Help! I think my fish is sick! Idk what to do?

sappho · 05/20/2016, 01:06 PM

My yellow tank is scratched up? I saw him scratching, checked the water and realized the pH was low (>7.4) so I put some baking soda in it and got the pH back up to around 8 but my tang has an orange spot on his tail where he was rubbing against the rocks. I read that as long as the wound does not fester, I need not intervene. Its now been a couple days all water parameters are good but my tang is still scratching pretty aggressively? I have checked him quite closely but I see no indication of ick and none of the other fish are having difficulties. What do I do?

billdogg · 05/20/2016, 02:13 PM

More information would help figure out a plan.

Tank size and age
filtration
sump?
lights
reactors
ro/di?
actual numbers for parameters
other inhabitants

Regardless, it probably should be removed to a hospital/qt tank until it gets better, if for no other reason than the fact that whatever might be going on could very well be passed on to other fish. It is also much easier to medicate (if needed) a smaller volume of water.

Bent · 05/20/2016, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sappho

My yellow tank is scratched up? I saw him scratching, checked the water and realized the pH was low (>7.4) so I put some baking soda in it and got the pH back up to around 8 but my tang has an orange spot on his tail where he was rubbing against the rocks. I read that as long as the wound does not fester, I need not intervene. Its now been a couple days all water parameters are good but my tang is still scratching pretty aggressively? I have checked him quite closely but I see no indication of ick and none of the other fish are having difficulties. What do I do?

Ok stop dude.

1: throw the ph tester in the trash, you don't need it. And stop buffering the water, sudden changes are stressful for all the animals. This isn't about chasing numbers.

2: the animals behavior is from an opportunistic pathogen. Exactly which one is hard to say. We need some pics to form a diagnosis here. The spots you see are from the organism and not from the scratching.

3: yellow tangs are prone to bacterial infections.

4: not having visible white spots does not rule out ich, but given the other descriptions given, it's likely bacterial.

Answer some questions here.

1: how old is the aquarium.
2: what size is the aquarium..
3: how long has the tang been in your aquarium.
4: is this a fish only tank or a reef?
5: what other living things are present in the tank. (Tankmates)
6: what is the last thing you added to the tank.
7: did you put this tang through a QT process.
8: is the fish eating? If so, what have you been feeding it.
9: where does your source water come from?
10: recent parameters other than the pH.

Answer those as detailed as possible and post a pic of the subject, we will try to fix him.

sappho · 05/29/2016, 05:19 PM

Aquarium is 6-7 months old
55 gal (I know the tank is too small, the person i got it from told me it was 90 gals and im working on getting a more appropriate sized tank)
tang went in just after cycle finished (4-5months)
FOWLR plus a shrimp
Dogface puffer (again, she is very small and im working on a new tank), flame clownfish, strawberry dottyback, starry blenny, peppermint shrimp
blenny was the last thing added to the tank, didnt qt him as he was in a copper treatment tank when i got him
tang was the first thing in the tank so no qt
all fish are doing great and eating just fine
I feed them shrimp, calamari, octopus, clams, scallops
i have an RODI system
ammonia:0, nitrite:0, nitrate:0, phosphates: 2ppm
i did a water change and the tang doesnt have any redness anymore but is still rubbing
Thank you!!

firefly73 · 05/29/2016, 05:56 PM

ahhh dont know whether id trust 0 n03. what kit? a fo tank you must be changing alot of water to keep it that low. id double check that at a store or mates kit. you may find levels are much higher . leading to immune system issues etc. other than that may just be one of those things but out of all your fish he is the most sensitive.

sappho · 05/29/2016, 06:01 PM

I have the API kit and it worked fine when i was cycling. I put denitrate in a media bag in the corner of my tank. Since then my nitrates have been zero every time i checked

snorvich · 05/30/2016, 05:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sappho

blenny was the last thing added to the tank, didnt qt him as he was in a copper treatment tank when i got him

Coming from a copper environment is the worst possible situation. Most likely he brought in ich.

johnike · 05/30/2016, 05:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by snorvich

Coming from a copper environment is the worst possible situation. Most likely he brought in ich.

Yep.

billdogg · 05/30/2016, 05:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by snorvich

Coming from a copper environment is the worst possible situation. Most likely he brought in ich.

What he said. The reason is that because the amount of copper in the water was almost certainly less than that which is need to kill the Ich parasite all it did was mask the disease in the fish, and possibly eliminate some of the parasites. The problem with that is that the ones that are left will be more resistant to copper, making it's use even less likely to solve the problem.

At this point, your best (only, IMHO) option will be to catch all the fish, QT them and using the Tank Transfer Method (TTM, see sticky at top of page) get past the problem. It will require you to run your DT fallow (completely fishless - inverts are ok) for a MINIMUM of 72 days.

The moral of this story is:

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS QT YOUR NEW ADDITIONS!!!!

There is no such thing as a LFS that does it properly - it is the new owners responsibility to do it, and do it the right way!

nitratepetra1 · 05/31/2016, 02:10 PM

another good option would be to take a picture to your lfs and see if they can help.

Sk8r · 05/31/2016, 02:32 PM

Go to the fish disease forum for treatment options.

hkgar · 05/31/2016, 02:35 PM

Regarding QT, even though it is too late, just because it is the 1st fish, does not negate the need to QT. If the 1st fish introduces Ick your tank needs to go fallow for at least 72 days. You could do Hyposalinity method in the DT , but you will lose your inverts.

sappho · 06/06/2016, 05:00 PM

I made a mistake in my info, the clownfish was the one in the copper not the blenny. the clownfish was added just a month after the tang. Does this change anything?
also the ammonia level keeps spiking? it seems to correlate with the tangs rubbing. Idk whats wrong. I know i cycled the tank correctly and i havent been having any problems with ammonia until a few weeks ago. i reduced the feeding and that helped a bit.
Could the heat have something to do with it? The room has been very hot recently due to the weather but i have kept a close eye on the water temp and it stays 80 or below. It doesnt fluctuate much but it was consistently 75 before

jbvdhp · 06/06/2016, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sappho

I made a mistake in my info, the clownfish was the one in the copper not the blenny. the clownfish was added just a month after the tang. Does this change anything?
also the ammonia level keeps spiking? it seems to correlate with the tangs rubbing. Idk whats wrong. I know i cycled the tank correctly and i havent been having any problems with ammonia until a few weeks ago. i reduced the feeding and that helped a bit.
Could the heat have something to do with it? The room has been very hot recently due to the weather but i have kept a close eye on the water temp and it stays 80 or below. It doesnt fluctuate much but it was consistently 75 before

COULD be ammonia burn, but maybe not.

Have you checked for anything that is dying/dead? Ammonia shouldn't spike if your bio filter is appropriate.

sappho · 06/08/2016, 10:15 PM

Nothing could be dead, all my critters are accounted for.
The ammonia spiked again today. It appears that my bio filter isnt working >__< what could cause this?

sappho · 06/08/2016, 10:36 PM

one of the filters on my rodi system has gotten pretty orange but i wasnt concerned because it isnt that old. Could this have causes some chemicals from the tap to be introduced into my tank and killed off some of my bacteria?

shifty51008 · 06/09/2016, 06:17 AM

the ammonia spike could be from feeding to much, not enough filtration, ect. how much rock do you have? do you have a skimmer, any other type of filter?

as for your rodi unit unless it is produceing 0ppm TDS it is hard to say what it is putting into the tank. do you have a TDS meter?

Nina51 · 06/09/2016, 07:27 AM

i assume you are doing regular water changes? if so, are you stirring up the sand a lot? if you are, that can cause lots of nasties to be released from your sand bed which can cause a mini cycle sort of situation.

05/20/2016, 01:06 PM	#1
sappho Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 42	Help! I think my fish is sick! Idk what to do? My yellow tank is scratched up? I saw him scratching, checked the water and realized the pH was low (>7.4) so I put some baking soda in it and got the pH back up to around 8 but my tang has an orange spot on his tail where he was rubbing against the rocks. I read that as long as the wound does not fester, I need not intervene. Its now been a couple days all water parameters are good but my tang is still scratching pretty aggressively? I have checked him quite closely but I see no indication of ick and none of the other fish are having difficulties. What do I do?

05/20/2016, 02:13 PM	#2
billdogg Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Grove City, Ohio Posts: 10,806	More information would help figure out a plan. Tank size and age filtration sump? lights reactors ro/di? actual numbers for parameters other inhabitants Regardless, it probably should be removed to a hospital/qt tank until it gets better, if for no other reason than the fact that whatever might be going on could very well be passed on to other fish. It is also much easier to medicate (if needed) a smaller volume of water. __________________ I'll try to be nice if you try to be smarter! I can't help that I grow older, but you can't make me grow up! Current Tank Info: 120 mixed reef with 40b sump, RO 150 skimmer, AI Sol Blue x 2, and a 60g Frag Tank with 100g rubbermaid sump. 2 x Kessil A360w lights, BM curve 5 skimmer

05/29/2016, 05:56 PM	#5
firefly73 LOVE HANDLE JACKAROO Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: adelaide south australia Posts: 147	ahhh dont know whether id trust 0 n03. what kit? a fo tank you must be changing alot of water to keep it that low. id double check that at a store or mates kit. you may find levels are much higher . leading to immune system issues etc. other than that may just be one of those things but out of all your fish he is the most sensitive. __________________ So many ways to achieve to same outcome Current Tank Info: holds water

05/31/2016, 02:32 PM	#11
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	Go to the fish disease forum for treatment options. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

05/31/2016, 02:35 PM	#12
hkgar Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Dewitt MI Posts: 5,051	Regarding QT, even though it is too late, just because it is the 1st fish, does not negate the need to QT. If the 1st fish introduces Ick your tank needs to go fallow for at least 72 days. You could do Hyposalinity method in the DT , but you will lose your inverts. __________________ Gary 180 gallon, 40 gallon sump, 3 250 W MH + 4 80W ATI T5's, MTC MVX 36 Skimmer, Apex controller Aquamaxx T-3 CaRx Current Tank Info: A 2 Barred Rabbitfish, Red Head Salon, Yellow/Purple, McMaster Fairy, Possum, 2 Leopard Wrasses, Kole, & Atlantic Blue Tangs, 2 Percula Clown, 3 PJ and 1 Banggai Cardinalfish , Swallowtail, Bellus and Coral Beauty Angels

05/29/2016, 05:19 PM	#4
sappho Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 42	Aquarium is 6-7 months old 55 gal (I know the tank is too small, the person i got it from told me it was 90 gals and im working on getting a more appropriate sized tank) tang went in just after cycle finished (4-5months) FOWLR plus a shrimp Dogface puffer (again, she is very small and im working on a new tank), flame clownfish, strawberry dottyback, starry blenny, peppermint shrimp blenny was the last thing added to the tank, didnt qt him as he was in a copper treatment tank when i got him tang was the first thing in the tank so no qt all fish are doing great and eating just fine I feed them shrimp, calamari, octopus, clams, scallops i have an RODI system ammonia:0, nitrite:0, nitrate:0, phosphates: 2ppm i did a water change and the tang doesnt have any redness anymore but is still rubbing Thank you!!

05/29/2016, 06:01 PM	#6
sappho Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 42	I have the API kit and it worked fine when i was cycling. I put denitrate in a media bag in the corner of my tank. Since then my nitrates have been zero every time i checked

05/31/2016, 02:10 PM	#10
nitratepetra1 Registered Member Join Date: May 2016 Posts: 3	another good option would be to take a picture to your lfs and see if they can help.

06/06/2016, 05:00 PM	#13
sappho Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 42	I made a mistake in my info, the clownfish was the one in the copper not the blenny. the clownfish was added just a month after the tang. Does this change anything? also the ammonia level keeps spiking? it seems to correlate with the tangs rubbing. Idk whats wrong. I know i cycled the tank correctly and i havent been having any problems with ammonia until a few weeks ago. i reduced the feeding and that helped a bit. Could the heat have something to do with it? The room has been very hot recently due to the weather but i have kept a close eye on the water temp and it stays 80 or below. It doesnt fluctuate much but it was consistently 75 before

06/08/2016, 10:15 PM	#15
sappho Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 42	Nothing could be dead, all my critters are accounted for. The ammonia spiked again today. It appears that my bio filter isnt working >__< what could cause this?

06/08/2016, 10:36 PM	#16
sappho Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 42	one of the filters on my rodi system has gotten pretty orange but i wasnt concerned because it isnt that old. Could this have causes some chemicals from the tap to be introduced into my tank and killed off some of my bacteria?

06/09/2016, 06:17 AM	#17
shifty51008 12-5 Chiefs record Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: NW Iowa Posts: 10,134	the ammonia spike could be from feeding to much, not enough filtration, ect. how much rock do you have? do you have a skimmer, any other type of filter? as for your rodi unit unless it is produceing 0ppm TDS it is hard to say what it is putting into the tank. do you have a TDS meter? __________________ 75 gal. mixed DT, 100 gal. sump, 50 gal. fuge, Clownfish breeder

06/09/2016, 07:27 AM	#18
Nina51 biggliest cofveve champ Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: 5th floor, Illinois, gewgaw expert Posts: 3,506	i assume you are doing regular water changes? if so, are you stirring up the sand a lot? if you are, that can cause lots of nasties to be released from your sand bed which can cause a mini cycle sort of situation. __________________ of all the things i've lost, i miss my gary the most. Never hold your farts in. They travel up your spine into your brain, and that is where crappy ideas come from. Current Tank Info: i gave my reef away and i feel like a bird out of a cage!!