Disease help

[fishoholic]

So something is up with my tank that doesn't make much sense. I'll start with the symptoms my fish have.

The main symptoms are: some fish have very pronounced white ich spots (looks like spec's of salt on them) some fish have colour loss, some are breathing heavy, some have fine white spots on them like they've been dusted in flour (although one thing I do know, is that whatever they have it isn't velvet, as I remember very well what that looks like) some have cloudy eyes, some are not eating and others are just fine like nothing is wrong.

It's been mostly going on for a week now but some of the fish had bad ich on them for awhile, and my regal tang was the first to die about a month ago, which at the time I thought it was just from bad ich and stress that maybe my Sohal was causing.

Ammonia 0
No2 0
No3 20-25

My phosphate is really high and I hadn't run carbon for the last month because I kept forgetting to replace it. Last Thrus. I moved all the corals out of the tank and since at that time I had only lost a few fish (and the remaining fish didn't have much external signs of disease) Steve (who used to run Little Oceans) and I thought maybe it was some sort of internal parasite so I started treatment with Kanaplex. I've done 2 treatments and while my pink tail trigger went from not eating to eating the other fish started looking worse and a couple more are MIA and one found dead. So tonight I plugged the skimmer back in and started running a fresh bag of carbon.

The plan for tomorrow is to catch all the fish and put them in QT. The problem is I don't have a clue what to treat them for. Part of me is thinking FW dip then slowly do hypo salinity and part of me is thinking formalin, although I've heard formalin is tricky stuff to deal with which makes me a bit leery to try it.

Any ideas? thoughts?

[abcha0s]

You described ich.

"some fish have very pronounced white ich spots"

What makes you think that it's not Ich?

It sounds to me like a bad infestation of Ich. Have you had Ich in you tank in the past?

[tlo]

possibly brookynella?

http://www.chucksaddiction.com/brookynella.html

[fishoholic]

I think some of them have ich, I'm just wondering if it's not something more then that. I was thinking maybe brookynella but this part "obvious excessive mucous sloughing off of the fish" isn't happening with my fish and what also doesn't make any sense about any of this is that my female ocellaris and my maroon clown seem symptom free, but my male ocellaris (that also didn't have any visible signs of disease) went MIA 2 days ago. Also my skunk clowns who have noticeable salt size spots on them and are breathing a bit heavy are still alive.

My grouper has lost most of his colour and hasn't eaten in 2 weeks and is breathing heavy but still alive and my pink tail trigger who is covered in a dusting of ?ich? is still alive, but my niger trigger who was eating and seemingly symptom free went MIA yesterday and I found my scooter blenny dead yesterday. Scooter also seemed symptom free, examined his dead body and still could not see any signs of disease on him, even checked his gills which looked clear, wondering if the kanaplex did him in, but then my sand sifting star is still alive and seems fine so I don't know.

Wish I knew what was going on for sure

[ALang]

Sorry to hear that, Laurie!
I am always afraid that what you have will one day happen to me, too, so I am tagging along to hopefully hear what you might do to help the fishes. Best of luck.
Lenny.

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by ALang

Sorry to hear that, Laurie!
I am always afraid that what you have will one day happen to me, too, so I am tagging along to hopefully hear what you might do to help the fishes. Best of luck.
Lenny.

Thanks, just hoping someone here will know what I can do to help my fish too.

[christyf5]

Wow, not sure what to suggest. I would treat as if it were ick, maybe its a different strain? Formalin will kill any external parasites (ick??) however it does cause a bit of gill damage (so use lots of aeration while using, the gills will heal fairly quickly after the treatment but its good to aerate well). Its not too bad to use although it can be pretty noxious stuff. FW treatment and hypo might be your best bet at this point but it sounds like a few of the fish don't have a lot of time to spare.

I dunno, I'd want to at least do something. Just not sure what. You can always start with the FW and hypo and if that doesn't work move to a more aggressive treatment.

[Lance]

Originally Posted by christyf5

Wow, not sure what to suggest. I would treat as if it were ick, maybe its a different strain? Formalin will kill any external parasites (ick??) however it does cause a bit of gill damage (so use lots of aeration while using, the gills will heal fairly quickly after the treatment but its good to aerate well). Its not too bad to use although it can be pretty noxious stuff. FW treatment and hypo might be your best bet at this point but it sounds like a few of the fish don't have a lot of time to spare.

I dunno, I'd want to at least do something. Just not sure what. You can always start with the FW and hypo and if that doesn't work move to a more aggressive treatment.

+1 Hypo is helpful for many parasitic infestations. Worth a shot anyhow. Sorry to hear of your troubles Laurie. Good Luck and keep us posted.

[fishoholic]

Ya it's really odd and very annoying and depressing. The plan is to catch them all tonight, I do believe I will do FW dips then put them in the QT and drop the salinity and do hypo treatment. If that doesn't work then I'll try Formalin.

Unfortunately I'll most likely shut down one of my big tanks as I don't have the money to afford everything right now Very greatful though that Steve (who used to own Little Oceans) is helping me out with everything and has agreed to take my reef fish and treat them at his house. My King angel, grouper and lunare wrasse don't play so nice with others, so at least I'll be able to keep them seperate.

Nothing like going from a dual income to a single income and have your tanks start to crash

[ALang]

Hugss!! Lenny.