I am new to this hobby so I started with two cheapish fish, and they both died. The first one I got was a Clarkii Clownfish that lived for about 3 weeks, and my second fish was a Kole Tang (got it for cheap) and it lived for about one week. Why are they dying? Parameters are correct.
Fish Dying
- Thread starter Maine Reefer
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WWIII
2500 Club Member
How did you setup the tank? Live rock or dry rock? How was the tank cycled? What test kits are you using and what are the parameters? Did the fish look normal and healthy the whole time?
Maine Reefer
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I'm using an API test kit. I figured out why they died. I did not have a quarantine tank at the time, so I put the tang directly into my DT, and I noticed he had ich (hence the cheap price). And I think the clownfish caught without me seeing any white dots.
jsker
Reefing is all about the adventure
I have not ever QTed. If in fact you had Ich I would suggest you going out and purchasing some metroplex, focus, and a multivitamin or vitamin C and B-12 to dose when feeding your new fish that you add to the system. Ich is usually caused by stress. The stress can be caused by many factors. Shipping, shock to a new system with the parameter being off, ich in the system, etc.
You can let your system follow for the 72 days and this will also let the system finish cycling. You can add clean up crew, and coral if you would like.
API test are good when starting and cycling a system, I would also suggest upgrading test kits to get a closer parameter reading.
WWIII
2500 Club Member
Sorry to hear they didn't do well for you. It is so common for tangs to have ich, basically I treat all new tangs like they definetely have it. Many, if not most of us have been there at one point or another, where we lose fish and learn from out mistakes. Wish you more luck going forward! If it was ich that the fish died from, then I would personally leave fallow since the ich was strong enough to kill fairly quickly. Unfortunately that means 76 days to be absolutely sure it's gone. That would however give you time to figure out a quarantine setup, if you would like to utilize one going forward.
If the tank is small enough, you could just break it all down, sterilize it, and start over. Or you could leave it fallow for the 76 days, whichever is easier.
If you are going to QT from now on, you could start a new fish in QT in parallel with the fallow period, and time it so that the QT and fallow period end at the same time. I always QT, both because it is easier for me to discover an issue and treat it in a small QT, and also because I can give a single fish a lot more attion 8n a QT than I could in my 220g DT. I get to watch them eat, fatten them up with live food, build their immune system all with the ability to proactively treat them for worms and flukes. I don’t run them through copper unless I see evidence that they need it.
Even after being very careful with every new fish in QT, I think I do have ich in my tank. It probably came in on something else that I did not treat carefully up front (a frag, perhaps). I have decided to take the ich management route, keeping a low stress community, and feeding live food or frozen/fresh food with lots of natural immune boosters. So far so good, but the threat of an outbreak is always there. That keeps me on top of things, so maybe it is all good. Even suspecting that I have ich, I still QT everything. I can keep other stuff out, and I can prep new fish to be ready for life in ich management.
If you are going to QT from now on, you could start a new fish in QT in parallel with the fallow period, and time it so that the QT and fallow period end at the same time. I always QT, both because it is easier for me to discover an issue and treat it in a small QT, and also because I can give a single fish a lot more attion 8n a QT than I could in my 220g DT. I get to watch them eat, fatten them up with live food, build their immune system all with the ability to proactively treat them for worms and flukes. I don’t run them through copper unless I see evidence that they need it.
Even after being very careful with every new fish in QT, I think I do have ich in my tank. It probably came in on something else that I did not treat carefully up front (a frag, perhaps). I have decided to take the ich management route, keeping a low stress community, and feeding live food or frozen/fresh food with lots of natural immune boosters. So far so good, but the threat of an outbreak is always there. That keeps me on top of things, so maybe it is all good. Even suspecting that I have ich, I still QT everything. I can keep other stuff out, and I can prep new fish to be ready for life in ich management.
