ICK ON LARGE BLUE DOG FACED PUFFER

[chip]

I have a 6 week old 150 gal. set up. Started it with live rock (not much, I'm told), several damsels and crushed coral . At 5 weeks the water was approved by the store for fish. I added a large Blue Dog Faced Puffer that I had on hold at the store. They told me I had to add all the fish at the same time because they were territorial. So in went a medium lunar Wrasse, large Majestic Butterfly, med. Powder Blue Tang, and med. Greenbird Wrasse. All seemed to be doing ok so within a few days I stupidly bought more fish. Several small varieties, blennie, goby, small Purple Tang, anemonies, Soft Corals ect. How Stupid of ME. I did not quarentine any of them. I can only blame ignorance and hast. ALL MY FAULT. ICK spread quickly, but was severe by the time I realized it was there. I added CU to 20 (24 hrs. now) also removed all the corals), am lowering the salinity (now at 1.021), added a UV sterilizer 24 hrs. ago. Amonia and nitrates were only slightly high, so I added an agent to correct this. Now those levels look ok. A few small fish remain, but all others have died EXCEPT THE FAVORED PUFFER "CHIP. His eyes are covered (with what looks like two layers of white plaque). He can't see so he won't eat. All though he seems slightly perkier than yesterday (but not much). We will do anything to save him!!! But dont know how to set up a hospital or QT tank. Since our main/display tank is so infected, where/how do we get BIO-READY water to put in an hospital tank. Its easy to get salt water, but it would not have a biological filter that is necessary for nitrite/nitrate maint (Where/how do you get cycled water). Also since I added CU to main tank with live rock will that rock be dead when all this is over and time has passed. And will I need to start from the beginning cycling a new tank again. OH PLEASE HELP US SAVE CHIP.

Signed STUPID

[Pufferpunk]

So sorry this has to be your 1st post here!
Some articles for you:
library/hospital/qtine/
library/hospital/qtine/
library/puffers-in-focus/big-marine-pufferfish-care/

There is no chemical for removing ammonia/nitrite. Please don't add any! ANY amount of ammonia/nitrite is extremely toxic & stressful for your fish & should remain 0 at all times. Lots of water changes are the only way to remove those toxins. Do you have a Rubbermaid or Brute garbage can fot mixint SW? If not, you're going to need one. Get a big Rubbermaid trough for a QT. You'll be doing lots of water changes, since you can't cycle a tank you are lowering the SG in for hypo.

Where are you located?

[chip]

So sorry this has to be your 1st post here!
Some articles for you:
library/hospital/qtine/
library/hospital/qtine/
library/puffers-in-focus/big-marine-pufferfish-care/

There is no chemical for removing ammonia/nitrite. Please don't add any! ANY amount of ammonia/nitrite is extremely toxic & stressful for your fish & should remain 0 at all times. Lots of water changes are the only way to remove those toxins. Do you have a Rubbermaid or Brute garbage can fot mixint SW? If not, you're going to need one. Get a big Rubbermaid trough for a QT. You'll be doing lots of water changes, since you can't cycle a tank you are lowering the SG in for hypo.

Where are you located?

I have a 30 gallon tank I can use for a QT or I will buy a bigger one. I dm not mixing my own SW. I am buying it at the FS so I'm sure the salinity/SG is stable at 1.020. The frequent water changes defeats the biofilter dosent it? And how much water should I change per day or every other day?

[Pufferpunk]

The biofilter is not in the water column. It lives on solid objects, like in the live rock & sand. In QT, you will not have any biofilter & will be needing to do tons of WC on the tank, to keep the animals from poisoning themselves with their waste. Do you live in a house? If you do, get yourself a large Brute garbage can (Sam's Club has 33g) & a big powerhead. Buy the salt by the bucket & get yourself a hydrometer or better yet, a refractometer & calibration solution to calibrate it correctly. Start mixing your own salt. Bought SW is going to be very expensive for you otherwise! You don't have a lot of time here...

[chip]

The biofilter is not in the water column. It lives on solid objects, like in the live rock & sand. In QT, you will not have any biofilter & will be needing to do tons of WC on the tank, to keep the animals from poisoning themselves with their waste. Do you live in a house? If you do, get yourself a large Brute garbage can (Sam's Club has 33g) & a big powerhead. Buy the salt by the bucket & get yourself a hydrometer or better yet, a refractometer & calibration solution to calibrate it correctly. Start mixing your own salt. Bought SW is going to be very expensive for you otherwise! You don't have a lot of time here...

thank you
on my way to store now

[nmonks]

Lowering the salinity in a FOWLR tank or one with soft corals isn't wise; you may kill the Ick parasites, but you'll also kill most of the invertebrates.

Arothron nigropunctatus tolerates reduced salinity very well (though it isn't as euryhaline as Arothron hispidus, as far as I know). So moving the pufferfish to a hospital tank is extremely wise. Channeling Bob Fenner for a moment, the only reliable way to remove Ick from a marine aquarium is to leave it fallow (without fish) for a period of several weeks. Any other method, including all those sold as "reef safe" come with some (substantial) degree of risk, and killing invertebrates messes up water quality and diminishes the attractiveness of your aquarium.

This article of mine might be of interest.

Cheers, Neale

[Pufferpunk]

I totally agree!!! I thought he was going to QT them?

[chip]

Lowering the salinity in a FOWLR tank or one with soft corals isn't wise; you may kill the Ick parasites, but you'll also kill most of the invertebrates.

Arothron nigropunctatus tolerates reduced salinity very well (though it isn't as euryhaline as Arothron hispidus, as far as I know). So moving the pufferfish to a hospital tank is extremely wise. Channeling Bob Fenner for a moment, the only reliable way to remove Ick from a marine aquarium is to leave it fallow (without fish) for a period of several weeks. Any other method, including all those sold as "reef safe" come with some (substantial) degree of risk, and killing invertebrates messes up water quality and diminishes the attractiveness of your aquarium.

This article of mine might be of interest.

Cheers, Neale

Hes been in a QT since yesterday but with penicillin. Looks no better his eyes are awful thick white plaques on them. He cant see, so therefore he is not eating. What is causing the plaques on his eyes. And how do I remove it (what med.). I think if he could see he would eat. I am doing a water change today on QT and main tank. Main tank still has small fishes that are eating and doing well.

[nmonks]

The white stuff on the eyes is likely dead skin. Slightly reduced salinity and the use of an antibiotic can help support the fish while it heals naturally. An optimal diet, and especially the use of supplementary vitamins (e.g., Selcon), will improve the odds of recovery. Can take months to fully heal; avoid stressing the fish by repeatedly moving it from one tank to another, and be sure to provide a cave of some sort in the hospital tank to encourage the fish to feel more settled.

Cheers, Neale

Hes been in a QT since yesterday but with penicillin. Looks no better his eyes are awful thick white plaques on them. He cant see, so therefore he is not eating. What is causing the plaques on his eyes. And how do I remove it (what med.). I think if he could see he would eat. I am doing a water change today on QT and main tank. Main tank still has small fishes that are eating and doing well.

[Pufferpunk]

Ate you doing hypo in the QT? Are there any other fish in the other tank? You must hypo ALL of them & leave the tank empty for 8 weeks.

[jdak]

Bought SW is going to be very expensive

And heavy!


No report yet OP?