what the heck is wrong with my fish!

[hrairguitar]

So I've been doing hypo for what seems like months now for what I thought was ich

I did it for about 6-7 weeks and my blue tang looked good so I brought it up to 1.012 over the course of a couple days, then bammm ich was back

Dropped it back down to 1.009 and have held it strong for at least 4-5 weeks.

During this period my tang is covered in white spots, its really ugly looking
My valentini puffer now also has spots which look like white blisters
One of my clowns has some smaller white spots as well

There is no itching and scratching and they all eat. I'm seriously at my wits end trying to save these fish. My foxface and other clowns have no spots or issues

Could it be something else besides ich? I'm debating on raising salinity and goin with copper but fear that I'll lose my fish in the process. (I had tried copper initially for a couple days and lost a fish and my puffer looked sad so I switched to hypo. I know my refractometer is right on and I top off my fill line daily. I'd think by this point all symptoms (white spots) would be gone.

Anyone have any advice? I can take some pics and post when I get off work

[snorvich]

Hypo is difficult to execute. Assuming a properly calibrated refractometer it is essential that the SG never exceed the threshold. And if all that is not enough there are salinity resistant strains. If it is ich, tank transfer works well but the DT must be left fallow.

[hrairguitar]

Tried taking a couple pics but they didn't come out too good

Should I try going with copper and ditch the hypo method? I've seriously been on it non stop. I'm wondering if I should drop it lower than the 1.009 I have it at. I guess its either that or copper. Poor fish though have been in low salinity since april!!!

[AliciaP]

Tank transfer method

[hollister]

12 fish in a 55 gallon. Sorry but thats to many. 1 fish per 10 gallons is about right. And some of those fish like bigger tanks.
Also many fish may have unseen problems that only come out under stress. Are you useing a powerhead for water movement in there?

[hrairguitar]

There's not 12 anymore. 7 now (4 clowns, 1 foxface, 1 blue tang and 1 valentini puffer). None of the fish are full grown or even close to it and the 55 gallon seems like a pretty luxurious QT if you ask me compared to what most people have.

I'm not familiar with the tank transfer method. Ill have to do some research on that. From the sounds of it though ill need another tank I'm guessing?

And yes I have a powerhead at the top and a small one towards the bottom and an airstone along with a few sponges and HOB filter

I feed them brine shrimp and seaweed. They all eat just fine and every fish but the clowns eat the seaweed

Call me crazy but I thought the super low salinity was supposed to kill the ich. Maybe I'm just doing somethin wrong but I swear I've done my research on it and am all over making sure its at 1.009

[snorvich]

There is a tank transfer stickie in this forum. Tank transfer takes 12 days. How often are you checking SG in your QT tank? Also, what are you using to check SG?

[hrairguitar]

Haven't had a chance to read the tank transfer stickies and I'm using a refractometer to test and I check it daily and I have my fill line set perfectly at 1.009 and every day its at 1.008-.009

My tang used to show signs then the spots and symtpoms would go away but its been consistently been super spotty for over a month now with no improvement and actually looks worse. My poor puffer never showed signs of it and it having the white spots/bumps are what's most frustrating since I feel most attached to him. My foxface showed signs of spots initially while in the DT but while in the QT it hasn't showed any signs at all

[snorvich]

Originally Posted by hrairguitar

Haven't had a chance to read the tank transfer stickies

Well, it is a great place to start as well as the ich stickies.

[Bullet Reef]

I battled ich really bad when I first got into the hobby. I tried reef safe medications & they are a complete waste of money. The ich continued to get worse for weeks & I decided that copper was my only choice. I put all my fish into a 50g qt (including the ones that had no symptoms) & did copper then kept them in there for a total of 9 weeks while the dt ran fallow. I lost 4 fish that I'm sure was a side effect of the copper combined with their weakened immune system from the ich. I had a copper test kit & tested everyday, but I think using copper is a risky business. A lot of people think copper is fine for fish, but it is actually toxic to them as well, only they can tolerate more than inverts. Fish like tangs have a very thin protective mucus layer which is what makes them so susceptible to ich, but also makes them more sensitive to the negative effects of copper. Angelfish are also this way. I will never do copper again!
I got 6 new fish from a fellow reefer back in march & immediately added them to qt tank. The next morning the hippo, sailfin, & flame hawk had ich. I did the tank transfer method & it worked great! I transferred them every 2 days & thoroughly cleaned out tank & all equipment & if the fish had any visible signs of ich at the time of transfer, I did a freshwater dip. It is a lot of work but I would recommend it over anything else for sure!

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

[snorvich]

Fresh water dips do not help ich.