1 emergency is fading but a new one is coming right at me

[recliner]

As some may know I traded off 5 fish for 6 different ones and some coral about a week ago. 3 of the fish (2 tomini Tangs and an eilibi angel) haven't really eaten. I have tried flake, pellet, frozen (both carnivore and herbivore) and have some sushi seaweed clipped down by the rocks. I haven't seen them really go for any of it and they are looking less plump now.
To add to this I see the white specks of ick on all 3 of them. I also see it on my clown but he's still eating ok.
My nitrates have been high 30-40, but been doing big water changes and got them down to 10 for now. I've started putting a couple drops of liquid garlic on their food but I don't know how much it'll help since I can't get them to eat. Any tips or tricks to getting them to eat?

 

[Northstar24]

Keep trying different things. Did you see them eat before bringing them home? When getting a new fish, always ask to see it fed- no exceptions

 

[wontonflip]

+1 North....also try turning off the lights during feeding time.

 

[SarahSmile]

What frozen are you trying? I'm going to get beat up for this but thaw a cube of brine in the fridge with a couple drops of garlic. Not much nutritional value but hopefully it will be hard to resist. If they go for it you can add mysis to it.

 

[SarahSmile]

I ask what frozen because my fish don't really care for my marine cusisine. They are pigs but swim around and look at those chunks like whoopeedeedooda.

 

[d2mini]

The ick is signs of stress from the move/new environment.
It took my tomini a long time to start eating and he hid behind the rocks for at least a week.
Have you tried rods food? It has a mix of everything in it. And have you tried soaking the nori in some garlic extract to attract them?

 

[FishyReef]

How long has your tank been set up? Your signature says 1 week and you joined in Sept. I'm concerned that your tank is still pretty new and that's a lot of fish to add at once!

 

[cvcdrk]

If I remember correctly he bought and moved someone's tank into his tank and then switched out the fish for more larger fish.

It's likely the cause of his issues, but I think he knows that....

 

[Bifferwine]

Yes, he bought a complete set up from someone I think.

 

[FishyReef]

Got it, thanks for filling me in!

 

[recliner]

Bought a complete set up then sold/traded most of those fish for different fish. Been fighting high nitrates pretty much the entire time. Learned my lesson that my short cut to avoid cycling a tank didn't quite work. I guess I get lumped in with all the other newbs that got too eager.
My coral still looks to be doing well (silver lining) the Tangs, angel, and clown are looking covered in ick pretty bad. The clown is still eating and all are acting normal still. I have 2 uv sterilizers going and am hoping they pull through.
I have liquid garlic and it says to either put a couple drops on the food or 1 drop per 10 gallons in the tank. I think I'll try that since some aren't eating or will that be a waste?

 

[SarahSmile]

What frozen are you feeding them?
I would not start adding garlic to the water.

 

[little_fish]

Garlic is only suppose to help encourage fish to eat, so i would put it on the food.

And the uv sterilizes also won't do anything to address the ich problems. You are going to need to get the fish unstressed enough that their immune system can kick back in and deal with the ich. I would suggest doing lots of small water changes to try and get the water quality back under control.

 

[recliner]

So would five 10 gallon water changes a week be better then 1 50 gallon change a week?

 

[SarahSmile]

what are you hoping to accomplish by changing out a third of the water every week?

 

[recliner]

Reduce my nitrates. They've been at 30-40ppm for a couple weeks. I've been told big water changes will help get them to 0 in 4-5 weeks.

 

[cvcdrk]

Your primary goal would be to reduce the nitrate issue. I wouldn't change more than the 30% of the water at once with your corals and fish. You can do a 30% one day and then a 20% a couple days later. A couple days after that maybe do another 20. It's going to take work and patience to get the nitrate situation under control. Primarily because of your bioload.

Are you using chaeto in your sump or some other nitrate-absorbing thing (like a nitrate sponge? They take 2-3 weeks to start working but might not be a terrible idea).

 

[recliner]

Chaeto. Ok, I won't do any more 50 gal changes. I'll do 25-30. That will be easier anyway since I have a 35 gal trash can I use to mix so it'll just take one full trash can to do the change.

 

[d2mini]

Smaller water changes are less stressful on everything in the tank (coral, fish, inverts). So since your fish are already stressed, I think multiple smaller changes would be better. You may also want to bring your salinity down to 1.022-1.023 if it's higher than that currently. Fish can breath/function better in lower salinity which will strenghten their immune systems. The higher salt levels is only for the benefit of the coral but they will be fine at the lower salt levels. If anything you will have to supplement your trace elements. Personally, I try to keep my salinity from going above 1.024.

 

[Bifferwine]

If you are worried about wasting the garlic extract supplement, you can make your own. It's just the oils from the garlic mixed in some water. You know the jars of pre-minced garlic you get at the grocery store? You can use the liquid that's leftover at the bottom when you're done cooking with the garlic itself. Let's face it -- the bottled extract you buy at the fish store is so overpriced, and it's something every single one of us has in our kitchen already!