help with disease id

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
So here's a quick update on the situation. I was finally able to catch the trigger and got him in a QT tank, I also had to move in my green mandarin in there. I brought the salinity down to about 1.018....scares me to death to bring it down lower than that. The ich seems to have literally popped, just few spots now. The fish in the main tank have been eating their pellets that I soaked in garlic extract. None are showing signs of ich so hopefully they will keep healthy.

Forgot to mention for the Tang problem, the water paramaters are 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 10 ppm Nitrate approx, pH its at about 8.1. I acclimated him, bag in the water, until temperature matched and then added minimum amounts of main tank water every about 3 minutes for an hour. He seemed fine for two days, he would even eat the algae from my live rock. Maybe the acclimation wasn't right, but its worked for all my other fish.
 
Salinity at that level will fight off the ich and is a good, quick solution. However, it will not completely eliminate it. I've tried doing around 1.014 before and the ich slowly started to came back after reintroducing the fish back into the dt. You can try and keep it at that level and see what happens but if you want to make sure, you have to drop it to that level. I felt the same way you did when I first did this but you have to realize that your fish will be ok at this salinity. Remember to watch your ph!

Also, when you are ready to put your fish back into your dt, make sure you raise the salinity very slowly. Fish can deal with fast salinity drops, but are way more sensitive to fast increases.
 
Ick is only a problem for beginners and people with lazy/poor husbandry. Fact. There is something wrong with your system if you are getting ick.

Dont bother with all this hypo salinity stuff. Do it to cure it, then figure out what was originally wrong that created the problem. Then fix that instead of using a petstore patch solution like low salinity.
 
Originally wrong? Like introducing unquarantined fish? Fleshy, I don't think you are completely educated about hypo. I'm not trying to insult your inteligence but I know a lot about fish diseases and treatments for them. I've dealt with just about every fish disease you can think of and I haven't lost a fish in a long time. I've also saved many fish in our mas and pet stores, and hypo has been a great solution to eliminating ich COMPLETELY. If done properly, ich can be completely eliminated from any system. Sure maintaining good water quality and diet will def. help keep ich at bay, but ich can be completely eliminated from the system and should be. Ich needs a host to survive and reproduce, and if it doesn't get that, it WILL die and never be a problem.

Nikky, do some research on ich and try to understand the demands of the parisite itself and it's life cycle. This will only help in your strategy to combat ich. As you can see, everyone has different opinions on how they fight it and once you get more experience, you'll find your own method.

Oh and don't worry fleshy, I'll be gone soon. Forums aren't really my thing anymore. Have fun!!
 
Im not worried, nor hoping that you will leave.

Although fish SHOULD be QT'ed before entering ones system...the root of the problem remains the same. Healthy fish in good h2o quality just wont get fish.

I can tell you honestly that I havent lost a fish to ick since I was probably 14. I learned my lesson that I needed to have clean water, and good food.

I have used hypo to cure it, and I have no doubt that you are more experienced.

All I am saying is that it is just a matter of time till it comes back if her tank has conditions conducive to ick outbreaks.
 
ok so next update, the mandarin unfortunately died, I had them both in a qt tank and I guess he couldnt hold on....the trigger is still a little spotty, what I'm doing is bringing down salinity each day a little bit hopefully it should start getting better soon....definitely gonna start a better quarantine tank though, always have that running in case of any emergency

and fleshy I dont know if the "if her tank has conditions conducive to ick outbreaks" is directed to me, but I'm a guy btw lol

thanks for all the opinions guys, its always good to learn from different views, I'll keep the updates coming
 
nicky11;4656010; said:
and fleshy I dont know if the "if her tank has conditions conducive to ick outbreaks" is directed to me, but I'm a guy btw lol
Click to expand...

Shoot. Sorry man. I guess its cause all of the Nickies I have know have been girls. :(

Keep us in the loop about how the fish are coming along though...mandarins are fragile, and the transfer to a QT plus lack of copepod food was probably what did him in.
 
lol no worries, not the first times its happened.

What do you think about this though. My pondmaster uv sterilizer (20 watts) arrived today finally. Do you think it would be a good idea to hook it up for while to the main tank so any parasites, protozoans or other nasties get taken care of? I know it may kill lots of beneficial bacteria, but it could do the trick right?
 
I have never used UV because I was worried about all the other stuff it was killing in my water too.

First off, make sure that you can use a "pondmaster" in a saltwater setting.

If so, and it wont cost you too much money to do, go for it. I dont think it can hurt, especially in a fish only tank.
 
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