I need some advice on quarantine

[gbr]

Hello Steven, great article in October. You probably don't remember but I had a Sohal Tang that you commented on in the disease forum about not using Formalin in FW. Well he did good after the first dip and was looking great but is now dead along with all of the other fish in my tank. I had taken them all out and put them in a 30 gal QT. The blennies (lawnmower and bicolor) died due to lack of food as did the leopard wrasse and scooter blenny. The tang was the last hold out and died for unknown reasons. He was looking great and doing much better but when I got home today he was covered in slime and almost white. Upon his eventual death two hours later I disected him and saw absolutely nothing parasitic on him but I don't know what to look for. This is getting long for what boils down to "I don't know what I am doing." On a good note...the tank looks great with all corals and no fish.

How do you QT a fish that doesn't eat anything but algae? The sinking tablets didn't work. I think I can handle the pod eating fish with amphipods and brine.

What should I have done with the tang? I am really ticked that he died. If you can't ID a disease, what do you do?

As I do not have access to good meds locally, can you recommend a good stock list for my medicine cabinet so I can be prepared when I start buying more fish (one at a time this time)?

[Steven Pro]

Hello Steven, great article in October.
Thank you!

You probably don't remember but I had a Sohal Tang that you commented on in the disease forum about not using Formalin in FW.
I actually do remember the thread. For others reading this, it is here,
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=478003

Well he did good after the first dip and was looking great but is now dead along with all of the other fish in my tank.
Bummer

I had taken them all out and put them in a 30 gal QT. The blennies (lawnmower and bicolor) died due to lack of food as did the leopard wrasse and scooter blenny.
No offense, but that would not be my first guess. Starvation typically takes months. I would be more inclined to believe ammonia toxicity from an overcrowded QT or cycling issues or ...

How do you QT a fish that doesn't eat anything but algae?
I feed a lot of nori and various frozen foods to entice finicky eaters.

What should I have done with the tang?
The only ting I would have done differently is not QT everyone if you were not prepared for it. As I said before, my best guess for the deaths would be from an unestablished biological filter for the QT tank. The other possibility is the dark spot pathogen in and of itself, whatever it was.

If you can't ID a disease, what do you do?
The best you can do is try to eliminate possibilities.

As I do not have access to good meds locally, can you recommend a good stock list for my medicine cabinet so I can be prepared when I start buying more fish (one at a time this time)?
There is a picture of what I keep on hand in my QT article. The image and caption are about halfway down,
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/sp/feature/index.htm

[gbr]

Thanks so far. I still have many questions that I guess will be answered with time. The ammonia was reading zero by Salifert test kit. The fish literally dropped from healthy to dead in 24 hours which was the last time I tested for ammonia so I guess if it could build that quickly??? There was 10# of live rock in there that was handling the load according to the test but that is all academic now. The rock is out and I have 3 aquaclear sponges in my fuge getting bacteria. One fish at a time is how I will proceed from now on.

I see all of your meds and am assuming most are in a dry form. I really am overloaded with what each does so can you suggest a "top five" or something that I can get onhand for my next purchase and a good online source (not for the fish but the meds)? A brand name would also be great as most online retailers don't list ingredients.

If I don't think it was tank conditions, and I am not doubting that it could have been but I am trying to eliminate possibilities, could it have been an internal parasite that infested all 5 fish? I actually opened up the tang within 15 minutes of death to look for parasites (no I didn't see any and I really don't know what I was looking for, all I have is a mag-glass) and he stunk terribly. Is that a sign or do they all stink? I have cleaned 1000's of freshwater food fish and never smelled anything that terrible. How would you go about treating an unknown internal parasite? Hyposalinity?

Thank you for your personal attention. I really want to become proficient at this but I have no experience and unless the disease is ICH I have no real diagnostic skills.

[Steven Pro]

As for medications to have on hand:

Seachem's Cupramine and Copper Test kit - Good for treating either Cryptocaryon or Amyloodinium

Formalin (any brand should do) - necessary for treating Brooklyenlla

Methylene Blue (again any brand) - useful in FW dips to treat a variety of bacterial and fungal infections

Garlic Extract - appetite stimulant and probable deworming agent

I am really not sure what your Tang had, so it is hard to me to guess what else could have killed the other fish.