Fish only help

[sslarison]

I set up a 135 for my inlaws about 2 months ago. We now have a niger trigger,Lunar wrass, Voltan Lion and a dog face puffer. All under 5 inches. I have noticed two of them have clowdy eyes and a little bit of a film on their skin. I waited the 6 weeks to put the first fish in and just cycled the tank with live rock. The tank has 80 lbs of LR. I dont have access to a sick tank right now so what measures can I take in this tank. Im feeding them garlic and all the mysis they will eat. They dont have any inverts so that should allow some meds right? Any advice will really help.Thanks alot.

 

[sslarison]

Anyone?

 

[Anonymous]

Well, have you gone through the obvious motions to begin the process of elimination? Have you tested ammo, nitrite & trate? pH? Have you done a water change recently, could there be some outside influence?

Whitish film would indicate some irritation, but from what is up for grabs without a bit of preliminary information (params). After ruling something like a spike or pH shift out, then we can more safely move on with "ok, could be a bacterial infection.." blahblahblah. It's going to be very difficult and expensive (as well as detrimental to the display) to not utilize something for hospital-q/t. Even a Rubbermaid tub can be used, anything sturdy, waterproof, and chemically inert. I'm trying to imagine medicating 125gals, not to mention that many meds can kill off your bacterial cultures, here you waited so long for them to kick in!

Whaddya think? All you'd really need other than the container would be a small heater (unless it could be kept at ambient temp) and the most basic of filters.

In the meantime, I can link you to our library, and suggest that you look in the Advanced Aquarist database--huge!
http://www.reefs.org/library

 

[ChrisRD]

If the tank has been running for two months (8 weeks) and you waited 6 weeks to put fish in, this means that you put 4 large fish into the system in a two week period, correct?

As SM suggested, you need to run some tests and check water parameters.

If no obvious water parameters are out of wack, it would also be helpful to know a few other things...

Did the two fish that are showing symptoms come from the same place?
When did the last fish go in the tank?
Was the last fish in the tank one of the two showing symptoms?

 

[sslarison]

First Question: No
Second: Last week
Third: Yes, the Voltan Lion
After calling and finding out the exact set up date I found that the tank has been up for 2 months and 21 days.So too much too fast is out right? I measured the params(nitrite,nitrate,PH,ammonia)all were good exept the nitrate was at .40 but I changed 35 gal and thought that would take care of it. that water change was 2 days before the last fish entered.Keep the help coming. Thanks

 

[ChrisRD]

It's starting to sound like the last fish brought this in with him.

A few more questions:

What is the tank temp?
Does the temp fluctuate a lot?
How long have they been showing symptoms?
Have the symptoms gotten worse, better or the same over the last few days?

And about the nitrate level...

I'm assuming you meant that your nitrates are 40 PPM (you typed .40)?
What are you using for a skimmer?
Are you running any mechanical filtration?

 

[sslarison]

Sorry for the delay on the responce.In the last 2 days we lost 2 fish one lion and the puffer. Help if you can...


1)Temp-82
2) I dont think if if fluctuates more than on or two degrees I put a big heater in the wet dry.
3)symptoms have been there about a week and a half.
4)symptoms are about the same for the last week.(couple clowdy eyes)
5)yes 40 ppm
6)The tank has a built in wet dry in the back.The skimmer is also attatched.
7)The onlt mechanical is the mesh stuff that I lay over the bio balls in the trickle part.

Thanks for the help...

 

[binylee]

Well,
I think this is nothing to do with water quality. Obviously, your fish got sick. 2 of them die and possively more to come. You need to setup quarantine tank to treat for sick fish. Don't treat for desease in your tank..... I have this happened to me and that what I did.
On the side note, looks like this is a fish only tank. The skimmer is not required. You should heavyly focus on bio/mech filtration rather than organic waste skimming. Plus nitrade at that level shouldn't have any effect on fish. Lion fish is really hardy fish, and it died. That saying your tank is heavily infected. The temp is at 81-83. That's a little too hot. I think 79-80 is at optimum level.
Fish got sick and because of stress. Please check your fish compability as well.
My .2 cent.

 

[AllenF]

I keep a FO tank and I treat it just like its a reef. Live sand, live rock, powerful skimmer, good circulation, good lighting, light feeding, minimial bio-filters-little mechanical filters, occassional carbon filtering.

If its a disease process none of that may matter. You have to qt the sick fish to save the rest and do what you can (which is usually not much) for the sick ones.

 

[ChrisRD]

Sorry for your loss.

IME water quality and stable parameters have a direct effect on stress levels of the fish and therefore on disease outbreaks. That was the purpose of all the questions above, but it sounds like your parameters are OK (I'm assuming SG is normal - I don't think that was mentioned).

Are either of the remaining fish showing symptoms?

...looks like this is a fish only tank. The skimmer is not required. You should heavyly focus on bio/mech filtration rather than organic waste skimming.

I disagree 100% here. I'm with Allen on this...

If you'd like to reduce your nitrates there are a few things you could do:

-Eliminate the bioballs (gradually).
-Clean the mechanical filter frequently (or eliminate that too).
-Get a good skimmer (if you don't already have one).
-You could add more rock (although you probably have enough for basic filtration).
-You could add a DSB to the sump or main tank (probably better in the sump if you've got digging fish).

 

[sslarison]

Thanks for all the suggsestions. Ill just keep on taking the normal measures and keep the updates coming. :wink: