heniochus problems

[Nimboli12]

Hello everyone,

I started my marine tank last September. An experienced aquarist helped me set up and is still helping me w/my tank.

I have some live rock now. Unfortunatley,. in December iche attached my tank and slowly but surely lost my clown fish, fox face, Blue tang,& cow fish. My Gobby & my two sea stars were the only fish that didn'ty get it. I kept my UV sterilizer in my sump so I think it wasn't functioning properly to get rid of the perisites. Now the UV Ster is in my tank.

Anyway,Ive started over now. I have a Chromis, blue yellow tail damsel, gobby, , snails, hermit crab. Ive had 3 Heniochus and all have died.

After they're acclimated they seem fine. Then, within a few days they die. My last one just died yesterday. He seemed really healthy and eating at the store. He seemed very happy in my tank, swimming active right away. Then....... he didnt really eat very much. I fed him frozen shrimp and pellets. But he never really went after it. He started to hang back at the back top of the tank , then died. What am I doing wrong? These fish are not supposed to be difficult. All my other fish are fine. Please help! By the way, aren't Heniochus's happiest in pairs or schools?
Thank you
Sandy

 

[jcegt87]

wow , um first off a cow fish tank and blue tang requires a 100+ tank (maybe even bigger sometimes)

if your adding all the fish at once theirs your problem , you have to wait a few weeks or months to add new fish to let the system catch up to the new bio load, if not your pushing the cycle back and eventually it will crash, tangs are prone to ich because most of the time we dont let them burn off the energy they need to burn of and a 60G tank is too small for them

and the cow fish wow he probably nuked your tank all on its own (quick quote from wiki "If severely stressed, this species may be able to exude deadly toxin, ostracitoxin, an ichthyotoxic, hemolytic, heat-stable, non-dialyzable, non-protein poison in the mucous secretions of their skin"

little research goes a long way, as much as you may trust your peers , always reserch before you buy

 

[SarahSmile]

Oh my. +1 Jcegt87. You were misled in your initial stocking choices for sure. Cowfish and tangs do not belong in a 60 gallon.
Now, the Heniochus are a butterfly fish, which, I believe, are hard to keep. They also get 10 inches big, much too big to live happily long term in your 60 gallon.
Lots of fun, easy fish to care for, I would stay away from butterflies.

 

[little_fish]

Hello and Welcome!

+1 everyone. I dont think I would trust whoever is helping you with your tank, sounds like dont know what they are doing either.

I would read this about ich: https://www.livingreefs.com/oh-no-have-ich-do-do-t30950.html

Heniochus are butterflies, which are very difficult to keep in our tanks. They often come in with parasites so even though they are eating, they dont get any of the nutrients from the food. Considering it has usually been several weeks since they were healthy in the ocean, they are often on deaths door by the time they the are purchased.

Finally, sea stars arent actually fish. They are an invertebrate, fish are vertebrates.

 

[Nimboli12]

Let me say that I know that starfish are invertebrates. It was just a slip of the tongue while discussing my fish. I put the cowfish in my tank probably the end of last October after the other fish were in there. Actually he did well with the others until I put a blue wrasse in. At the store I only saw its beauty and neglected to see how fast he was moving. He seemed to cause stress in the tank and thats when I noticed the iche starting. Anyway, the iche is now gone. I usually get my info from Liveaquaria.com. It says there that the Heniochas are good for beginners and that the care level is "easy". Can anyone offer another good source for researching fish?
Thank You
Sandy

 

[Nimboli12]

Also, can anyone give me input on Coral Beauty fish and Blennies. Id like to add them to my tank . Should I not trust Liveaquaria.com for accurate info? Also, do moist of you use quarantene tanks?

 

[little_fish]

Ah, in that case I amend my advice to "inverts dont get ich"

And live aqauria is one of the best sites out there to check for tank sizing, and I would probably consider them one of the easier butterflies to keep, but all butterflies are pretty difficult. If you are bound and determined to try and keep one, I would try ordering one directly from live aquaria.

 

[little_fish]

Coral beauties are great fish! But there is a 50/50 chance the will go after corals, but it sounds like your tank is a FOWLR so no big deal. But you can only keep one dwarf per tank.

Blennies are also a great addition, just make sure you get one that is eating from the store. Some can be really difficult to get eating frozen. These guys are also one per tank.

Also most of us dont QT, we keep our tanks stress free, which prevents disease outbreaks.

 

[Bifferwine]

Wow. I second the suggestion to fire whoever is "helping" you stock your tank! Those are some pretty ummm...terrible (sorry, I'll just be honest here) choices for a tank that size, and a new tank at that.

 

[Trigger Happy]

:Cheers:Hi and welcome, I am wondering if the heniochus you were buying all came from the same stock and were perhaps caught by cyanide fishing?

I have started to use a quarantine tank last year after I put a small lionfish in the tank and he literally dissapeared overnight. Never found him despite taking out every rock and looking in every crevise.

I have found the QT really useful if someone nt he tank, fish or invert is looking seedy. Before that I would check them constantly and worry that they'd go hide somewhere and die. Now I take them out until they recover or not and I find that being on their own seems to increase recovery also.