Missing/Dead Fish - Now What?

BizMike · 02/08/2010, 08:57 AM

I've had a juv hippo tang battling ich for about a month. He's gone up and down, but started looking much worse a week ago. 3 days ago he stopped eating and just harrassed my cleaner shrimp all day. 2 days ago he went missing - I'm assuming he's passed on

Now that I have a (probably) dead decaying tang somewhere in my tank, what do I do? Do I need to go on a scavenger hunt, removing coral/rock and stressing out my other fish or do I just let the CUC do it's thing?

So far, my 2 clowns, Cardinal, and Mandarin seem fine - I want to keep it that way.

Sk8r · 02/08/2010, 09:09 AM

If you have enough cuc you have no tang by now. Just test for ammonia, and run carbon if you see any.

To help get good answers to your questions in future, please go to your Profile and fill out all the info you can crowd in re your tank, size, type, contents, etc. You can see mine below my sig. That makes it easy for us to answer.

We have an extensive post on Ich in the sticky notes above. Do read that, and the rest of the sticky threads. That will help.

Hold off on any new fish for about 2 months: you have ich in your tank. The mandy isn't at all likely to get it, and the clowns---well, if they have a good slime coat and are healthy, they may be ok. The cardinal is in danger: observe him daily. Above all, do not add any ich treatment to your main tank. You could start a new fish in quarantine in a month (read about that, too) and after the 4 weeks of quarantine and such you would probably be safe. Standard protocol for ich treatment requires you pull all fish to qt and wait 8 weeks with no fish in the display, for the display tank ich to die out by starvation, but that would kill the mandy due to starvation. In your situation, you need to wait it out. I've had an outbreak in my tank, kept the tank with non-susceptible fish for a number of months, and have had none since. But right now your sand is hosting a lot of ich parasites looking for a susceptible fish. Don't put another tang in there for a while!

And btw welcome to Reef Central!

lordofthereef · 02/08/2010, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sk8r

If you have enough cuc you have no tang by now. Just test for ammonia, and run carbon if you see any.

+1

I assume this was in your display and not in quarantine?

BizMike · 02/08/2010, 11:23 AM

Yes - that was in my display.

Thanks for the tip on filling out my tank info - I've done that now, don't know if it will show up on the bottom of my post.

I've read a bunch about ich. It seems to me that in order to get rid of it, I need to get all of my fish out for 2 months. I agree that sounds bad for the mandarin so I don't plan on doing that. If I leave my other fish in, will the ich still die off in 2 months (or will they just host the ich without actual breakouts)?

Chiefsurfer · 02/08/2010, 11:31 AM

more-than-likely if you had a tang in there with ich for a month, most, if not all, of your fish have it. Fih can host ich for a LONG time without any outbreaks. So long as their are fish in that tank, they can get it up to 8 weeks after the sick fish is removed. Chances are with fish in the tank as hosts, you will never get rid of it in your DT. Either keep all your fish fed and healthy, hoping they can fight it off, OR leave the tank fallow for 8 weeks(completely fishless) to get rid of it. Also the fish must be treated to get rid of it. Many people have tanks with ich in them and do not really mind.

02/08/2010, 08:57 AM	#1
BizMike Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Dumfries, VA Posts: 46	Missing/Dead Fish - Now What? I've had a juv hippo tang battling ich for about a month. He's gone up and down, but started looking much worse a week ago. 3 days ago he stopped eating and just harrassed my cleaner shrimp all day. 2 days ago he went missing - I'm assuming he's passed on Now that I have a (probably) dead decaying tang somewhere in my tank, what do I do? Do I need to go on a scavenger hunt, removing coral/rock and stressing out my other fish or do I just let the CUC do it's thing? So far, my 2 clowns, Cardinal, and Mandarin seem fine - I want to keep it that way.

02/08/2010, 09:09 AM	#2
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	If you have enough cuc you have no tang by now. Just test for ammonia, and run carbon if you see any. To help get good answers to your questions in future, please go to your Profile and fill out all the info you can crowd in re your tank, size, type, contents, etc. You can see mine below my sig. That makes it easy for us to answer. We have an extensive post on Ich in the sticky notes above. Do read that, and the rest of the sticky threads. That will help. Hold off on any new fish for about 2 months: you have ich in your tank. The mandy isn't at all likely to get it, and the clowns---well, if they have a good slime coat and are healthy, they may be ok. The cardinal is in danger: observe him daily. Above all, do not add any ich treatment to your main tank. You could start a new fish in quarantine in a month (read about that, too) and after the 4 weeks of quarantine and such you would probably be safe. Standard protocol for ich treatment requires you pull all fish to qt and wait 8 weeks with no fish in the display, for the display tank ich to die out by starvation, but that would kill the mandy due to starvation. In your situation, you need to wait it out. I've had an outbreak in my tank, kept the tank with non-susceptible fish for a number of months, and have had none since. But right now your sand is hosting a lot of ich parasites looking for a susceptible fish. Don't put another tang in there for a while! And btw welcome to Reef Central! __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

02/08/2010, 11:31 AM	#5
Chiefsurfer Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Seaside Park, NJ Posts: 2,138	more-than-likely if you had a tang in there with ich for a month, most, if not all, of your fish have it. Fih can host ich for a LONG time without any outbreaks. So long as their are fish in that tank, they can get it up to 8 weeks after the sick fish is removed. Chances are with fish in the tank as hosts, you will never get rid of it in your DT. Either keep all your fish fed and healthy, hoping they can fight it off, OR leave the tank fallow for 8 weeks(completely fishless) to get rid of it. Also the fish must be treated to get rid of it. Many people have tanks with ich in them and do not really mind. __________________ Chief Current Tank: 20 Gallon tall, 4-bulb t5 HO, Eshopps psk75H, ac-70 fuge. So far, green clown goby, striped goby, more gorillas than I wish I had, 5 SPS frags, 3 LPS Frags, 1 Softee, Turkey Wing Clam. Plan for the future: 120 gallon 4ft glass tank. Current Tank Info: 20 gallon tall Reef Tank

02/08/2010, 11:23 AM	#4
BizMike Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Dumfries, VA Posts: 46	Yes - that was in my display. Thanks for the tip on filling out my tank info - I've done that now, don't know if it will show up on the bottom of my post. I've read a bunch about ich. It seems to me that in order to get rid of it, I need to get all of my fish out for 2 months. I agree that sounds bad for the mandarin so I don't plan on doing that. If I leave my other fish in, will the ich still die off in 2 months (or will they just host the ich without actual breakouts)?