dying clownfish

65 gal tank just finished cycling last week. while cycling i had 2 clownfishes and 2 green chromis. the clowns had white spects all over before they died (one after the other). i figured because cycling was not done yet so that was one possibility. however, i bought 2 more after tank was done cycling. now one of them is also dead with, again, white spects all over (and the mouth part was just white). now the other one has white spots and white patches. chromis still alive and they been there 24 hours after i started the tank. i only had these clowns for 4 days. could it be the high phosphate reading? api test shows 5.

 

it sounds like you have a bad case of ich

 

they say add a little garlic to your food and find an ich treatment that isn't copper based or it will kill the fish anyway

 

Copper doesn't kill the fish, it's bad for the rest of your tank though. Any inverts and coral will likely die from copper treatment and it can stay in LR for a LOOONNG time, affecting future inhabitants. I would add a little garlic to the food and take your time. 4 fish is too much for any tank that young. I would let your chromies chill in there alone for another month before adding anything. What are your other params, such as ammonia, nitrite and nitrates? How much LR do you have? A pic of the tank would say alot too.

Thanks.

 

Hey Joey519. Does sound like ich. Search the forum as there have been many good discussions on the subject. I would not add any more fish for at least 4 weeks. The ich parasite has a life cycle that varies from 4-6 weeks. If you keep adding stressed fish (just about all fish added to a new tank have some form of stress) the parasite has a host and the cycle continues. Some say all tanks have ich that is dormant. I beg to differ and believe without a host, it cannot survive. The bottom line though is keeping your fish healthy. With such a young tank, resist the urge to get anything new. Let your tank mature and you will reap the benefits.

Sorry for your losses.

 

thanks