# Im sure your sick of seeing this but HELP!



## Yakumo (Jul 8, 2010)

Hi everyone,
I've had an over sized 4 foot tank (4x2x2) for a few months now,
I have an aqua-one filter (1100 lph), chiller, prizm protein skimmer, r/o unit and t5 lighting.

I currently have left: 1 anemone, 2 clowns, 1 red banded shrimp and 2 pajama cardinals.

In the last 2-3 weeks I have lost: 3 cleaner wrasses, blue tang, 2 bengal cardinals a lawnmower blenny, bi-color blenny and a morish idol.

everything was fine for months before suddenly going to hell, I cannot figure out what has gone wrong, no ammonia, nitrite, little nitrates (5ish) ph 8.3 and my reef tests are all good, I tested at 2 LFS and with my own kit. Noone has any idea what is going on, please post any other information needed.
Thank you.


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

what exactly consists of going to hell?


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## petlovingfreak (May 8, 2009)

Did you just find them dead in the tank? did they have a disease? explain a little better what you know and someone might be able to help.


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## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

If the tank is only a few months old that could be your problem right there. May not actually be fully cycled.
What chemicals are your using if any and as said, how did the fish look before/after death? How long did they live in the tank? Where they eating? etc.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

*ugh*
So much wrongness in one place. Where to begin?

How long have all of these fish been in this tank? When was the last one added, and which one was it?
What were you feeding the Moorish Idol, and what did it actually eat?


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

sounds like oodinium, especially if it has gone wrong in a week or so.


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## Yakumo (Jul 8, 2010)

Ah ok,
A couple sat on the bottom gilling, then you'd see them swimming around again then back on the bottom, the moorish idol was eating everything, I varied to diet as much as possible, it was the last to die, from being healthly looking the night before it turned a dusty browny colour over it. I have a cardinal that had a cottony kinda look on its tail but it seems to have healed up.

I was very strict to make sure I'd only add 1 fish every week and a half to 2 weeks max. a friend threw in an oyster last as a joke and it actually lived so I just left it there. however a few things died before my friend put that in. My corals arent complaining either, my anemone did move around for 2 days a while ago when a few fish were dying, but normally never moves.


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## Yakumo (Jul 8, 2010)

Oh and my tang did do a bit of scratching, I treated it in a seperate tank and my mate at the LFS did also after it still did it. it did stop itching but suddenly died a couple of days later.

I've been using R/O salts (red sea)
I used:
Anti-protozoal ( active constituents each ml contains: 10mg of Quinine hydrocloride and 1.27mg of malachite Green)


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## sbetsy (Apr 6, 2010)

Yakumo said:


> Ah ok,
> A couple sat on the bottom gilling, then you'd see them swimming around again then back on the bottom, the moorish idol was eating everything, I varied to diet as much as possible, it was the last to die, from being healthly looking the night before it turned a dusty browny colour over it. I have a cardinal that had a cottony kinda look on its tail but it seems to have healed up.


That dusty brown color sounds like it could be velvet. The cotton on the tail may have been fungus. Were you quarantining the fish before adding them? One or more may have brought in disease.


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## Yakumo (Jul 8, 2010)

No, unfortunatley with all the reading I did (plenty trust me) It wasnt untill recently I even read to quarantine fish, I definatley will do so from now on.

What would be the best way of treating the fish? could I treat in the main tank?
will this harm my anemone? and is there anything else I will be required to do to stop it happening again?


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Yep, "velvet" is the most likely suspect.
No, you can't treat it with the invertebrates in the tank. You'll need to move all fish to a treatment tank.

Alternately, you can buy the biggest ultraviolet sterilizer you can find and install it on the tank. Have it run continuously. Ideally, you'd do this along with removing the fish for treatment, since it would help eliminate the parasites remaining in the tank once the fish were removed. UV won't harm your inverts the way chemicals will.


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## Yakumo (Jul 8, 2010)

I would have thought some more of the fish would have had marks when they died?
Also how would I go about setting up a medical tank with the whole cycling prossess thing.
while im at it, will removing my clowns from the anemone stress them too much?
Thanks for the advice guys


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Clowns and anemones don't need each other, so moving them is fine.

Velvet usually kills long before any visible signs appear.

Don't worry about cycling a hospital tank. You'll be doing enough water changes during treatment to not have to worry about it.


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## Yakumo (Jul 8, 2010)

Alrighty then, hospital tank all set up and fish are being treated, UV filter is running, everything chose a low money week to go bad , ahh the things I do for my fish.

Everythings in the tank but nothing seems happy about it :S, I used the same water from my aquarium just to start it so they're the same temp/ph/everything.


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

oodinium is a tricky parasite and difficult to treat... copper and formulin would be the best route to go... get a copper test kit to maintain copper levels.


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## Yakumo (Jul 8, 2010)

Maintain copper levels? what level should I be maintaining it at?
The fish are looking happier in the quarantine tank, was getting a little worried.
So the UV filter should have sorted the tank out before the treatment on the fish is complete?


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Maybe. The treatment will last 24 days or so, so the UV should eliminate most of the parasites remaining in the tank. I wouldn't bet on it getting rid of absolutely all of them, though.
Look up garlic in reference to ick. You'll find gobs of stuff on it. Basically, if you add some garlic to the fishfood, in a couple of weeks it will make the fish taste really bad to the ickies. They will drop off of the fish in an attempt to find more palatable hosts, but eventually starve to death since all of the fish will be useless to them. It's a good way to finish off the ick once and for all and prevent further infection. Stop the garlic feeding after a month, and from then on only use it after adding new fish.
"Kyolic" is a good powdered garlic brand to use, and it's easy to add to the food.


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## Yakumo (Jul 8, 2010)

Thanks guys for the help, your legends,
I'll let you know how things go, Im suprised my clowns have lasted so long, they're the first fish I ever got, but theyre still going strong.


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