ahhh ich in new setup

[ccajigas07]

well guys as some of you may know i just finished setting up my 120 gallon what i have is live sand , live rock and natural sea water no corals or inverts yet. well the same day it was setup i was told to go buy some damsels for the dt for bacteria build up and cheato for my sump, well i went and bought what i was told and now on day 5 of my tank i have lost one damsel i have one that has white spots and his fins look beat up i believe it to be ich so what i have done so far is turn off display lights , sump light is still on, i raised the temp to 87 and i started to feed the fish raw garlic. what else can i do and how long until i can put new fish and corals in again, and should i be cruel and just take the damsels and flush them down the toilet and just let the tank sit for a while.

 

[rworegon]

Get the damsels out IMO. I am not a fan of "cycling " a tank with live fish of any kind. Not only is it cruel to the fish but later down the road you will hate those evil little damsel fishes. I would suggest removing the damsels and cycling your tank with dead shrimp the old fashioned way. This will also give the ich the time it needs to die off without a fish host. Then QT any new fish before adding to your display.

 

[ccajigas07]

Get the damsels out IMO. I am not a fan of "cycling " a tank with live fish of any kind. Not only is it cruel to the fish but later down the road you will hate those evil little damsel fishes. I would suggest removing the damsels and cycling your tank with dead shrimp the old fashioned way. This will also give the ich the time it needs to die off without a fish host. Then QT any new fish before adding to your display.

do i need the dead shrimp even if my rock is already live rock and live sand

 

[rworegon]

You will know with testing. First test for ammonia, then add a bit of shrimp or another source of ammonia. if your tank has an estabished biological filter then the ammonia will not spike, however, unless the rock and and sand are from an established system, very recently, then I doubt it will metabolize the ammonia. The bio filter ebbs and flows with the demands of the tank. with nothing in the tank producing ammonia the benefecial bacteria will die out, as the load increases the bacteria will multiply. This is why people tell you to add fish slowly to your tank. This gives the bacteria population a chance to equalize.

Since you should be going fallow for a periond of time to rid your tank of the ich parasite, you have the opportunity to really test your bio filter. Once you establish your population of benefecial bacteria, you should "ghost feed' your tank small amounts of food to keep the bio filter going.

Look on the bright side though, this happened when your system is new and not later when you have a larger livestock population to worry about.

 

[ccajigas07]

You will know with testing. First test for ammonia, then add a bit of shrimp or another source of ammonia. if your tank has an estabished biological filter then the ammonia will not spike, however, unless the rock and and sand are from an established system, very recently, then I doubt it will metabolize the ammonia. The bio filter ebbs and flows with the demands of the tank. with nothing in the tank producing ammonia the benefecial bacteria will die out, as the load increases the bacteria will multiply. This is why people tell you to add fish slowly to your tank. This gives the bacteria population a chance to equalize.

Since you should be going fallow for a periond of time to rid your tank of the ich parasite, you have the opportunity to really test your bio filter. Once you establish your population of benefecial bacteria, you should "ghost feed' your tank small amounts of food to keep the bio filter going.

Look on the bright side though, this happened when your system is new and not later when you have a larger livestock population to worry about.

And what about the damsels should i flush them

 

[LivinTheSwreefLife]

Get the damsels out IMO. I am not a fan of "cycling " a tank with live fish of any kind. Not only is it cruel to the fish but later down the road you will hate those evil little damsel fishes. I would suggest removing the damsels and cycling your tank with dead shrimp the old fashioned way. This will also give the ich the time it needs to die off without a fish host. Then QT any new fish before adding to your display.

I'm going to expand on this in light of your first post and state something that rworegon didn't say explicitly, but just wanted to make it clear: remove them from your tank but do NOT flush them. You'd need to bring them back to the LFS.

 

[LivinTheSwreefLife]

And what about the damsels should i flush them

The only point in removing the damsels would be to spare them the suffering of ammonia burns during cycling. Needless to say, they will suffer much more if flushed down the toilet so I'd say cycling with them is the lesser of two evils....

 

[Acipenser]

Ich will not cause beat up fins. It should look like a light dusting of salt. The damsels are highly territorial and will fight constantly. They are likely the cause of the damage. Most people over react to ich or the thought that they have ich. Just be patient and see how they are doing. I would bring the temperature back to normal. Worst case scenario you lose all your damsels to ich. Use the carcasses to finish your cycle. Best case - they don't have ich and everything is fine. Don't flush them. When they recover and you don't want them anymore, return them to your LFS.

 

[rworegon]

I'm going to expand on this in light of your first post and state something that rworegon didn't say explicitly, but just wanted to make it clear: remove them from your tank but do NOT flush them. You'd need to bring them back to the LFS.

Yes, sorry I didn't say that. I made a similar mistake when I set up my first system. I got a pair of talbots damsels. The LFS told me that they were the most peaceful of the Damsel family. All went well for a period of time, but they established themselves and decided that they wanted to dominate the tank. I added a Flamehawk. The Damsels immediately went after the Hawk even though the hawk was more than twice their size. I had to tear apart half my reef, rock and corals, to catch the little buggers. They now live in the Liverock tank at the LFS along with the other damsels that people have brought back for being bullies.

We are not in this hobby to kill fish, no matter how mean they are.

 

[ccajigas07]

yea i didn't want to kill them as its breaks my heart but i don't want to ruin my tank which i have spent so much money on ether i wasnt aware that the lfs would take them back i will set up traps to catch them during my lunch break and hopefully when i get home caught them all and take them back to the store

 

[ccajigas07]

does anyone know how i can catch these damsels i put a DIY fish trap with food and i didn't feed them yesterday but i had no luck

 

[rworegon]

Patience and perseverance. Depends on how established your tank is. Might be easiest to move rocks into buckets or totes if you dont have a bunch of corals on them. Two nets are useful. One to herd them and one to catch them. Good luck!