Reef nutrition

Ich

[quote author=tuberider link=topic=3918.msg45999#msg45999 date=1213716919]
[quote author=Elite link=topic=3918.msg45971#msg45971 date=1213680770]
;D I'm gonna get yell at for saying this but when my fish has ich, I just try to get it to eat a lot and eat healthy food. Soak food in garlic/selcon, feed them live food. Most of the time the fish will recover by itself.
[/quote]I generally use the same approach Phong, so if anyone yells at you I got your back ;)
[/quote]

Me too, I do the same. If the fish is healthy it should be able to fight it off.
 
I only have one other fish right now, a blue-green chromis. I didn't see any ich on the chromis but I'm treating them both in the quarantine tank. Other than that, just a clump of chaeto and some pvc pipe fittings for hiding places.
 
No coral? if so you can also try that Reef safe Ruby - ick cure. Didn't some people at pixar have clown fish at work for Finding Nemo...hope they are still alive.

I work at National Semiconductor and I keep a 25 gallon reef tank at my desk. Hope your fish make it ok.
 
[quote author=Apon link=topic=3918.msg46152#msg46152 date=1213753880]
No coral? if so you can also try that Reef safe Ruby - ick cure. Didn't some people at pixar have clown fish at work for Finding Nemo...hope they are still alive.

I work at National Semiconductor and I keep a 25 gallon reef tank at my desk. Hope your fish make it ok.
[/quote]

No coral in the QT. I have green star polyps and some zoanthids in the display tank, along with various inverts. (skunk cleaner shrimp, snails, brittle stars, etc.)

I think I'll try going the hyposalinity route and see how that works. The Ruby stuff might be a good option if this doesn't work out, though. Thanks for the tip!

Several people have tanks at work... there's at least one nice huge reef tank that I've seen. Isn't having a tank at your desk great? I love having it right there all day.
 
The firefish seems to be doing better. I slowly lowered the salinity down to about 12-14 ppt. He's looking more alert and responsive, though he still doesn't seem to be eating much if anything. Hopefully tomorrow I can get him to eat!
 
When you get to the low s.g. ranges, it's good to buffer the water with some baking soda or Kent buffer.

pH fluctuates more easily in the low ranges. Less buffering capacity.
 
Crap. Well, the hang on back filter on the quarantine tank was accidentally not running for about a day. I didn't notice because there was hum and water movement from the powerhead, so it wasn't obvious that the filter wasn't running. I got it reconnected last night, but the ammonia levels were already up to about 1ppm. I tested again this morning and the ammonia levels haven't gone down much.

I don't know if the nitrifying bacteria have died off or if they hadn't been sufficient established in the first place. Regardless, it seems like I have a few options:

1) Do frequent water changes. Hopefully there's enough nitrifying bacteria that the ammonia will drop back to 0 soon, and the declorinator I'm using for the water in the QT tank is supposed to detoxify ammonia and nitrite as well.

2) Move some live rock from my display tank's sump to the quarantine tank. That should provide enough biological filtration, I think.

3) Move the fish back to the display tank. My concern with that is returning them back to normal salinity. I've read that salinity should only be increased very slowly. (over a period of days, not hours)

Any suggestions/advice?

I'm really embarrassed to be having such difficulty with such a simple/common problem. Bleh. :-(
 
Do not be embarrassed by not simple nor complicated problem.

These things can get looked over very easily in our day to day lives.

I agree with Norman - frequent water changes will help
 
Yah, don't be embarrassed.

I think your doing great by even going the hypo route.

A lot of people don't do that, but that is the only method that directly attacks the problem at its core, biologically speaking.
 
I recently used the bucket transfer method and it rid my foxface of ich. Search RC for specifics and the logic behind it.

Basically, you transfer the infected fish into another tank with clean water (i.e. not infected) every three days. I did this for a couple of weeks (IIRC).

Then I just left the fish in QT for a month for observation and put him back in the display.

I've tried copper and hypo (on different fishes), but I've found it hard to maintain - especially trying to keep the water clean.

With the transfer method, I fed sparingly and I basically did a total water change every three days, I did not have to worry about filters or keeping the water clean.

I did use up alot of Saltwater. My foxface has also been with me for years - so he'll just about eat out of my hands. I can see having problems with this method if the fish is new or shy. It would be stressed every three days.
 
So, I came home and did an ammonia test. It was around 1 ppm. I mixed up a new batch of water, carefully matched temp and salinity, and did a 2/3 water change.

Then I did another ammonia test and it was STILL about 1 ppm. WTF?!

I used tap water with dechlorinator. (I normally buy RO/DI water, but I figured tap water was fine for this) So I tested the tap water which also registers about 1 ppm ammonia.

Is there really 1 ppm ammonia in my tap water, or is the test reacting to something else in the tap water? I tested the water coming out of the fridge water filter and the ammonia reads 0, so regardless of what it is, the fridge filter removes it.

I'm baffled.

If it really is ammonia in the tap water, is 1 ppm a dangerous level?
 
Might be the chloramine remover reacting with the ammonia test.

I remember vaguely about some types of ammonia tests having problems with some types of chloramine remover. Can't remember the details. I should google that.
 
Nope, the tap water I tested had no chloramine remover in it. The test tube was clean and the water went straight from the tap into the test tube. Hmmm.
 
Saw some references to ammonia in tapwater, so that might very well be the case.

Also:

http://www.ornamentalfish.org/association/code/quality/ammonia.php

Note the pH depedence for NH3/NH4 toxicity.

Side note - One of the issues for fishes shipped over long distances is that the water can contain ammonia, but it's in the form of ammonium due to depressed pH.

The ammonium is not as toxic, but can become a problem during acclimation if pH is brought up to normal levels and the NH4 turns to NH3.
 
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