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GeoGirl
04/28/2016, 05:04 AM
I have an outbreak of Ich and already failed at dealing with it so I want to figure out that is the best corse of action. Let me give you all the background information on what has/is going on.

So i have a 75g saltwater tank with LED lighting and a refugium filtration system. The tank is technically a new tank, but has been running for almost a month. I have been in the brown algae stage for a week to a week and a half. I have 2 young ocellaris clowns and a young female a scotter blenny/dragonet. I got a blue tang 2 weeks ago after checking that all of our water parameters were perfect. She was eating mysis dosed with garlic in the store really well. (The store puts garlic on all of the food they use) But of course, once she got into her new home the dreaded Ich reared its ugly head. I quickly got a cleaner shrimp (his name is Bubba) to help me out. I gave her two 5 min freshwater swims a day for week. She continued to eat really well (food still containing garlic) and as the week went on she no longer went to Bubba for cleaning and the Ich cleared up. Thought all was well. Everyone was happy and eating well. The algae was starting to get out of hand so I got 4 turbo snails to help me out. Then, two days ago, I got up in the morning and looked in my tank. The blue tank was covered in Ich! I gave she a freshwater dip and then put her back in the tank. During the day she received another dip with water dosed with garlic. That evening she was looking worse. So I decided to set up a hospital tank using my old 10g tank. I took live sand from the 75g and some live rock as well, I then made sure the tank was brought up to the correct temperature. I used the 10g hang on the back filter that was with the tank. I put the blue tank in this tank. The next morning she was still doing pretty bad so I did another dip and went to the fish store to get cuparmine to treat the tank. When I got back I put the proper amount of cuparmine in the tank and pulled the filter cartridge from the filter. The tang was still eating very well at this point. That night (may 26) I tested the water quality. There was a small ammonia spike (0.25) so I did a 2g water change and went to bed. In the morning the tang was dead. I tested the water again and there had been a big ammonia spike during the night that I think most likely resulted in the death of my tang. Discouraged and disappointed I poured out the water, through away the sand and sterilized rock. I tanked to the most knowledgeable person I know (the owner of my favorite fish store) about what had happened. He said three thing, 1) the filtration system was insufficient and that caused part of my ammonia spike 2) that the hospital tank needs to be very well-established so that it can tolerate extreme conditions and treatments and 3) an active host should always be taken out of your display tank ASAP so the Ich doesn't multiply and cause more problems, especially if you cannot treat your display tank because of the invertebrates. Great lesson learned...

Well here is where my current problem is, when I came home the yesterday (evening of the 27th) the clowns and the scotter had Ich. Crap! So I need to get then out of the tank and into treatment ASAP. I will NOT loose them too! So I once again set the 10g up. I look water from the tank, live sand, live sand, cuparmine, and added live bacteria. Then I brought the tank to the correct temperature. Now I know that I need a better filter. I need to get a sponge filter but the stores were closed so I couldn't buy one. The soonest I can get one from Amazon is on Friday, which is too late. My little babies need treatment sooner than that! So I took the sponge from my refugium and cut a chunk off and put it in the 10g filter. I turned everything on and let the tank run for an hr or so. And to be safe I tested the water. I got a 0.5 ammonia reading.

Here are my questions for you guys: 1) why did I get an ammonia spike? There is plenty of bacteria. Did the cupparmine kill the live sand/Rock/bacteria? But regardless, I know I can't put my fish in that tank with that reading and I want zero ammonia before I do put any fish in there. So 2) what do I do now? I need to help my fishes.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I'm relatively new to this hobby, but I spend a lot of time making sure everything is correct so the fish can be super happy. I really do care a lot about my fish and I want and need to figure out what to do.

Bruce51
04/28/2016, 06:11 AM
read this http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2388428

lose the sand and rock in hospital tank
do TTM
leave main display fallow for 72+ days

Dmorty217
04/28/2016, 07:32 AM
I would recommend getting and reading this book

http://www.walmart.com/ip/The-Marine-Fish-Health-Feeding-Handbook-The-Essential-Guide-to-Keeping-Saltwater-Species-Alive-and-Thriving/8143239?reviews_limit=10&

spsrookie
04/28/2016, 07:45 AM
Month old tank? Making strong case for the PETA crew to sing fish should remain in the ocean

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