Loosing fish -ICK- NEED HELP!

[JARRETT SHARK]

I Am Losing Fish By The Day, I Have A Bad Case Of Ick( Fish Only Tank). Lost My Blue Line Tangs, Puffer, And About To Lose A Trigger, I Have Been Adding Copper When I First Saw It 5 Days Ago But Looks Like It Is Doing ****. Should I Do A Big Water Change ? Take Out All The Sand? Kill The Fish That Have It Now, The Only Fish That Looks Good Is My Ell. Need Help Asap

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

I Am Losing Fish By The Day, I Have A Bad Case Of Ick( Fish Only Tank). Lost My Blue Line Tangs, Puffer, And About To Lose A Trigger, I Have Been Adding Copper When I First Saw It 5 Days Ago But Looks Like It Is Doing ****. Should I Do A Big Water Change ? Take Out All The Sand? Kill The Fish That Have It Now, The Only Fish That Looks Good Is My Ell. Need Help Asap

Since already dosed copper, I would loose the sand immediately to make sure no die off causing more ammonia.

Did you check the dosage concentration right? Hypo is easier to control if your fish can hold long enough for that. As with hypo teatment, make sure your refractometer is calibrated correctly with seawater rating.

Do you mean eel of Ell? If former, eel should not be treated with copper

 

[marrone]

What copper are you using and what level are you keeping it at? Also are you testing it and if you are what kit are you using.

 

[pecan2phat]

You need to test the copper level since your dosing into the main tank. The sand and live rock will absorb a lot of the copper and your left with an inadequete dose. IME, dosing into a tank with with sand and or rocks will quickly absorb most of the copper which required up to 3x the recommended dosage.

 

[Solace Aquatics LLC]

You need to test the copper level since your dosing into the main tank. The sand and live rock will absorb a lot of the copper and your left with an inadequete dose. IME, dosing into a tank with with sand and or rocks will quickly absorb most of the copper which required up to 3x the recommended dosage.

agree, get the sand out if you can, i know it is a big tank, or treat in a quarantine tank if possible.

also get a good copper test kit, make sure it matches the type of copper you are putting in.

 

[Pinkheine]

Ick sucks. How much copper have you added already? When we first started in fish only, we used copper to try and clear up ick. It didn't end well... we lost many fish and ended up dumping everything in the 125g at the time. Not my favorite alternative to clearing up ick. And basically impossible to get out of the tank after the situation was no longer a situation.

More recently two years ago we had a case of ick in our 170g and did hyposalinity with excellent results and only one loss. (The fish that we think introduced the ick to the tank) We tried a freshwater dip on him, but he was too far gone at the time for it to do any good.

Also it is very likely that your eel will not be effected by the ick. They rarely ever are from our experiences.

 

[JARRETT SHARK]

What Is Hypo ? I Dont Have A Test Kit But Been Adding As Instructions Say, I Have A 600gal With Only About 40lbs Of Live Rock. I Have Skimmer Off And I Am Using Mardel - Cooper Used About 14oz Already, My Gropper Keeps Scrapping Off My The Live Rock. I HAVE CRUSHED COARAL AS MY SAND BED

 

[Pinkheine]

Hyposalinity... http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/hyposalinity.html

It takes time to do but we have had the best results with it in our 8+ years of keeping fish only.

You really have to get a copper test kit, and dosing what it says on the packaging I am not sure is recommended. If I remember correctly our LFS said to use half the dose on the box, this is going back a long time for me (CRS--can't remember ****) so don't take that to heart. Hopefully someone else that has used copper more recently can offer help.

The sand and the rocks will absorb it all though and it will take a lot of time to get the copper out of the tank, if at all.

 

[Alex]

just my two cents but I use to do the same to try and cure the fish of ick , recently I have been feeding my tank with kents garlic extreme and it has worked like a charm.

my most recent case involved a maroon clown which i put in my tank and two days later he had ick over his fins and back i quickly added the recommended amount of garlic for about two days and he has been ick free for five weeks about. the garlic does not harm anything else in tank. by the way the garlic smell can be quite unpleasant at the recommended dosage so be ready, good luck.

my tank has sps,lps,softies and two clams 120 galRR with about 10 fish and knock on wood everything is good.

 

[marrone]

You don't have enough copper in the tank, especially for a tank that size. You also shouldn't add copper unless you can test the amount you're putting.

I suggest you first get a copper test kit. Measure the copper you currently have in the tank and then bring the level up to 2.5. Once you reach this point you should see your start to get better.

I would also get a copper called Copper Power. It's very strong and you can treat at high levels without worrying about it killing your fish. They also sell 1gal containers, as with the size of your tank you'll need a lot of copper to bring it up to the correct level.

At this point I wouldn't remove the sand or LR, as it has absorb the copper already. Also you could cause more problems taking it out, especially if the tank has been running for a while.

 

[JARRETT SHARK]

If I Start The Hypo Do I Run My Skimmer To Get Out The Cooper, Or Do I Do A Water Change First, I Have To Do One This Week Anyway.do I Go From 1.20 To 1.12 That Quick Or Do It Over Time,thanks For All Your Help, I Am About To Jump Off A Roof

 

[marrone]

Also it is very likely that your eel will not be effected by the ick. They rarely ever are from our experiences.

Eels can and do get ich, though you don't usually see it. Because they have a thick mucus coating the ich isn't able to work its way out of the fish body. Most of the time when you see an eel with ich it usually effects the eyes.

 

[marrone]

If I Start The Hypo Do I Run My Skimmer To Get Out The Cooper, Or Do I Do A Water Change First, I Have To Do One This Week Anyway.do I Go From 1.20 To 1.12 That Quick Or Do It Over Time,thanks For All Your Help, I Am About To Jump Off A Roof

Before you start to do Hypo you need to do water changes and run poly pads. You also need to get the levels down to 1.007 for it to work, even then you need to make sure you have ich as Hypo only works on ich and in some case it doesn't work.

Since you're already started with copper I would continue using it. Just get a test kit and get it up to the correct level.

You have a large tank so it's going to take more copper, or medication, to solve problems. This why you should always QT all your fish.

 

[JARRETT SHARK]

How Much Of A Water Change Should I Do And What Are Poly Pads

 

[Pinkheine]

Eels can and do get ich, though you don't usually see it. Because they have a thick mucus coating the ich isn't able to work its way out of the fish body. Most of the time when you see an eel with ich it usually effects the eyes.

This is very true. Eels are suseptible to the same fish diseases, but like I said "in my experiences" it did not effect our eels to the point of death, if at all.

Since you're already started with copper I would continue using it. Just get a test kit and get it up to the correct level.

I would also say continue with copper at this point in time, especially considering the severity of the outbreak you are describing and the size of your tank. Good luck. Treating 125g I thought was a headache, later on 170g more headaches, yet we never set up a QT all those years. Now looking back I think about all the headaches and money we could have saved ourselves by setting up a small QT tank. Live and learn.

 

[marrone]

How Much Of A Water Change Should I Do And What Are Poly Pads

Enough to get the copper level down close to zero. You can also use carbon to help remove the copper too.

Poly pads are pads which remove things like copper, iron, ammonia and other things in the tank. A very good thing to have. Some Petlands sell them but more LFS should have them.

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/211561/product.web

 

[JARRETT SHARK]

So I Want To Make Sure I Do This Right, Do A Water Change (how Much ) Get My Salt Level To 1.07 And Do I Run My Skimmer? And Stop Adding Copper And Get It To Zero

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

So I Want To Make Sure I Do This Right, Do A Water Change (how Much ) Get My Salt Level To 1.07 And Do I Run My Skimmer? And Stop Adding Copper And Get It To Zero

WAIT and slow down a bit.

If you want to go for hypo the 1.007-1.009 is your final goal. To be save, you should do that over time in about 36 hours.

A rough, yet useful way to do is estimate by volume. Replace 20% water volume from your display tank with freshwater to start with. Do another 20% after 12 hours. Repeat this until 1.0007-1.009. make sure you match the pH. Hypo usually will cause the pH to drop.

I personally prefer 1.009.

 

[marrone]

At this point you need to get a test kit and measure what you copper level currently is.

If you plan on treating with copper then add more copper until you get to the level of 2.5.

If you plan on doing Hypo, depending on how much copper you have in the tank do a big enough water change to bring the level down to zero. Also add carbon and poly pads to also help bring the copper level down to zero.

Once it's close to zero you can start to do Hypo. Follow the directions, from the link posted below, and slowly bring down the SG to 1.007.

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/tr...osalinity.html


If your fish are really bad, and since you've already started to treat with copper, it's better to continue treating with copper. Just get a test kit and bring the copper up to the copper level.

 

[marrone]

Very important

If you plan on doing Hypo you need to make sure the SG is correct. So make sure you have a calibrated Refactormeter.