55 Gallon Saltwater Aquarium Update

[Wiggles92]

Sounds like a good plan here. I will say that there had to be signs before that, damsels won't die from ich in one day, they are too hardy and the parasite isn't able to spread fast enough.

Raise the temperature in the Hospital tank too, it helps fish fight off the parasite and will also speed up the lifecycle of the parasite to kill it off faster. The hyposalinity only affects one stage of the life of the parasite, so you have to have all of them burst during that cycle.

It probably had ich when we got it, and we just didn't notice it. The stress from that and going to a new home probably put it over edge. I probably should have taken a picture of it dead, but the anemone got it before I though to take it out...

I'll be sure to raise the temperature in the hospital aquarium, too.

I would suggest you get rid of ALL the damsels. They're a pain and will kill. You list some as aggressive and others as semi-aggressive. It really all comes down to the individual fish. But from experience, all damsels are super aggressive to the point of killing eachother and new tank mates

We're definitely not going to get rid of all the damsels, but we're going to decrease their numbers down to three or four including the clownfish pair.

Also I see you have cyano(red slime). That is not algae and when I had it no snails or inverts could take care of it. What I did was suck it out daily with an airline tube and toss it out, doing a 20% water change daily and I got rid of it. I also manually used a powerhead to blow it off the rocks as well. Good luck

I removed the majority of the cyano a few days ago when we did a water change and algae removal. I'll be sure to be vigilant in removing it.

 

[Wiggles92]

Well, we're down to six damselfish now (including the two clownfish); the other three spot domino damselfish died sometime between when I checked them this morning around 9:00 a.m. and now.

I remember reading somewhere on this forum that it takes two weeks for ich to go from fish to fish, and we have had those fish plus the two stripe damselfish since 3/4/2011. Should we still continue to treat for ich now that the only two fish that showed signs of ich are dead?

 

[TMartinez]

There is probaly some other factor. Ick spreads quick but doesn't kill that quick

 

[Wiggles92]

There is probaly some other factor. Ick spreads quick but doesn't kill that quick

I honestly don't know what's wrong with them; the water parameters are nearly perfect according to the test kit (no nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia; extremely low phosphate; temp. is fine; SG is at the ideal number).

The only thing that I can think of is that there was some sort of preexisting internal problem with them that made the susceptible to the ich, and that problem killed them rather than the ich.

Anyway, should I continue with the hyposalinity treatment for a while or should I place all the fish back in the main aquarium?

 

[nonstophoops]

I honestly don't know what's wrong with them; the water parameters are nearly perfect according to the test kit (no nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia; extremely low phosphate; temp. is fine; SG is at the ideal number).

The only thing that I can think of is that there was some sort of preexisting internal problem with them that made the susceptible to the ich, and that problem killed them rather than the ich.

Anyway, should I continue with the hyposalinity treatment for a while or should I place all the fish back in the main aquarium?

I would continue to treat. Putting them back into the aquarium is just going to get them all sick/sicker. You need to let the tank run fallow(without fish) for 6 weeks to eradicate the parasite. In the mean time your fish should become healthy and be ready to go back in the tank when it is ready.

 

[Wiggles92]

I would continue to treat. Putting them back into the aquarium is just going to get them all sick/sicker. You need to let the tank run fallow(without fish) for 6 weeks to eradicate the parasite. In the mean time your fish should become healthy and be ready to go back in the tank when it is ready.

Sounds good to me.

Can we still add any invertebrates and corals to the main aquarium during this period of time or should any and all changes be avoided?

 

[nonstophoops]

Sounds good to me.

Can we still add any invertebrates and corals to the main aquarium during this period of time or should any and all changes be avoided?

I don't see any problem with adding those things. As long as everything else about your tank checks out, go ahead.

 

[shua71]

Sounds good to me.

Can we still add any invertebrates and corals to the main aquarium during this period of time or should any and all changes be avoided?

I've heard cleaner shrimp take care of ick. They're good inverts overall. What kind of a test kit are you using? With perfect water conditions a fish should not be killed by the ick. Are you using a freshwater kit with salt?

 

[Wiggles92]

I've heard cleaner shrimp take care of ick. They're good inverts overall. What kind of a test kit are you using? With perfect water conditions a fish should not be killed by the ick. Are you using a freshwater kit with salt?

I'll have to see about getting a cleaner shrimp.

I'm using the liquid API Reef Master Test Kit, so the results should be accurate considering that I follow the instructions exactly.

 

[nonstophoops]

I've heard cleaner shrimp take care of ick. They're good inverts overall. What kind of a test kit are you using? With perfect water conditions a fish should not be killed by the ick. Are you using a freshwater kit with salt?

Cleaner shrimp do not get rid of ich, they will merely help pick SOME of the parasites off the body of the fish. This will really just prolong the fishes life as the parasites will not be as plentiful. Definitely helpful(great for keeping fish clean of dead skin and looking great besides cleaning parasites), but not a cure for ich. The other thing they don't do is eat the parasites off the ground, rock, or water column. Even if they did they would never get all of them to rid the tank of the problem while it was going on.

While water conditions alone go a long ways to keep your fish healthy and help them fight off the parasite, there are other factors that can lead to death from ich with perfect water. New additions(whole number of issues here, hence the NEED to quarantine incoming fish, they are highly stressed and very susceptible), territorial stress, food competition, dissolved oxygen(I know part of water quality, but not really testable), just to name some.