we THINK our brand new tank is infested

jakenerica3910

jakenerica3910

Reefing newb
My husband and i are new to the hobby and started our tank about 3 months ago. we got 2 clownfish to start wih since we were told they very hardy fish and we hadn't established our tank for very long. after only a day or so we noticed white dots on the fish and told a guy at the local pet store and he gave us Mardel Marcacyn medicine to treat them and it seemed to work because the spots went away. then we got some crabs an sea snails and an anemone and by the next day the clowns had spots again.. this time it seemed more aggresive. i went back to the petstore and they gave me a product called NO-ICK because it was safe for invertebrates. we started using that and the fish just kept getting worse and both died within days.. we kept treating the tank just in case to try and get rid of whatever was in there. there was and still is white spots on the glass that seem to be stuck on there and we were looking close today and there are thousands of smaller white things that are moving along the glass as well as slightly bigger whit spots that are still. is this marine velvet or ich? and if so what would be the easiest and safest way to treat it? the anemone and snails and crabs are still fine, im not even sure if they are even effected by these things like fish are. we don't have any other tanks like a hospital tank or anything yet so removing them from the tank isn't gonna work for us unless its absolutely necessary. please help! thanks for taking your time to read this and for ny answers/advice you can give!
 
If they are moving, like little white fleas, then those are pods and they are good food for the fish. But the white dots that were stuck to the fish were ick.
 
The spots on the tank walls are most likely pods. Ick doesnt stick to tank walls like that. Ick also doesnt effect inverts. Your best bet would be to leave your tank fishless for atleast 8 weeks. Any Ick parasite left will die off from lack of fish to host.

Also, any Ick treatment that says reef safe will not kill the Ick off completely. As you know from your experience. The only way to kill Ick is with a copper based treatment or hyposalinity. Both are not safe for your crabs and anenome. So you can set up another tank for treating the fish before you add them to your main tank or set up some small rubbermaid containers for that purpous.

SOrry to hear about your loss.
 
thank you very much for your anwers. that is good news. the tank has been sitting fishless for the last month but we r planning to wait at least that long before getting any more fish. we want to educate ourselves a little more before we kill any more :( it was a sad day when we lost marlon and nemo (our clowns) i have one more question though... how didwe get pods in our brand new tank?
 
Welcome to the site,

The pods came in on any live rock you bought.

Also with how new your aquarium is you should return that nem. They are some of the most difficult animals to keep in this hobby, requiring high light levels and pristine water quality. You might have good enough lights, but i highly doubt you have good enough water quality to keep them. And when they die, they will kill everything in you tank. Most people dont even think about getting one until their tank is set up for at least a year.

Also, your clowns dont need a nem to be happy, and its not a guarantee that they will even host it. They will host whatever takes their fancy, powerheads, other corals, bits of wall space, even other fish. If you want some like a nem for them to host you should look into hairy mushrooms. They are very easy to keep, look nice and wont nuke your tank.
 
sorry, i have another question... since there are thousands of these pods in our tank and no fish to eat them will they keep multiplying? and what should we do to keep it under control?
 
Yes, you want the pods!

Products like no-ich can also harm bacteria growing on your live rock and sand. I wouldn't use it in the main tank.

I've got ich in the main tank right now, if I treat with copper outside the tank, wiill the fish just get ich again when I place them back in?

Also, how beneficial is a freshwater dip?
 
To make sure that your fish dont get ich again when you put them back in the DT you have to leave it fishless for at least 8 weeks so that the ich will go through its complete life cycle and completely die off. Then you have to QT any new fish you get for at least 3 weeks to make sure that they arent carrying ich.

If your fish are still eating they can usually beat the ich on their own. Most of us have ich in our tanks and we just deal with it by keeping the fish in a low stress environment and feeding them quality foods.

They only two proven methods of treating ich though are copper and hyposalinity, both of with should never be done in the main tank.
 
That is good to hear, the "all natural" (low stress, feed them a good diet) way is what we have been trying to do. The ich started on 2 clowns. After a few days, their spots went away. Then it came back on everyone.

Our hospital isn't big enough for all the fish, so really hoping we can help them beat it in the main tank.
 
Yes, just make sure that you have good water quality and the tank isnt over stocked. I also cannot stress this enough when creating a stress free environment for your fish - make sure you dont have a tank too small for your type of fish.
 
Unfortunately the only real way to beat them in the main tank is to leave the tank fishless for the time everyone has already said, and then make sure any and all fish you purchase are ich free.

However, it's not that simple. Just consider any fish you get from the store as having ich. They might look healthy and ich free at the LFS, but introduce some stress and it may show up after you bring them home.

Many people keep fish with ich in their DT's, either because they have too many fish to move or no QT tank big enough. As long as they're happy and well fed, it may never be a problem. In your position however, since you're just starting out and your tank is already empty, you may want to take this opportunity and begin a quaratine setup. It'll save you money in the long run.
 
All good advice.. just wanted to say I started the same way.. with two clowns.. in a 20 gal. tank. That turned into a 180 gal. tank with probably 15 - 20 fish plus an eel. Brace yourself! Good luck...
 
3 fish died Thursday. 2 clowns & 1 clown goby. So we removed all fish from DT, did a freshwater dip & put them in hospital tank. Will start hyposalinity as soon as we get our refractometer in the mail. I got some pvc to hopefully make them feel more comfortable.
 

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