'm about .0225ish. Ozone and UV are way out of my budget for awhile :(.

Right now I'm just waiting for a power outage, my house sounds like we live in the Wizard of Oz with this major storm brewing. Our house is on the face of the hills in Damascus and getting brute force winds hitting us....a few flickers of the power lately too, eek! I'll be blowing bubbles into the hospital tank all night if I have to.

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Yet another one bit the dust and this time it was my favorite, my Naso(sad) (especially now that I had him eating well and out of my hand). Whatever this secondary infection is, all 3 deaths followed the same quick pattern. They look somewhat OK after the Ich, they suddenly get blotchy, and dead the next morning. First was the Kole Tang who I'm sure started this whole demise, next day my coral beauty, now this morning, my 7” Naso who I thought was doing fine until the blotchiness came up last night. They've been in a 10g with Erythromycin for 2 1/2 days so far. The black clown that ended up with popeye and major skin issues after the ich, may be clearing up slowly, but surely isn't moving around much...he's a fighter (skin has looked bad since ich). My maroon clown seems to be looking better skin wise, a little fin rot. Lemonpeel angel and 2 damsels look fine. Who knows what will happen tomorrow, once I thought the others were going to make it, then boom....very frustrating and a sad way to end an early birthday present by burying my tangs in the yard...sucks in what 1 fish can do to the rest in so little time! I'm afraid to get any more fish in the future, can't take much more of this.

I may just end up with corals in the end :(.

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I don't think my maroon will make it to the morning now and he looked great all day, wife came home after 8 tonight and had to tell me his skin is not looking so hot now…...all hell broke loose just like the others. The black clown, who knows, I'm amazed he hasn't croaked yet, now the lemonpeel is starting fin rot along with 1 damsel. I'll be surprised if anything survives whatever frickin plague they've got other than my corals....doubt the damsels will be around when it's all over and I thought you couldn’t kill those things if you tried!

Anybody ever see this sort of thing? Do crabs and sea urchins catch things from fish too? They're in the QT tank anyway, but curious.

I don't have pictures of the Kole (ended up looking just like the sick Kole with loss of color I saw in the store a week after I got mine) and Coral Beauty (looked like a bleach spill on the colors)....impossible now that the neighbor's cat dug them up and took them away. I hate that damned cat!(enforcer)

naso.jpg

maroon.jpg

black.jpg

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Your inverts will be fine, but get those fish into quarantine and don't add any new fish to the tank until it has had no fish in it for at least 4 weeks.(see link to article in my last post) You should probably keep your crabs and sea urchins in the main tank.

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Your inverts will be fine' date=' but get those fish into quarantine and don't add any new fish to the tank until it has had no fish in it for at least 4 weeks.(see link to article in my last post) You should probably keep your crabs and sea urchins in the main tank.[/quote']

They've been in QT since Sunday and I'm not planning on adding any fish if I dare for well over a month. Especially because of ich and how long the spores/eggs can take to die. I'll just work on taking care of my corals for now. Black died last night before bed, Maroon and yellow tail damsel overnight.

Down to Lemonpeel, blue devil and Lawnmower Blennie plus all my inverts. If they make it 'til tomorrow evening, I'll put them back in the main tank and wait this out and hope they don't recontact anything else.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guess I didn't mention the specific gravity. I'm about .0225ish. Ozone and UV are way out of my budget for awhile :(.

Right now I'm just waiting for a power outage, my house sounds like we live in the Wizard of Oz with this major storm brewing. Our house is on the face of the hills in Damascus and getting brute force winds hitting us....a few flickers of the power lately too, eek! I'll be blowing bubbles into the hospital tank all night if I have to.

 

You know they make battery operated air pumps for when your power shuts off they turn on, could be a tank saver.. Just my 2 cents

 

Jason

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You know they make battery operated air pumps for when your power shuts off they turn on, could be a tank saver.. Just my 2 cents

 

Jason

 

I've been looking at those lately and the thread about battery backups is making me think to take mine from a PC I don't care about and start using it for the MJ's in my reef...not sure if my 2 will do enough to agitate the surface in keeping the tank oxygenated.

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