Clownfish help

I recently just added a young clownfish along with a young 4 striped damsel. They both have been fine and got used to the tank very well and today i noticed that my clownfish has some white spots appearing along his body. Today is the first sign of anything because he had nothing last night at feeding time and lights out. I ran some water test and here is what I came out with

GH- 180
KH- 240
PH- 7.9
No2-0
No3- 40 ppm
S.G.- 1.025
Amonia- 0

I know my ph dropped so i added some reef buffer just recently along with a little essential elements. And I know that my Nitrates are up too but I was just wondering if there is anything else i can do to reduce the stress on my tank. I know that the white spots come out when fish begin to get sick because just about two months ago I was battling some red hair algae and I had another 4 striped damsel along with a princess damsel and they both got white spots before they died because I used red slime, it killed my algae problem but killed my fish so i waited a few months before I added anything just to get my parameters back up to speed and everything was good and checked out well. I added the clown and damsel a week ago and today is the first sign of stress. I was just wondering is there anything I can do, learn or anything about what is going on. I have only been in the hobby for about a year now so im still a newbie with tons of questions and dreams. But please help me if you can. Thank You

 

it killed your fish because it released all the nutrients in the algae and cause a spike in parameters..
do you have a skimmer, a refugium?
whats your water change schedule
whats your tanksize?
whats your feeding schedule, and amount?

 

yea i know that when i used the red slime that it was going to possibly kill my fish because it was going to mess up my parameters but it took the algae away so trade off i guess. I have a twenty gallon tank with about maybe 15 pounds or so of live rock with one leather toadstool, a couple of lavender mushrooms that have been splitting and multiplying as of lately and I also have some Colt Coral that is starting to take dominance in the tank. While I was going through my battle with the red hair algae I was doing a water change once a week. Since it has gone away I have moved to every two weeks with 25% water changes. My last water change was a week and a half ago so i will be doing a water change on this Saturday or should I do one sooner. I run my lights from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. and feed between 6:30 and 7 no later than 7:30 ever. I feed my tank with a variety of things trying to keep a good diet for everything. I use frozen brine and mysis shrimp, along with some red flake and some dried purple seaweed. The fish dont care too much for the seaweed but the blue legs love it so i give it to them as a treat once in a while. I try not to give the same thing every night. I only use about a quarter of the tablets with the brine and mysis shrimp because there is just so much in one frozen tablet. They love it when i mix both the shrimp together. I also have been using some stuff my step dad gave me its like a red flake mix but its real fine and has alot of nutritious stuff and they love it too. I run a hang on skimmer that is rated for 60 gallons and two power heads giving me plenty of water movement. That was the other problem i had with the red hair algae i didnt have enough movement, but i got plenty of flow now. I also have a hang on filter that i run carbon with.

 

the brand of skimmer is just as important as what its rated for, so it you know that it will help too.
i would feed a good flake food as the staple instead frozen food. frozen food is very messy and will is probably alot of your nitrate problem. the brine shrimp, its important to figure out if there juvenile or adults shrimp. adults dont contain very much nutrition beside maybe some protein.

for you hob filter they also make nitrate sponge media(like carbon) so you can use that also

 

Hum... Ick?

 

to be honest i wouldnt be able to tell you what brand the skimmer is. My step dad gave me his to use until i could buy my own. so i couldnt tell you about it but i know that it was about 200 bucks. I use baby brine shrimp. I try not to give them it everyday but they seem to like it alot. I have heard about ICK but I dont exactly know what it is so i need to do some more research on it. I hope it gets better but I havent noticed any spots on my 4 stripe damsel. He seems fine so i dont know what is really going on here but I will try and see if i can get some pics posted but im sure yall all know what im talking about

 

I have heard from alot of people saying to use garlic with the food do you give them minced up garlic with the food in the tank or just soak a clover in with the food and take it out I dont want to screw anything up

 

just for an update for yall, tonight at feeding time i mixed some minced garlic with their food with about maybe 10-15 baby brine shrimp and some flake and I have noticed that about half of the spots have gone away since i turned the lights out on the tank. I dont know if its getting better or what but i hope its a good sign. Im still doing some more research so if anyone could help me out that would be awesome

 

I have heard that target feeding and more of it can help un-stress the tankmates. But this is good. Good job man... Karma!!

 

Hello bosshog,
Just read your post and I wouldn't panick. I have been through this a couple of times myself. It is not uncommon at all for new fish to show signs of ick after being introduced to a new tank. Its caused by the stress of the move and as long as it is still eating well it should pull through just fine. There is a some stuff called garlic guard you can get from your Lfs that is a liquid that you soak the food in. But i have heard of others that just use stuff right from your grocery store that works just as well. It helps boost the fish immune system to help fight off the ick. The spots will dissapear and come back a few times but this is normal.(Part of the parasite cycle). I made the mistake of trying the freshwater dips and quarentine method with meds the first time I had this problem and that just stresses the fish out more and in turn lowers their immune system. If the clown is still eating try the garlic and keep an eye on him. Watch for poor appitite and trouble breathing. If this starts to occur then you may want to resort to other means of treatment. The less stress the fish has right now the better. Hope this helps.