Need some help with ich issue

[Shaddow_wolf169]

Okay so over the last 2 weeks I have lost my flame tip tang, powder brown tang, both of my clowns, and my lawn mover blenny. The only fish I have left is my watchman goby, diamond goby, and 2 scooter blennies. Before I introduce any new fish I am going to wait 2 months for the ich to die off. my 20g quarantine tank I plan to set up will have just a hob filter no sand no rock pvc tubes to hide. Would it be okay to run a sca-301 skimmer in the 20 gallon to control waste it is rated for 65 gallons. Also would my gobies and blennies be okay in th dt. I have heard they have thick mucus coats and ich can not attach to them. I'm going to miss the fish swimming around.

 

[Salty Carlo]

In my opinion and experience, I would remove all fish and leave DT fallow for 6 weeks minimum. Running a skimmer in QT would be a good idea to help keep waste and ammonia levels down.

 

[Tahoe61]

The current data shows you need to go 72-78 days fallow, no fish in the tank. Even if they do not show the disease (are symptomatic) they still harbor the parasite.

You'll have to disinfect the skimmer if you want to use it on a QT or else you'll just bring what ever disease process over to the QT.

 

[Brew12]

Okay so over the last 2 weeks I have lost my flame tip tang, powder brown tang, both of my clowns, and my lawn mover blenny. The only fish I have left is my watchman goby, diamond goby, and 2 scooter blennies. Before I introduce any new fish I am going to wait 2 months for the ich to die off. my 20g quarantine tank I plan to set up will have just a hob filter no sand no rock pvc tubes to hide. Would it be okay to run a sca-301 skimmer in the 20 gallon to control waste it is rated for 65 gallons. Also would my gobies and blennies be okay in th dt. I have heard they have thick mucus coats and ich can not attach to them. I'm going to miss the fish swimming around.

You can run the skimmer in a 20g with no problem.

You do need to get all of the fish out of the DT. Fish like blennies and clowns have a thick mucus coating but that doesn't mean they can't carry ich. Their gills are still susceptible. They are just much less likely to show symptoms. If you leave any fish in the DT you will not starve out the ich. You will also need to treat any fish that have been in the DT with copper or CP to clear them of parasites before going back into the DT.

 

[Maritimer]

Very sorry to hear of your losses, Shaddow_Wolf169!

Your quarantine setup should work - though you'll want to turn off the skimmer if you decide to dose Prazi-Pro or other forms of Praziquantel for flukes. Sadly, it won't work to leave the scooter dragonets in the display - they're unlikely to be wiped out by ich, due to the slime coat you mentioned, but they can still harbor it in their gills, unnoticed, and keep it percolating along until you reintroduce the rest of your fish. They also don't handle copper well, if I recall correctly, so you might want to use a Tank Transfer Method (TTM) protocol with them.

As others have mentioned above, you'll want to keep all fish out of your display for the full 76 days - that gives all known strains of ich time to hatch - and then starve.

~Bruce

 

[melypr1985]

Also would my gobies and blennies be okay in th dt. I have heard they have thick mucus coats and ich can not attach to them.

You've already gotten great advice from the others, but I'll reinforce that. The problem with leaving these fish in your display is that ich will not die off. Those fish will allow it to continue it's life cycle. All fish need to be removed from the display for 76 days. Treating the fish you currently have for ich and then treating any new fish after that is a solid plan. Doing that and running an invert and coral QT will keep ich out of your display.

My only concern is if this really is ich that you are dealing with. Would you happen to have any pictures of the fish that died covered in the dots?

 

[Humblefish]

My only concern is if this really is ich that you are dealing with. Would you happen to have any pictures of the fish that died covered in the dots?

+1 If it even took out the clowns, then I suspect Velvet or possibly Brook.

 

[Shaddow_wolf169]

No picture but it was ich powder brown tang brought it in. I can't put the blennies and gobies in qt they will starve to death. I guess I'm going to have to get rid of all my fish.

 

[Humblefish]

I can't put the blennies and gobies in qt they will starve to death. I guess I'm going to have to get rid of all my fish.

I don't understand why blennies and gobies would "starve to death" in QT? Both are low metabolism species, so 1-2x daily feedings would be fine.

 

[Shaddow_wolf169]

I don't understand why blennies and gobies would "starve to death" in QT? Both are low metabolism species, so 1-2x daily feedings would be fine.

The blennies feed off copepods and the diamond gets it nutrition from sifting the sand taking out organisms
Scooter blennies are like a mandrian goby

 

[Maritimer]

If it's scooters we're talking about, they're not really blennies or gobies - though they're often called that - they're dragonets, and that's a different kettle of fish indeed . . . It is possible to QT them successfully, but maintaining them through a fallow period will require a source of 'pods.

~Bruce

 

[Shaddow_wolf169]

Correct and the QT will not have sand or live rock.

 

[Mini Coop]

The others on this thread have much more experience than I do, so I won't chime in a bunch of advice other than what has been given. I'm sure if you got a source of pods you could still QT the scooter and goby. I have a new scooter and green manderin coming next week. I am working on advice to QT them myself before they go into the main tank. I will QT them for 6 weeks. Whatever I hear, I will share. I went through this process. Lost 10 fish, and had to run fallow (85 days to be safe) It sucked. However, I learned a ton in the process, and now will QT any fish that comes in. Good luck and I'm sorry for what you have lost. Suck up the advice on here. The amazing people on this forum got me through!

 

[Humblefish]

Correct and the QT will not have sand or live rock.

For the Diamond Goby, you can put some sand in a glass pyrex bowl in order to make him feel more comfortable. However, they can be trained to eat frozen and/or pellets right out of the water column. Use a turkey baster (or pipette) to target feed until he gets the hang of things.

The Scooter Dragonet (wish they would stop calling it a blenny) is a lot more challenging; however most I've QT'd will accept both of the following:

 

[Shaddow_wolf169]

Not worried about the goobies they eat mysis and brine good. Roe copepods are like 22buck each here. I would have to buy a bottle a day that's crazy the fish is 9.99ea I found a babysitter for my fish. My local coral guy said he would hold them for me.