HELP: Fish Plague

rjcoralshack · Oct 15, 2009

Fairly certain this isn't you average ich, the powder blue had some off the bat but fought it off. All fish have, were eating heavily so it isn't death from starvation. The sailfin in the tank had been in the tank since I set it up and had no previous sickness. It has now spread to unlikely ich candidates which is another reason I think it is something else, a mandarin to be specific. And it looks like the pink spotted goby now has it also. Only fish unaffected thus far are two damsels. All infected fish are now in a medicated qt but no improvement so far. Any ideas of what this is??? My best guess is some sort of internal parasite? Ich seems to come on from the stress of whatever this is... Either way I'm pretty sure it is going to completely wipe out my fish population. Oh the joys of reefing. I'm kinda to the point of what my procedure is going to be to uninfect my reef. These are my two thoughts:
1. Fish free for a month or 2 then a trial fish
2. Tear down, rinse sand bed, fish free for a month or ???
Anybody have any thoughts on this? Thanks

jaytizzle · Oct 15, 2009

Are you sure that the presenting form is ich and not velvet or something of the like?

As far as future plans, I would just remove ALL fish and allow the diplay to go fallow. The life cycle on ich is long enough that you need to leave it fish-free for 6 weeks at a minimum. I wouldn't go through all of the trouble of a complete tear-down unless your trial fish after the 6-weeks comes down with something as well.

sleeper · Oct 15, 2009

Agreed, I did this at one point after I had lost my whole population and it was successful. You must resist the urge and look at an empty tank for 6 weeks. Just enjoy your coral watching!

rjcoralshack · Oct 15, 2009

Now I am thinking a fungus or bacteria, fin rot is a new symptom

Sikryd · Oct 15, 2009

Look up brookynella

rjcoralshack · Oct 15, 2009

Yeah I found brookynella but a reputable person told me it was mainly clowns that get it???

jaytizzle · Oct 15, 2009

second on the brooklynella. A local reefer just lost a powder brown to it. There are few treatments, but none are as effective as flagyl aka metronidazole. If they fish are still eating, get it in their food. If not, give them an injection. Work quickly. My friend lost his fish in a matter of 3 days... it went from completely fine to dead just like that.