Tank issues??

Discussion in 'General Reef Discussion' started by LJC6780, May 23, 2017.

  1. LJC6780

    LJC6780 Grouper

    So I was just looking at the DT and noticed 3 white spots (like large sand) on the clown's tail. I got some of the medicated food (metroplex and garlic) and fed to them. She ate a few pieces (what the angel didn't swoop in and get first) but I'm not sure if the wrasse had any. Literally within about 5 minutes the spots were completely gone. I am wondering if they simply detached and are loose in the tank now or if they were killed by the meds and detached. I've never seen anything like this before and I've seen ich in my freshwater tanks (I know it's not the same ich though).

    So ... what just happened?!
     
  2. LJC6780

    LJC6780 Grouper

    And today she's developed a spot on her other side. It's raised and more like a patch than just a spot. She's only hanging out in the hammer and didn't eat the rod's/spirulina flake/garlic guard I offered just now.

    I took a video and snapped some pics. It's not the best quality but it might help. It's zoomed in on the spot.
    IMG_2311.JPG
     
  3. huntindoc

    huntindoc RRMAS BOD Membership Director Staff Member

    Yeah, medicine doesn't work that fast. Maybe those spots were something stuck to the mucous coat? I'm more concerned that he/she isn't eating.

    Can you post a picture of the spot not zoomed in? From what you're saying I don't think it's Ich.
     
  4. LJC6780

    LJC6780 Grouper

    I did get her to eat a little bit later on but it wasn't much.

    Here's that same pic without the zoom.
    IMG_2311.JPG

    Watching her swim, I can also see a tiny spot hanging off the end of her tail.

    I haven't moved her. I guess I could try to put her in the new QT tomorrow but I have my new corals in there so treatment options would be limited.
     
  5. LJC6780

    LJC6780 Grouper

    And now this morning there are two spots like that on the same side. Not just a dot of salt but more of a small patch. She's still just hanging out in the hammer too. I may have to stick her in a bucket for short term and treat her. (If I can catch her!)

    Without knowing exactly what this is, what would be my best course of treatment? I have furan 2, metroplex, kanaplex, meth blue, seachem cupramine, PraziPro ...
     
  6. LJC6780

    LJC6780 Grouper

    Ok so since feeding her with selcon soaked food for a few days and putting her in the QT on the 13th, I see no signs of illness on the clown. I know she is not cured of anything but she at least looks and acts better. She is swimming away from the corals and is eating. Before I moved her she was practically living in the hammer and constantly rubbing. I'm hoping the selcon has helped to increase her immune system so she can fight off whatever may have caused her to break out.

    I'm not sure how long to leave her in here and I'm also not sure what all I'm able to treat her with before putting her back into the DT.

    Also, I assume that whatever she had/has (possibly ich) is still in the DT. So should I break down and catch the other 2 fish and move them to the QT with her and run fallow for 72 days? Then introduce all fish at the same time?

    Should I leave the others and just treat the clown?

    Do I introduce the new fish to the DT as scheduled (beginning of July) or do I wait?

    I really want a healthy tank. I don't want to panic and do stuff unnecessarily but I also don't want to perpetuate the problem by introducing more fish that will just get sick later.
     
  7. Kim

    Kim Secretary Staff Member

    Hiya,

    If it's ick, it has a 3 month life cycle in a saltwater tank. So, if you think it's ick, I'd wait.
     
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  8. LJC6780

    LJC6780 Grouper

    Oh, yeah, I guess it was in another post but I decided to catch the other 2 fish and QT everyone and treat them all while leaving the DT fallow. I want a couple other fish after these so I'd rather treat everyone now than add more fish to be possibly infected later ... I should have just treated the fish and dipped all of the corals before setting up the tank ... but I trusted that there were no issues. Lesson learned!
     
  9. Brian

    Brian Blenny

    I think, just like us, you cannot ever get rid of all the stuff out there. IMO, the best you could do is feed the fish well, keep their water clean, check to see if there is something out there that will actually eat the problem children, and rely on the fishes immunity system to get him through it. There might be a chemical that will help make it go away, but what will come back in it's place. There doesn't appear to be a saltwater equivalent to raising temperature to shorten the life span of the bad guys, so maybe the fish are going to have to tough it out. How many QT tanks do you have? I am just curious, that sounds confusing.
     
  10. LJC6780

    LJC6780 Grouper

    I have 2. A 10 gallon and 20. I have a 29 gallon that I want to use but it currently has platies and guppies in it and I need to get rid of them! And I think after some research and talking to folks, I'm going to use the chloroquine instead. The only downside I've seen is that you really can't test for levels. So I'll really have to pay attention to dosing when doing water changes. Next will be getting someone to write me an rx for some.

    I think the original 3 fish have a pretty good immune system to the crypt/ich because I've seen spots come and go and doubting myself but then I have read they can break out and get over it over and over if they have good immune systems to it. BUT if they are breaking out at all, that means it's in my tank and my new fish may not have such a good immune system so I want to run it fallow for the 3 months and actually treat the fish before introducing the new ones to hopefully rid the ich and not infect new fish. The chloroquine will also become part of the normal QT process. My new fish would have been going into the DT this week too. :rolleyes:

    So that's where I am at the moment!
     
  11. Brian

    Brian Blenny

    The three month fallow period will destroy it?? Now that is a hard pill to swallow... On each of your qt tanks, what do use for equipment to keep the water chemistry?? Do you have a sump for each tank?? Would a uv light help?
     
  12. LJC6780

    LJC6780 Grouper

    I just have a heater and powerhead and do frequent water changes. I really just test for SG and top off with RODI water. One has a chunk of rock in it but the other one just has a glass vase for the clown to hide in. I'm going to get some PVC for them when I add the other fish. I have to grab another versa top for the 20 before adding the wrasse though, because I recently broke the other one. I don't want to chance him jumping out of the smaller tank. the one with the rock has some corals in it and will become the coral QT tank only and the other will be the fish one. If I can get rid of these dang platies and guppies I'll convert the 29 gal over to sw for the fish.
     
  13. Brian

    Brian Blenny

    it's hard to get rid of fish that just keep reproducing themselves
     
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  14. LJC6780

    LJC6780 Grouper

    Yep. I was trading them to the LFS for a while but they just got to be too much. Thankfully a while back I was able to get rid of the adults and some mid sized ones so I haven't gotten any fry in a while ... BUT I'm getting a few that will probably be mature enough here soon so I need to get rid of another batch of older ones!

    Oh and I think the longest (well there is always an exception) life cycle is 72 days ... so if there is no fish host for that long it SHOULD die off. And assuming the fish have also been treated, it shouldn't just reappear unless it's been re introduced by something not quarantined. I figured I'd just make it the 13 weeks/3 months to be sure! We will see though!

    I'm going to call my vet tomorrow and see if he will write an rx for the meds ... crossing fingers!
     
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2017
    huntindoc likes this.
  15. LJC6780

    LJC6780 Grouper

    So to bring up another issue ...

    Is this an issue or just still adjusting? This is one of the new acans I got last month. It has never looked all puffy and happy like the others. I had another one (the rusty one on the righ- it recently got partially eaten by the yuma that somehow got too close :eek:) that was like that for months until I moved it away from the green one I purchased with it and put it next to the echinatas. Maybe there was some chemical warfare going on before the move? I've swapped a few around but it has stayed on the same rock. Should I try relocating it or give it a little more time where it is?
    IMG_2983.JPG IMG_2979.JPG
     
  16. Brian

    Brian Blenny

    How do you know what is going to eat what?
     
  17. LJC6780

    LJC6780 Grouper

    Sometimes you know by the species and which ones usually play nice near each other but then sometimes they surprise you. I know the Yumas are aggressive and if anything gets too close they will totally eat it. My poor pavona fell over and landed on the yuma rock a while back and now the tips are all white where the tissue is gone. I must've bumped the acan rock with the glass cleaner the other day because it is usually at a safe distance. Just glad I saw it when I did. I have a yuma on another rock near one of my hammers that is getting too big and needs to go because it is killing a couple heads of the hammer.

    If you haven't, pull your flashlight out at night after lights out ... it may surprise you which corals send out sweepers and just how far they can reach! I actually do this fairly often to keep everyone in check and move them if necessary.
     
  18. LJC6780

    LJC6780 Grouper

    So the red planaria popped up again on my frog spawn a while back and I dipped it in coral Rx and it took care of the problem. I think I counted about 30 that came off. Frogspawn opened right back up in a few hours.

    Fast forward a bit and I start seeing them on the other end of the tank on my Hammers. I sucked out about 5 that I saw at different times and awaited the arrival of my flatworm exit. I THINK I saw one of the whitish ones a few days ago so I decided to go ahead and treat before they became a real problem.

    So I added the amount necessary for 100 gallons since that's what I roughly have including sump. It said to wait 30 minutes and if you didn't see anything dying to dose again at half the recommended amount. So I did. The whole time I was blasting corals and rock with the turkey baster as well as sucking up piles of detritus that gathers in the dead spots. I MIGHT have seen 1 or 2 but I'm not sure. I was emptying the baster into a specimen collector so I could check for flatworms. I never saw any. Didn't see any on the corals either. As directed I added carbon after a while in case there were some dying ones I couldn't see releasing toxins.

    Anyway, have you had good results with flatworm exit? I followed the directions. Could it be that I just had so few in the tank that there weren't any to be seen after treatment? I suck them out as soon as I see them but it said they could hide well. I just feel like something went wrong.
     
  19. huntindoc

    huntindoc RRMAS BOD Membership Director Staff Member

    Never used it but I would bet you just have a very small number of them. I've read that the stuff is very effective at killing them.
     
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  20. LJC6780

    LJC6780 Grouper

    Well here's hoping that I got the remaining few and they won't be showing up anymore!
     
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