reefgal Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 A little background history to start: last year hubby and i had a beautiful tank. Large tank, awesome coral and fish,and we enjoyed it. We visited several LFS and bought fish and coral from different ones. However last summer a couple fish we bought from one particular LFS got ich, and infested our whole tank! We lost everything! We did everything we could, but tank never recovered. This year we started up a new one. Only buying fish and coral from ONE, and only one LFS. Tank has been running for several months. No problems. We bought just a couple snails from our other LFS that we got the fish from last summer. NOW have several anthias with pop eye and a tang with possible lymphocsytis. Did the snaila carry these infections with them???? Just so frustrated. Are we not cut out for fish???? If the livestock dies... we are done!!!! Needless to say not buying ANYTHING from one LFS. Obviously not even snails are safe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wanareef Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 Sorry to hear that. Upon acclamation, float the bag add tank water, did you throw out the water in the bag? Or let it in the tank with the fish? Do you quarantine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 That's a bummer. Did you mention if you have a quarantine system in place? Those who follow strict qt have fewer problems for sure. You don't hear allot about qt for cleanup crews but some even do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Z Reef Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 I’ve never lost a fish to Ick, how were you “treating” it? Any fish I’ve had that came in with it got over it with just feeding regularly. Sounds like there is some stress in the tank aside from the diseases. What are your tank parameters? Is their sufficient space for your stocking? Buying from a single LFS may in some cases limit diseases but ANY store can get a bad fish in. All it takes is one to infect the rest as you have found out. At this point, I would recommend removing all fish and putting in QT with a treatment plan. Don’t put in any fish for several months to allow the diseases to die off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badxgillen Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 QT Is certainly the way to go as this hobby is very unforgiving. I also agree with Blue here in his comments above.Good luck and don't throw in the towel, we have all had some pretty big bumps in the road but have overcome such adversities, we can help you do just that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 I think many of us have been in the same boat as you. I lost so many of my favorite fish quickly to marine velvet. That may be what you had. I also thought it was from one particular fish store but also realized it can just happen. They all come fro mm larger distributors and the fish are stressed and in large groups so they are at risk for disease. After setting up a long term qt tank I never had a major loss of fish in my main tank. It takes a little room hut even a 10 gallon will work. I actually thought I got ich from some cheato I got from a Lfs. I don't know if that's possible but the timing of the outbreak fit. A at tank also allows your fish to acclimate and feed before you subject it to the main tank. I also made the mistake of adding fish too quickly which is easy to do. It can e discouraging but it's also a learning process. I could write pages on things I would do differently! ???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JManrow Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 (edited) I think many of us have been in the same boat as you. I lost so many of my favorite fish quickly to marine velvet. That may be what you had. I also thought it was from one particular fish store but also realized it can just happen. They all come fro mm larger distributors and the fish are stressed and in large groups so they are at risk for disease. After setting up a long term qt tank I never had a major loss of fish in my main tank. It takes a little room hut even a 10 gallon will work. I actually thought I got ich from some cheato I got from a Lfs. I don't know if that's possible but the timing of the outbreak fit. A at tank also allows your fish to acclimate and feed before you subject it to the main tank. I also made the mistake of adding fish too quickly which is easy to do. It can e discouraging but it's also a learning process. I could write pages on things I would do differently! Yes Kim, very possible and probably what happened. When the attached parasite(Trophont)release from the host fish, and are free-swimming stage, they are very easily transferred to other tanks by water, nets, rocks, plants, and inverts. That is how you can also get parasitic diseases when buying inverts, plants, or corals from an infested tank. Edited March 10, 2015 by JManrow 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JManrow Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 (edited) This hobby is fraught with difficult and expensive lessons. Always Quarantine. Always dip your corals. Edited March 10, 2015 by JManrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JManrow Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 (edited) Treat that healthy looking new addition like you just bought it from one of those "well-known pet store franchises".. There are exceptions, like getting things from friends that they have had things awhile in a tank that you know is clean. Edited March 10, 2015 by JManrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 Yes Kim, very possible and probably what happened. When the attached parasite(Trophont)release from the host fish, and are free-swimming stage, they are very easily transferred to other tanks by water, nets, rocks, plants, and inverts. That is how you can also get parasitic diseases when buying inverts, plants, or corals from an infested tank. Good advice thanks John. Good thread too. I honestly never thought to qt or clean up crew or even macro algae but not a bad idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmylucas Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 It most likely came from poor water quality. Prob from your LFS. I've seen it occur mainly in systems with poor water quality. Fish could have had an existing condition and then when you moved them over the bacteria just took over the vulnerable fish. Something I see commonly in the fish hatchery I work in. But certain snails are good hosts for certain bacteria. There is a possibility the bacteria could had came with the snails. But no way to tell for sure. I would just do good water changes and see if they recover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefgal Posted March 11, 2015 Author Share Posted March 11, 2015 Hey everyone. I appreciate all of the replies. To answer some questions: in our old system, yes we did qt, how we treated the old tank was remove all fish, leave in qt doe several months. Treat with copper, and let the tank sit empty hoping the ich would die off. But no such luck. After 3 months of sitting empty, we added fish and days later they broke out with ich again. This system, we do qt. However we got a royal gramma a couple weeks ago, and put it right in. I guess either that guy, or the snails could be the culprit... water perameters are spot on. Just doing more water changes. Thanks for all the advice. We do love the hobby. If the fish do not recover, we are honestly thinking about doing a coral and wrasse only tank. Any thoughts on that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandinga Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 (edited) How do you measure your salinity? What is the salinity? What's pH of tank? Do you have an open top tank, or is it covered? What kind of fish are you referring to? triggers, lions, tangs, angels, ?? Edited March 11, 2015 by Mandinga Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YUP Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 I dont necessarily qt my new arrivals. I look an make sure they are healthy and never had a huge bio load even when I had African cichlids. I do have a hospital tank that I will set up if a fish is ill and treat it in a small environment (saves on money etc.) personally, after reading this story I think it is stress on the fish. Maybe too many diff type of fish being aggressive towards each other. Ick in itself is in most tanks and fish have a natural immunity to it unless they stress and some are obviously more likely to develop illnesses ala tangs/discus. My 2 cents Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YUP Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 I should add to be prepared too. When I started out with a saltwater tank. I lost a clownfish to worms in 24hrs because I didn't have the right meds for it. No lfs had the right stuff and my other clown who also became affected lasted long enough for the meds to arrive in the mail and to treat. Of course the one I lost was $60 and the one I saved was $15. Go figure:( Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefgal Posted March 11, 2015 Author Share Posted March 11, 2015 I dont think it is stress. The fish are all peacful. A couple anthias, cheveron tang, mystery wrasse, flasher wrasse. Open top tank. I think we just unfortunatley added either the snails or royal gramma that had something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefgal Posted March 11, 2015 Author Share Posted March 11, 2015 Also in this tank, im pretty positive its not ich. The symptoms and spots are not the same Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YUP Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 true, one thing I know about this hobby is that the unexpected will and does happen. Makes you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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