Coral Safe Fish Disease Treatment???

[harlock]

Can anyone suggest a fish disease medication (looks like a white film coating the fish - they rub things to scratch themselves - one non-anemone fish even sat in an anemone to 'feel better') that is coral safe??? I'd rather not have to take out all my corals to treat this fish thing.

 

This disease doesn't seem to be affecting my corals - If I DON'T treat the fish, and the fish all die, in time, will the disease 'pass' through water changes, and lack of a host??? If so, would it then be safe to put more fish back in the reef???

 

Thanks in advance!

 

-h-

[Caesar777]

Take him out and keep him in his own quarantine tank. As far as diagnosis and treatment, not sure; not a fish person.

[Caesar777]

Just don't use copper, even in the QT.

[Six]

what kind of fish? some fish, like parrotfishes and other wrasse naturally produce slimes. though i doub your keeping a parrotfish, id like to know what kind of fish you need to treat. That way we can suggest tonic methodologies that work for individual types of fish.

 

what kind of coral as well?

[harlock]

Fishwise, the only survivor is a lawnmower blenny, who doesn't seem BAD, but i do see him scratching as the others did before they went downhill.

 

CORALS & INVERTS:

 

Hammer Coral

Ricordia

Brown Shroom

Buttons

Orange Sponge

Rock Flower Anemone

Electric Flame Scallop

3 red legged hermits

5 bumblebee snails

6 astrea snails

purple sea slug

various fan worms scattered about

 

10g tank

40w lighting

prizm skimmer

mj400 powerhead

 

Lemme know what you think could work. I'd appreciate it!

 

-h-

[Six]

urg. if a lawnmower blenny is sick, thats a bad sign. they are pretty much bulletproof fish. i'd definitely do some water changes as thats the most likely culprit. get a water test and let us know what shakes out. I'm betting it's the water quality. ammonia burns can cause fish to slime up, though the ammonia usually effects the coral first. pics would help as well.

 

gl

[harlock]

Well, there's nothing visible on the lawnmower, like there was on the other fish. As for water quality, we're looking at near perfect chemistry.

 

Ammonia = 0

Nitrite = 0

Nitrate = 7

Phosphate = .5

SG = 1.025 - 1.026

Temp = 79 F

 

Any ideas?

 

-h-

[harlock]

Oh, and the corals are looking great!

 

pH = 8.2

[Six]

is the nitrate really 7, or 70? that's a nice test kit to get anything but a multiple or 10! what kit are you using? sounds like a good one.

 

sounds like you just need to maintain some vigilance on the tank right now. those results look great. just keep watching and testing to see if something is fluctuating, expecially temperature, which can get fish sick very quickly. also make sure the SG is staying stable. since we're nano-ers we can sometimes have difficulty maintaining a constant SG since we have such small tanks.

 

dont add fish for a while, just watch the tank and try to maintain the parameters for a few weeks. maybe there's something there we missed, or something fluctuating that you didnt know of.

 

is that pH staying consistant? hows the alkalinity doing?

 

GL

[AndrewAquariumPlanning]

it COULD be bacterial but the rock scratching suggests external parasites, the fish produces more slime as a response... try maracide in a QT

[harlock]

Six...

 

No, my test kit goes by 10's (5, 10, 20, 30, etc) but when the color is between two areas, I tend to take the number in between. Well, I'm doing frequent water changes (a few pitchers a day) to help lower my nitrates again, and help rid the tank of the disease.

[Six]

Oh I gotcha. Sounds good.

 

I wouldnt' QT and medicate unless you know the fish is sick. It's not good practice to medicate anything, including yourself, unless needed. It could be nothing at this point. Fish can flash for reasons other than parasites. Expecially if there are no other fish in the tank, and the fact that the fish looks fine except for the flashing, I would watch him and just make sure everything stays consistant.

 

If you do decide to pull him out and QT (which is very stressful... BTW) you're still going to need to find out what's up with the main tank. So I say, why do both for no reason? Keep it simple.

 

I do, however, wholeheartedly agree to QT new fish for 1 month before adding them. You'll definilty want to do that from now on.

[willlgr1]

give the fish a freshwater dip, 20-30 minutes. watch it closely and see if anything falls off, if so continue daily dips for a week or so or get it on meds (copper works the best for parasites on scaled fish (treat with copper in QT tank only!!))

[Samc]

I find a stable system (salt and temps most importantly), plus garlic added to the food or tank tends to help with parasites. The science doesn't back me up with the garlic, but I have had it help with ich (although freshwater dips were utilised). I find copper tends to do more harm than good in the latter stages of a parasitic infection. It tends to weaken the immune system of the fish more than it harms the parasite. Although freshwater baths are stressful, they aren't as stressful as copper. Also, if possible, I reconmend lowering your salinity to 1.018, gradually of course.

 

Sam

[Six]

Actually, science is starting to agree with garlic. I recently attended a Midwest Marine Conference a few months ago and there was a talk on disease and the benefits of garlic.

 

There's probably a few studies out there or starting up on the topic. Hopefully.