new diseases

#1
Ok,

I bought a new fish from a store I've never been to before, didnt quarantine it.... what a mistake. The fish was very healthy looking before I took him home and within 2 weeks, most of my fish were showing sympotoms of ICH or brooklynella. I started a hypo tank and now I am dealing with new issues after. Thusfar, I have lost a green chromis, 1 clownfish, and the culpret flame angel that I think got the tank sick.

This is TWO separate issues.
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Number 1: (picture attached)
View attachment 23314

So I never had real trouble with my yellow tang before starting hypo, and now, 5 weeks in, my tang is showing black ich (6 spots so far). As I understand it, black ich is a flatworm parasite and the first thing that came to mind is, how the hell did this get in my hypo tank without the addition of new fish?

I've been reading up on it, and all I can find suggests that black ich is only cured by formalin baths, not hypo. My questions are:

1. Where do I get formalin. I know it is formaldehyde, but do they make special stuff for fish? Is there a dosing requirement?

2. Do I remove the tang from the QT and place in a smaller container (3g for formalin dip) during the bath treatments? How long?

3. Can I leave my tank in Hypo during this time? Or do I have to raise to regular salinity, and then start the formalin?

4. Any other tips or tricks?

5.How in the world did I get black ICH if I never introduced any new fish or used any old equipment?

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Number 2: (picture attached)
View attachment 23315

My clown has shown improvements when it comes to ich or Brooklynella, whatever it had.... but has shown signs of something I am not aware of at this time. All I have to describe the condition is this poor photo. my only guess, and it isnt a good one, is that it is an ammonia burn. Admittedly, I have not been able to control my ammonia in the hypo tank no matter what I've tried. I do 25% water changes almost every day, I went out and bought a huge *** filter that cycles every drop of water in the tank every 4.5 minutes, but nothing really seems to help. Sometimes I do 50% changes, and the change in ammonia levels is negligible so I stopped doing that to stop stressing the fish out.

At this point, I dont think either of the fish will survive anyway. While I hope they do, I am doing this as a learning tool and not so much thinking I will be able to save either of them at this point.

I've lost almost all my fish and just want to start over as algae is starting to grow in my display and the addition of a new tang would really help clear that up (but I'm holding out until 8 weeks or the yellow tang gets better)

Any suggestions are deeply appreciated
 

zombie

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#5
quillin35;348269 said:
have u tried stop ammonia or anything of that nature?
Use seachem prime in addition to 25-50% water changes daily until ammonia gets to zero.
 
#6
All ive done to manage ammonia other than water changes is Prime and Ammo Lock. The only problem is, I dont have biological filtration in the QT, and only have mechanical filtration. I understand that there is supposed to be some bacteria on the sponges that are in the filter, but I dont think it is enough for the entire QT.

I was thinking of adding some filter floss around the airstone I have in the QT in hopes it would grow some more ammonia processing bacteria, but have not yet done so.

One thing I am not so sure of is the API test kit for ammonia. The instructions say that you should wait "5" minutes and compair the color to the chart. If I only wait 5 minutes, the ammonia level is relatively low. However if I let the test develop over 10 minutes or more, the ammonia level indicated is pretty bad (.4 ppm?)
 

zombie

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#7
Also, you cannot do formalin and hypo at the same time. You either have to raise salinity to at least 1.020 and treat with formalin or you have to wait until hypo is finished and treat with formalin after.
 

quillin35

Blenny
M.A.S.C Club Member
#8
I would try a better test kit like red sea or salifert. api is not very accurate. You can always take some water in the your lfs and have them test for u...
 
#9
aright. Thanks for the suggestions. I am going to raise to 1.020 in 1 week so the fish go through an entire 6 weeks of Hypo, then Ill leave them there for another 3 or 4 during formalin.
 
#11
all I moved from the main tank to the QT was a filter I had seeding in the sump. I dare not move anything over anymore or risk recontamination from the main.

I was thinking of wrapping some filter floss around an airstone I have (maybe with a rubber band). Do you think that this submerged filter floss with air bubbles in the middle will spawn more bacteria?
 
#12
So now I'm wondering how this is going to work out... When the formalin arrives in a day or two, how do I prevent the sick fish from becoming reinfected after the formalin bath? Do I move the fish back to the QT? Something else?
 

zombie

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#13
TheDubbya;348737 said:
So now I'm wondering how this is going to work out... When the formalin arrives in a day or two, how do I prevent the sick fish from becoming reinfected after the formalin bath? Do I move the fish back to the QT? Something else?
Ideally, you want to do the tank transfer method with formalin baths, but if you do them to all fish often enough, you should be fine using one QT tank.
 
#14
Update, for anyone who happens to care...

Finished my 8 week quarantine. 6 of the weeks were in Hypo, and the last 2 weeks were done for recovery and every-other-day dips in Formalin to remove visible parasites that survived and were not treated by Hypo.

I found the formalin dips to be easy and did not visibly distress any of my fish. They are now happily back in the DT (which was also fish free for 8 weeks) and both appear to be healthy. I will be waiting 6 months to add new fish, and from here on out, will be using a QT before adding new fish. PERIOD
 

BrianH

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#16
...easy not to quarantine. I have been stupid and lucky with my fish. I am setting up a qt tank for future inhabitants. Thanks for sharing your story.
 
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