Advice Needed For Clowns With Suspected Ich

[aclarkson]

All advice appreciated

This is my first post.

First I must say the forums have been an invaluable resource for information and I don’t think I would have ventured into marines with out the help and support of everyone who posts on the forums.

Last night at around midnight I spotted on my two juvenile false percula clownfish with what looked to be ich. The fish were sluggish and covered with small white spots and looked to be on deaths door. The one fish was losing its colour and both were rubbing. I prepared a freshwater dip and dipped both fish for ten mins. This morning both fish looked remarkably healthy with no signs of ich. Both fed this morning and as a precaution I finely chopped some garlic and fed to both the clowns. I have never done this before.

I know the ich is probably my fault as last week I introduced a new firefish that I did not quarantine and from a shop I have never used before.

The firefish looks very healthy this morning so not sure it was the culprit but won’t be adding anything to the tank without a quarantine I know that for sure.

I don’t have a quarantine tank at the moment but plan on setting one up very soon.

The tank was set up on the 24th of May it’s a D-D 24 gallon dx and was my freshwater tank for two years before I took the dive into marine. The tank was cycled over a five week period with no real ammonia spikes with 10 kg of live rock and 30 lb of live sand and RO water. I have upgraded the return pump to a MJ1200 and added a tmc skimmer and korala nano. The tank holds 75 liters of water with rock and sand and I change 10 liters of water every week.

I run phosphate remover in chamber one with a packet of algone and fresh filter floss every four days

The stock is
2 false percs added 13/07/2010
1 firefish last week
1 skunk cleaner shrimp added 03/07/2010
5 hermits added 03/07/2010
6 astra snails 27/07/2010
3 cerith snails 03/07/2010
1 nass snail 27/07/2010

Star polyps
Hairy Green mushrooms







The normal params are

Temp: 28c
PH: 8.2
Ammonia:0
Nitrites:0
Nitrate:5pm
Phosphate:0
Calcium:410
Alk:Normal

Using a red sea marine test kit. I test every four days.

Yesterday before the incident with the clowns I noticed that the star polyps were not coming out fully and the water test showed my ph was 8.0.

Today the star polyps are not out at all.

I made up my normal water change yesterday and will be doing the change today.

My questions are.

What would be your further advice for the clowns treatment and anything to get my tank better.


Should I run the tank fallow for six weeks.


Could the PH drop have caused this and if so I have a sample bottle of success buff with the test kit but don’t like to use chemicals would you use this in your tank.

All advice appreciated

 

[seffieuk]

All advice appreciated

This is my first post.

First of all a very warm to TFF and the salty side - glad you have decided to post

First I must say the forums have been an invaluable resource for information and I don’t think I would have ventured into marines with out the help and support of everyone who posts on the forums.

Thank you, that makes it all the more worth while, we have a dedicated membership who love to help out

Last night at around midnight I spotted on my two juvenile false percula clownfish with what looked to be ich. The fish were sluggish and covered with small white spots and looked to be on deaths door. The one fish was losing its colour and both were rubbing. I prepared a freshwater dip and dipped both fish for ten mins. This morning both fish looked remarkably healthy with no signs of ich. Both fed this morning and as a precaution I finely chopped some garlic and fed to both the clowns. I have never done this before.

Sounds like you took appropriate action - however be warned, some clowns seem to develop what people believe is ich only to dicover is disappears as quickly as it arrived it seems to be related to stress.

I know the ich is probably my fault as last week I introduced a new firefish that I did not quarantine and from a shop I have never used before.

We have all done that!

The firefish looks very healthy this morning so not sure it was the culprit but won’t be adding anything to the tank without a quarantine I know that for sure.

I don’t have a quarantine tank at the moment but plan on setting one up very soon.

The tank was set up on the 24th of May it’s a D-D 24 gallon dx and was my freshwater tank for two years before I took the dive into marine. The tank was cycled over a five week period with no real ammonia spikes with 10 kg of live rock and 30 lb of live sand and RO water. I have upgraded the return pump to a MJ1200 and added a tmc skimmer and korala nano. The tank holds 75 liters of water with rock and sand and I change 10 liters of water every week.



I run phosphate remover in chamber one with a packet of algone and fresh filter floss every four days

What is algone?

Stocking is more or less at its limit

Stats are all fine

Using a red sea marine test kit. I test every four days.

Maybe cut down to weekly?

Yesterday before the incident with the clowns I noticed that the star polyps were not coming out fully and the water test showed my ph was 8.0.

You dont mention if you skim or what powerheads you have - ph drops/rises according to the time of day and the amount of surface aggitation

Today the star polyps are not out at all.

I made up my normal water change yesterday and will be doing the change today.

My questions are.

What would be your further advice for the clowns treatment and anything to get my tank better.

I would wait and see, if the clowns really do have ich, I would also do a larger weekly water change of 20%


Should I run the tank fallow for six weeks.

Lets see what happens


Could the PH drop have caused this and if so I have a sample bottle of success buff with the test kit but don’t like to use chemicals would you use this in your tank.

One of the first rules of marine is never add anything to your tank unless you have tested for it and you know exactly what the outcome will be - in a nano imho unless you are keeping very specific needs corals there is no reason to add anything - water changes will keep everything just right

All advice appreciated

Seffie x

 

[aclarkson]

All advice appreciated

This is my first post.

First of all a very warm to TFF and the salty side - glad you have decided to post

First I must say the forums have been an invaluable resource for information and I don’t think I would have ventured into marines with out the help and support of everyone who posts on the forums.

Thank you, that makes it all the more worth while, we have a dedicated membership who love to help out

Last night at around midnight I spotted on my two juvenile false percula clownfish with what looked to be ich. The fish were sluggish and covered with small white spots and looked to be on deaths door. The one fish was losing its colour and both were rubbing. I prepared a freshwater dip and dipped both fish for ten mins. This morning both fish looked remarkably healthy with no signs of ich. Both fed this morning and as a precaution I finely chopped some garlic and fed to both the clowns. I have never done this before.

Sounds like you took appropriate action - however be warned, some clowns seem to develop what people believe is ich only to dicover is disappears as quickly as it arrived it seems to be related to stress.

I know the ich is probably my fault as last week I introduced a new firefish that I did not quarantine and from a shop I have never used before.

We have all done that!

The firefish looks very healthy this morning so not sure it was the culprit but won’t be adding anything to the tank without a quarantine I know that for sure.

I don’t have a quarantine tank at the moment but plan on setting one up very soon.

The tank was set up on the 24th of May it’s a D-D 24 gallon dx and was my freshwater tank for two years before I took the dive into marine. The tank was cycled over a five week period with no real ammonia spikes with 10 kg of live rock and 30 lb of live sand and RO water. I have upgraded the return pump to a MJ1200 and added a tmc skimmer and korala nano. The tank holds 75 liters of water with rock and sand and I change 10 liters of water every week.



I run phosphate remover in chamber one with a packet of algone and fresh filter floss every four days

What is algone?

Stocking is more or less at its limit

Stats are all fine

Using a red sea marine test kit. I test every four days.

Maybe cut down to weekly?

Yesterday before the incident with the clowns I noticed that the star polyps were not coming out fully and the water test showed my ph was 8.0.

You dont mention if you skim or what powerheads you have - ph drops/rises according to the time of day and the amount of surface aggitation

Today the star polyps are not out at all.

I made up my normal water change yesterday and will be doing the change today.

My questions are.

What would be your further advice for the clowns treatment and anything to get my tank better.

I would wait and see, if the clowns really do have ich, I would also do a larger weekly water change of 20%


Should I run the tank fallow for six weeks.

Lets see what happens


Could the PH drop have caused this and if so I have a sample bottle of success buff with the test kit but don’t like to use chemicals would you use this in your tank.

One of the first rules of marine is never add anything to your tank unless you have tested for it and you know exactly what the outcome will be - in a nano imho unless you are keeping very specific needs corals there is no reason to add anything - water changes will keep everything just right

All advice appreciated

Seffie x

thank you for your advice seffie

algone is a nitrate remover 100% chemical free and all natural comes in a little pouch you put in the filter

and to all the people who post you have no idea how much these realy help people starting out.

thank you once again

 

[seffieuk]

Keep us up to date, how about starting a journel in the marine journel section?

Seffie x

 

[john.o]

Hello and welcome to the salty side

Can I ask what S.g you run your tank at as you do not mention this in your previous posts?
And second can I also sagest running your temp at 25-26 ,puts a little less stress on the fish and slows down the metabolism which can only be a good thing in a nano IMO
Other than that you seem to have every think in order, and as seffie has said I would keep a close eye on the clowns for a day or two and fingers crossed all will be well
P,s looking forward to you starting a journal and looking at all those picas your going to take
“we do like lots of pic,s over here on the salty side ”

 

[aclarkson]

Hello and welcome to the salty side

Can I ask what S.g you run your tank at as you do not mention this in your previous posts?
And second can I also sagest running your temp at 25-26 ,puts a little less stress on the fish and slows down the metabolism which can only be a good thing in a nano IMO
Other than that you seem to have every think in order, and as seffie has said I would keep a close eye on the clowns for a day or two and fingers crossed all will be well
P,s looking forward to you starting a journal and looking at all those picas your going to take
“we do like lots of pic,s over here on the salty side ”

I run the sg at 1.025 and is very stable I test it every day with a refractor.

Never had to do any top offs.

Have been trying to get the temp down.

But I think the return pump an mj1200 plus the korola nano and the skimmer are createing the heat.

have already modded the hose on the return pump so that there is more flow less heat.

dont want to run a fan due to the fact I dont have to do top ups as sg remains stable.

most of the info i have got has told me to keep the temp stable so this is what im trying to do.

I would love the tank to run at 26 but dont realy want to fork out for a chiller.

Any suggestion for getting the temp down with the equipment I have I am always open to suggestions.

dont mind modding the tank if it improves it.

Would like to run a sump at some point If I can talk the wife into it.

I will try and get some pics up as yes I also enjoy the pics.

Will look at doing a journal as they helped me so much when I started.

The clowns are looking 100 times better than they did last night.


Will be doing 10 liter water change in next couple of hours. and will prob do another tomorrow got to pop out to get some more water today.


I appricate all the help I can get.

 

[seffieuk]

You dont need expensive chillers, you can just run a ceiling fan or a fan on the wall to bring the temp down a bit - but to be honest my tank runs hotter than yours and is ok John is right however, it does speed up fish metabalism.

Must admit to being surprised that you dont have to top-off though

Seffie x

 

[aclarkson]

You dont need expensive chillers, you can just run a ceiling fan or a fan on the wall to bring the temp down a bit - but to be honest my tank runs hotter than yours and is ok John is right however, it does speed up fish metabalism.

Must admit to being surprised that you dont have to top-off though

Seffie x

I was as surprised

Was expecting to have to top off with every thing I have read

Maybe I,m not doing something right.

I test the sg every day and no movement I test with a refractor and a swing arm thing.

How do you know when to do a top off. I assumed it was if the sg goes up.

Mine never has.

The tank does have a very snug lid I assumed this was helping also with the weekly water changes.

As always all advice appreciated

 

[seffieuk]

The water level goes down so you would know if you needed to top-up don't worry, doesn't sound like you are doing anything wrong

 

[john.o]

You dont need expensive chillers, you can just run a ceiling fan or a fan on the wall to bring the temp down a bit - but to be honest my tank runs hotter than yours and is ok John is right however, it does speed up fish metabalism.


Yep and not to mention there is less oxygen in higher Temp water which can be a problem in a “nano tank”
which in turn will then effect the Ph ect ect


Must admit to being surprised that you dont have to top-off though

Me 2 i had a D&D 24g that ran at 25c and there was a little each day {half a cup of RO aprox} which was not enough to show a change in the S.G, the best way to see the evap was in chamber 2, if you have the water flowing over into chamber 3 just about 5mm over the top of the lip you could see when it went down
Hope this is of some help john, o



Seffie x

 

[aclarkson]

You dont need expensive chillers, you can just run a ceiling fan or a fan on the wall to bring the temp down a bit - but to be honest my tank runs hotter than yours and is ok John is right however, it does speed up fish metabalism.


Yep and not to mention there is less oxygen in higher Temp water which can be a problem in a “nano tank”
which in turn will then effect the Ph ect ect


Must admit to being surprised that you dont have to top-off though

Me 2 i had a D&D 24g that ran at 25c and there was a little each day {half a cup of RO aprox} which was not enough to show a change in the S.G, the best way to see the evap was in chamber 2, if you have the water flowing over into chamber 3 just about 5mm over the top of the lip you could see when it went down
Hope this is of some help john, o



Seffie x

Have just done the water change and raised the skimmer as it was sitting too low in the chamber

I have the same skimmer as johns picture only seem to get half a cup of week tea everyday.

chamber one phosphate remover two inch of standard sponge that came with tank cut down on top of that algone pouch then fine filter flos that i change twice a week

chamber two tmc nano skimmer and nothing else removed all the sponge and bio balls

chamber three heater and return pump

I am going to watch the levels this week and observe and top up as required.

Thought the water loss was just the skimmer volume that I empty every day then I adjust the level using the surface skimmer as i could not detech any sg level changeing I have never done a top off.

Maybe better if I top off with a small cup of ro every day.

I have just been and got some more ro water and just made a mix for another 10lt change tomorrow.

John did you have the stock pump in your tank?

Did you have any issues with heat?

I realy want to get this right before I put any more corals in the tank or risk losing any of the current livestock.


Thank you both for your advice today

 

[john.o]

Nope no heat issues
Ran perfectly at 25

I had in chamber 1) ½ a sponge then phosphate remover ect
in chamber 2) I moded the lid and placed a light above this chamber and I had it stuffed with cheato
in chamber 3) I had a v2 nano skimmer {again moded, air line mod} and the heater set at 24c + a mj1200 as the return pump and in the tank a korila nano

However I did mod the fans in the lid I replaced them with 2x very good quality PC fans. I placed them back in the lid so that one was blowing air out and the other was sucking cool air in, I also removed them from the stock wiring and wired them into a 12v power converter from maplins then they where controlled from a ATC 800 along with the heater

john,o

 

[aclarkson]

Nope no heat issues
Ran perfectly at 25

I had in chamber 1) ½ a sponge then phosphate remover ect
in chamber 2) I moded the lid and placed a light above this chamber and I had it stuffed with cheato
in chamber 3) I had a v2 nano skimmer {again moded, air line mod} and the heater set at 24c + a mj1200 as the return pump and in the tank a korila nano

However I did mod the fans in the lid I replaced them with 2x very good quality PC fans. I placed them back in the lid so that one was blowing air out and the other was sucking cool air in, I also removed them from the stock wiring and wired them into a 12v power converter from maplins then they where controlled from a ATC 800 along with the heater

john,o

Our systems are nearly identical

I have modded the fans so one blows in and one out

I also have the modded air line else the skimmer is too loud

Although now ive just moved the skimmer up it up it is blowing a lot of bubbles into the tank

I modded the return hose and removed the ninety degree bend this has incressed the flow from the pump and droped temp by one degree was running at 29

I have the heater set to 28 at moment as didnt want high temp swings from day to night

I will drop the temp down slowly on the heater and look at replaceing the fans.

It must be the lights else you would of had same issue

realy appricate everyones help with this

just trying to get some pic of my phone and will upload

Pics of tanks describe things more

Antony