Ich?

[Bryce Peterson]

Lost 2 fish so far with no outward sign of disease. Now it looks like my clown may have ich. We moved and they were in 30 gallon when one of the fish died. I used regular water changes, but no med as I have never had any issues and haven't added fish for 9 months. I thought the tang killed the last fish due to being together in too small a tank, so I moved the fish to the dt. Woke up to 1 dead starry blenny and this fish looking sick. Any suggestions. Also, we are 50 miles from a Petco, so looking for immediate intervention while we go for meds.

 

[bios]

Yes.... @Humblefish

 

[sfmacguy]

Definitely looks like Ich,

Treatment options: http://reef2reef.com/threads/treatment-options-index.247573/#post-2907505

 

[Bryce Peterson]

Ok. I still have the 25 gallon set up. I was thinking of trying to drop the salinity while waiting for my wife to get back from town with the medication. Question: how fast should I drop the salinity?

 

[DLHDesign]

Question: how fast should I drop the salinity?

You can do a fresh water (RODI) dip for 5mins for immediate relief.

Not sure about the rate of drop in the QT tank, sorry. I can say that clowns are pretty hardy in terms of environment changes in my experience, but that's anecdotal and doesn't really help...

 

[DLHDesign]

It could also be velvet or brook that you've got. Might be worthwhile to take a more aggressive treatment from the start (since you may not have time to do it twice). Here's another thread that seems like it would be good to go through for you: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fresh-water-dip.256441/

#reefsquad

 

[bios]

Give a good oxygenation to water and wait for humble
Don't stress it more

 

[Bryce Peterson]

Thanks for the replies. Problem with freshwater dip: just mixed salt in my ro tank for water changes. The fresh ro coming in is at about 50 degrees. Making more now, but I'll have to heat it

 

[Brew12]

Ok. I still have the 25 gallon set up. I was thinking of trying to drop the salinity while waiting for my wife to get back from town with the medication. Question: how fast should I drop the salinity?

I believe Hyposalinity will not be an option for this fish unfortunately. This infestation is pretty severe. If it came on this quickly, it is likely Velvet and not Ich.

I hope your wife is getting Coppersafe and the API copper test kit. I think you will be needing them.

Just do your best as far as a FW dip is concerned. As @bios said, it is important to try and not stress the fish any more than necessary. Get the FW dip set up correctly and temperature matched. It should heat up pretty quickly. It's more important to do it right than to do it quickly.

 

[Brew12]

And you need to work toward moving all your fish into a QT for treatment. If one fish has it, any fish they have shared water with will also have it. As you have seen, it doesn't need to show symptoms to be deadly.

 

[DLHDesign]

It's more important to do it right than to do it quickly.

This!

 

[jsker]

Just mentioning is if it has not been suggested, start feeding some antibiotics via frozen food mixed with focus to bind the antibiotics with the food. My old reliable antibiotic is metroplex

 

[Humblefish]

I think that's either velvet or brook, based on the photo & timeline of deaths to the other fish.

Following this protocol will treat ich, velvet & brook: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/velvet-amyloodinium-ocellatum.217570/#post-2499437

Each fish will need to be given a FW dip + chemical bath + placed in a QT & treated with copper. If you don't have access to formalin or acriflavine, you'll need to dose metronidazole with copper to treat for the possibility of brook. Seachem Metroplex or Fishvet Metro-MS both contain metronidazole.

 

[Humblefish]

API General Cure also contains metronidazole, and I know I've seen that medication at Petco/smart.

Even if you can't get metro or formalin/acriflavine, still do the FW dips and get all your fish in copper ASAP.

You need to move with a sense of urgency to save the rest of these fish.

 

[Bryce Peterson]

Can velvet and brook remain dormant for long periods?

I think that's either velvet or brook, based on the photo & timeline of deaths to the other fish.

Following this protocol will treat ich, velvet & brook: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/velvet-amyloodinium-ocellatum.217570/#post-2499437

Each fish will need to be given a FW dip + chemical bath + placed in a QT & treated with copper. If you don't have access to formalin or acriflavine, you'll need to dose metronidazole with copper to treat for the possibility of brook. Seachem Metroplex or Fishvet Metro-MS both contain metronidazole.

 

[Brew12]

Can velvet and brook remain dormant for long periods?

I'm not as familiar with Brook, but Velvet doesn't remain dormant. Fish can build an immunity to it which limits the population of the parasite in the system containing the fish. If a fish without the immunity is added, or a stress event causes the fish to lose its immunity, then velvet can rapidly reproduce and cause issues.

 

[cmcoker]

They could also be brought in on anything wet, I know you have not added fish recently.. But what about snails, coral, new pieces of live rock, etc?

 

[Bryce Peterson]

Could be, I did buy 10 snails about 3 weeks ago. Hope that isn't it, I put half the snails in my 30. No losses there yet.

They could also be brought in on anything wet, I know you have not added fish recently.. But what about snails, coral, new pieces of live rock, etc?

 

[Bryce Peterson]

Wife ran to Petco. All they have is "herbal" treatments. The only real lfs is 80 miles in the opposite direction.

 

[Brew12]

Wife ran to Petco. All they have is "herbal" treatments. The only real lfs is 80 miles in the opposite direction.

That is unfortunate. My Petco carries Coppersafe but not much else in the way off effective meds.