HELP! with ICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE!

B

BlueTang

Small Fish
#1
Jul 18, 2005
21
0
0
39
North Carolina
#1
Alright..... Ive been keeping a clown, blue tang, Auriga butterfly, and a valantini puffer in my 55 gallong saltwater aquarium. I added a porcupine puffer and it was picking on my other fish like crazy.... well, I took him back to the lfs. the next day (after taking him back) my butterfly's eye's are WIDE OPEN, and breathing very hard. the NEXT day, he's got a little redish pink areas on him and he's got NO energy what so ever and he's acting very abnormal, later on that day, I come back and he's on his back on the sand breathing VERY hard, 15 minutes later, he dies.. the next day I can't seem to find my valantini puffer, well, I finally do and he's dead... that same day I'm seeing white areas one the blue tang.... well, the next day I called the guys at liveaquaria.com and did what they told me, so I put them in my qt tank and medicated them with Kordon's Rid. Ick+ (they told me to get maracine 2... but petsmart didn't have any for saltwater aquariums) so, I gave the blue tang and the clown what was directed in the QT tank. well, the blue tang slowly died as his fins deteriate and loses energy..... I'm down to my last fish (the clown) with in a matter of a week..... he is currently being medicated.

I have only live sand remaining in the 55 gallon..... therefor I didn't want to put coppersafe in it or anything like that.....

My questions are:
Am I going about this all the right way?
What could I have done better?
Should I lower the water level in the 55g to reduce the time before use?
Does everything seem correct?

Please help!
 

Managuense

Managuense

Superstar Fish
#3
May 16, 2003
1,204
0
0
43
Springfield, MO
#3
ich is a protozoan parasite that most people run into at some point or another.

butterfly fish (along with many larger angels and tangs) are veritable ich-magnets, as many do not ship well from areas like the south pacific......especially if the particular saltwater supplier is not a good one...which can be the case sometimes.

IMO and most importantly IME it definately pays to quarantine such fish for even a couple of months prior to adding them to your main tank.

also, i would not add a porcupine to your setup as it really is not nearly large enough to accomodate more fish, particularly one as large as that.....so it is good that you returned it.

there is too much information missing here also......what do you use as the basis of your filtration other than LS ?
salinity? temp? nitrates? order of fish added?

with saltwater it usually pays to establish your biological filter FAR in advance to adding a lot of fish.

as far as treating ich .... most people will probably tell you to separate the fish from the main tank and use copper, or some type of malachite green med, but IME the majority of salt fish that get ich are so stressed out and immune-suppressed that they are pretty much toast.

prevention through quarantine (and possibly UV sterilization) are really your best bet to avoid saltwater ich.

just my opinion, i am not a saltwater expert...hopefully someone else will also chime in.
 

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