Fish looked good at the lfs

I bought a NeonDotty Back [cool looking fish] at a lfs it looked good to me, but after a few day went by I saw him rubbing on the filter tub this went on for awhile then saw spots of white on him[ thought Ick] but I did see him under the rocks ,so I was thinking maybe just sand that was on the side of him it came and went from day to day .I had a Lawnmower Blenny that ate good[ algae off the rocks and back of tank] but he also started to rub ,I added a Dragon Goby, 7 day latter the NDB died than the DG died after only 8 days in the tank , and my LB stoped eating ,lying on the sand not moving around much ,came home from work and could not find him ! While checking my water like I do + taking samples in to have the lfs check them to. Everything checked out ok. Thats when They told me to treat with Rally then Kick-Ick to cure it .

My Q. when you buy fish from a place do most of them have something already but it doesn't show because they keep their fish in a mix of copper to either hide it or to cure it and when that fish gets stressed out it comes back after you put it into your tank ? If so then ,the only way to be sure that your not getting an infestation of something is to have a quarantine tank set up right ? Why don't the lfs tell you this from the start ? they say their fish do not have anything . From what I've found on Ick treatment on here ,the only way to kill Ick is to remove all the fish up to 12 weeks, is this true? I just spent 25$ on something that doesn't work? What about the Rally does it work? Thanks again!!

 

My LFS keeps copper in all his fish tanks.

Probably most do.

Is good thing to remember when adding new fish to tank.

Stress of move, probably brought on ICK....

Biggest need for QT and good acclimation.


Sorry,
:-/

 

I would first check your water first. Then go from there. This is one of the reasons why I like to introduce a new fish at night when the lights are off.

 

general rule of thump is always quarentine your fish it can save major headache later on down the road

also any lfs that tells ya that they qt all their fish is lying to you financialy it is very un cost effective to do this with all fish as the qt process takes 2 months to enshure the fish dosn't have anything

 

I see both of you have years of experience in reef tank's and I thank you for your advice !! Do you think that this Kick-Ick is any thing that will help ? I was told that a UV would kill microorganisms that would be harmful to the fish and treat severe outbreaks of disease. Do you know if this is true? and is something I should think about ? Right now the 3 clowns look the worst of all with spots on them.If I lost the 3 fish to water problems ,the tests did not show anything that sent up any red flags to me or the lfs , Then again the test strips are not very good anyway,and thats what they use at the lfs.
















ick

 

A UV filter will not "cure" the ick. All fish have ick, when they're healthy, thier slimmy skin protects them from getting the white spots. Something is stressing them out. Theres either a bully in the tank or their not eating properly. Try to introduce some garlic with they're feedings.

 

Luna
I see, The UV will not cure the fish, But after the Ick leaves the fish and is in the free swiming stage ,won't the UV kill Ick as the water goes through it ? If so, I can see as long as theirs any fish that still has this inside them there is no way to kill it all .Because you will always have a differnt stage going on all the time, is this right ?

You seem to be right, all this started after I put in the Dragon Goby and I did see him bite at some of the fish come to think of it !!

The garlic, is it to get them to eat better? or to make them healthier?

I feel that maybe the Kick-Ick treatment might help kill what is in the swim stage ,but after you stop the treatment any fish that still has this will start the cycle over again ? And you say all fish has this ,so the only way to cure them is to Qt each fish until all
ick leave the fish [weeks]until the cycle is over? Or that they will always carry it no matter what ?

 

My understanding of ick is this; ick is on all fish, but its slimmy skin keeps it in check. When the fish gets stressed, for whatever reason, that stress lowers its immune system. Just like us, we have all kinds of bac. on and inside us, but its our immune system that keeps it at bay. but when the bac over come the immune system(IS), we get sick or whatever. Same thing happens to the fish. Luna

 

As for the LB, feed him sheets of Nori on a clip, mine loves it! I am a big believer in "you are what you eat", I feed my fish mostly flake (Formula 2 flakes) w/ nori. A treat is mysis. The better the food, the healthier the fish the stronger and more resilant they are. I have used Kick Ick, need twice the dosage, acrylic always had a green film on it, and in the end didn't work. Try beef-ing up the fish w/ food, turn up the heat a little and see what happens.The last fish to get some Ick was my Coral Beauty, couple of spots he got after I got him, feed him a ton and it went away not to be seen again....knock on wood!!

 

I don't know if this will help, but I had a yellow tang with ick, the other did not show any signs. I went to the fish store and I was told to buy a cleaner wrasse, lower my salinity to .018-.019 ( which is a bit higher then they keep all the live stock in, to prevent and minimize parasites and disease) and also raise the tempterature for a copuple of weeks to 82 -85)

I followed the advice, and I am happy to report the ICk is gone.

I can't promise it will work, but it did for me, and if all else fails you may want to try this.