Help Please!

[fishwatcher]

As you all know I'm new to salt water tanks. I have a 30 gal with a clown (ocellaris), a red-lipped blenny and just this weekend I got a Royal Gramma/Fairy Basslet.
When I bought the RG I was told they'd had it for almost a month and that it's been doing great, etc., etc. So, I acclimated him slowly, he's chosen a nice little cave out front and has started to get bolder.
Well, last night I noticed my clown flicked a few times, but didn't realize saltwater fish could get ich, so I thought I was imagining things. Wrong! This morning he has 3 white spots on him!!! After looking online I have done a freshwater dip, a heavy dosed Formaline dip, and then put him in the QT treated with Formaline. He seems to be doing ok - no signs of stress.
My QT tank is only 2.5 gal, by the way, with a in-tank bubbler filter, a heater and a clay pot for hiding.
Now my blenny started flicking a few minutes ago! Should I move him and the RG to the QT too or just hope they fight it off? I have LR, snails, a starfish and hermits in the main tank, so I can't treat it as a whole.
All of my stats are great... amm 0, nitrite 0, nitrates <5, ph 8.2, sg 1.026, temp 78. Everything was fine until the RG came along, but so far he looks perfect. I'm at a loss as to what caused this.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I feel I'm already failing at this...

 

[littleme1969]

2.5 g is a bad idea for a QT tank and as for ich its spreads like wildfire when it gets hold and if you dont QT and treat quickly you can have a tank whipe out in days One of the down sides of saltwater i'm afraid. Ive never lost a sigle freshwater fish in 5 years to ich, but lost a clown in 1 month in salt water
I would get a bigger QT tank, and treat with propper meds quickly and just cross your fingers.

 

[fishwatcher]

I'll get a 10g tomorrow then. I thought of 1 small fish being in the 2.5 gal - it never occurred to me that I would have to hospitalize all of them at once.
I never lost a FW fish to ich, either. This sw thing sure is different!
Thanks for the help!

 

[Musho3210]

sw ich seems a lot more bad than freshwater (they are different diseases with similar life-cycles and syptoms)

copper and hyposalinity are both the most common treatments (both done in a QT tank of course). Some people dont "treat" but rather feed lots of garlic and strong foods and keeping water as pristine as possible and the ich just goes away, sometimes though.....

 

[AK77]

Do you have any cleaner shrimp or fireshrimp in your tank? If not, get a few. They will set up cleaning stations around the tank. If the fish is suffering from the parasite, it will swim up to the shrimps and allow them to clean it. The shrimps will pick the whitespots off, clean inside the mouth and gills too if necessary. You may be able to beat the parasite this way.

If the other two fish start to develop white spots or are frequently flashing off of rocks, then get them out of the main tank an into quarantine with a whitespot treatment. A 2 minute freshwater bath may help burst the parasites off too, before placing them into the medicated water.

Leave them in the QT for 7 - 10 days. Raise the water temperature in both tanks to 82-84F. This will speed up the life cycle of the parasite. In the main tank this will result in the death of the parasite as it will not be able to find a host. Similarly in the QT, the parasite will be killed by the medication in the water. It might be prudent to run an airstone in the QT due to the higher water temps to aid oxygen exchange.

You have my sympathy. Ich cost me £110 of fish.

Quarantine ALL fish before you add them to your display tank. Since I got a QT, I now treat any new fish as if it was infected, and medicate the water.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[SkiFletch]

Ok, here's the good news. It may not be Ich. Clownfish have their own parasite calld Brooknella with the same symptoms as Ich, but very rarely the ferocity of infection. In many cases Brooknella will show its ugly head in the form of a handful of spots on clownfish, stick around for a couple days, and then go away if the clown is kept healthy and well-fed. If the fish is stressed out it's immune system's effectiveness will be comprimised and THEN it's in trouble.

All that said, treating with hyposalinity in a QT tank is the only way to go IMO. Drop the salinity to 1.009, and put a few pieces of LR rubble around a sponge filter. Always have 10g of saltwater (matched salinity and temperature to the QT) mixing to do an immediate water change should the ammonia spike. Do not be afraid to do a 100% water change if the ammonia climbs, cause ammonia will stress the fish, comprimise the immune system and basd things can happen.

As for QT time, IMO, a minimum of 4 weeks should be observed. After loosing more than half of my wrasses to ich and untold amounts of emotional and monetary loss, I'm taking 0 chances with this freaking parasite. 8 weeks QT for anything, including the survivors. Might be drastic, but I'd rather NEVER go through that loss again.

 

[Musho3210]

extended quarantine may also help kill the parasites in the main tank since they will die without a host.

 

[AK77]

8 weeks QT for anything, including the survivors. Might be drastic, but I'd rather NEVER go through that loss again.

WERD!

 

[fishwatcher]

What to answer first....
I do have 2 peppermint shrimp, but not sure if those are cleaner shrimp or not. If not, what kind are?
Should I leave the other fish in the main tank if I get cleaner shrimp and see if they'll keep them clean? Last night I did a FW dip and high-concentrate formaline dip on the blenny bc it was flicking a lot. This morning (it's 8:30 here) he has some spots. Now I don't know if he was going to get them anyway or if I just stressed him more and more until he did.
So, do I fish him back out of the tank and put him in QT too? Do you suggest both the hyposalinity treatment along with the medication? Will the meds kill the LR if I add some in the QT tank?
I have been using Amquel Plus to help with amm, nitrites and nitrates. Should I continue to use that?
I will be picking up a 10g tank and larger heater this morning, as well as a cleaner shrimp if you think it will help.
Thanks so much!!! This really sucks....

 

[AK77]

What to answer first....
I do have 2 peppermint shrimp, but not sure if those are cleaner shrimp or not. If not, what kind are?
Should I leave the other fish in the main tank if I get cleaner shrimp and see if they'll keep them clean? Last night I did a FW dip and high-concentrate formaline dip on the blenny bc it was flicking a lot. This morning (it's 8:30 here) he has some spots. Now I don't know if he was going to get them anyway or if I just stressed him more and more until he did.
So, do I fish him back out of the tank and put him in QT too? Do you suggest both the hyposalinity treatment along with the medication? Will the meds kill the LR if I add some in the QT tank?
I have been using Amquel Plus to help with amm, nitrites and nitrates. Should I continue to use that?
I will be picking up a 10g tank and larger heater this morning, as well as a cleaner shrimp if you think it will help.
Thanks so much!!! This really sucks....

Peppermint shrimps are too shy to perform fish cleaning services TBH. The cleaner shrimps I mentioned are called Skunk Cleaner Shrimp - (Lysmata amboinensis).

.

Fireshrimp will also perform this task, so try getting one of those too.

If the blenny has spots on it, then I'd get him into the QT tank. Keep an eye on the remaining fish for the same flashing behaviour. I'd stick to the medication for the time being. Hyposalinity can be dangerous if performed incorrectly. The fish may still have white spots on them, but with medicated water, the parasite will not be able to reinfect them, as its the free swimming stage that is susceptible to the treatement.

NEVER add medical treatments to your display tank. The copper in the majority of these will kill the invertebrates and will remain in the tank and can be difficult to get rid of. It would also nuke your corals if you had some. Its always best to remove the infected fish to a QT to begin treatements. I would even be wary of invertebrate/reef safe treatments too, Lee on here added it some to his main tank and it killed some of his.

 

[Filmoholic]

There is a product called ''No Ich'' It looks just like water.Made in ohio. This is completely reef/invert safe with no copper! This stuff performs miracles on your tank. I have way to many corals and lr too ever get a fish out of the tank so for me I cannot stress how well it works. my tangs have each got ich once before and I'm telling you 1 treatment and you will notice the differents.so too risk all the fw dips and the qt pain give it a try. It can be alittle exspensive but what is more important?

 

[fishwatcher]

I just got back with a skunk/cleaner shrimp and a neon goby (was told they are cleaner fish). I'll put them in the main tank with the fish that don't have white spots and keep the ones in QT that do with the medicated water. I may have a look around for that "No Ich" stuff if this doesn't work.
Thanks for the advice guys! I'll keep checking on the post and keep you updated as thing progress.

 

[shibby]

good luck. neon gobys are machines known as doctor fish in my opinion better then cleaners cus they clean parasites and fungal and many are tank bred now wooo.

 

[fishwatcher]

I sure hope it will help... I'm just wondering how I'll keep the neon from getting ich.

 

[SkiFletch]

I sure hope it will help... I'm just wondering how I'll keep the neon from getting ich.

Lol good point.

Just to clarify, medicate, OR do hyposalinity, NEVER both. And if doing hyposalinity, acclimate the fish very very slowly.