Ich? Or stung?

[thesnowflakeclown]

So i was recently on vacation. My sister kept my fish. But when i got home i found ALOT of algae, and some black dots on my clowns! I headed down to the lfs and got some medication. Its made weak so it wont hurt anything in the tank. And i picked up a cleaner shrimp. Im guessing my shrimp is captive bred because it wont go near my fish, and my fish are scared of it. (they are tank bred also). And it eats mysis shrimp. OK so my question is, Is this ich? Or sting marks? Thanks guys :) :bowdown: :confused:
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[bjohanson1234]

double post

 

[bjohanson1234]

Pics are too blurry. I can't see any markings on the fish at all.

What kind of medication are you treating also? If you are not following the directions and making it weak, then it will have little to now effect on health issues.

There are only two known treatments for ich. Copper and Hyposalinity. If you are treating your tank with copper, your going to end up killing off your cleaner shrimp. Inverts,shrimp and coral, are very susceptible to copper.

A good rule of thumb is to never treat your main tank. Always treat for disease in hospital tanks. This keeps the beneficial bacteria alive and well in your main tank.

 

[thesnowflakeclown]

Well its basically black dots...the treatment is " Microbe-lift/herbtana. (ML/H)". Label says "100% natural expellant for parastitic diseases" "provides a chemical-free treatment affective against parasitic diseases"

 

[thesnowflakeclown]

they basically look like this. I looked up ich and its black small spots, and theres ALOT. my spots are a little bigger, and less in count.

 

[bjohanson1234]

I found this and it appears that it doesn't do much if anything

Microbe-Lift Herbtana - Reef Central Online Community

 

[thesnowflakeclown]

Then what should i do? Ive only added it 2 times and i wont add it again... Now what should i do to cure my ich?

 

[little_fish]

Black ich isnt the same as normal ich, but copper or hypo will both kill it. Personally, i would just do several water changes and get your water quality back up and keep your fish stress free. Fish tend to get sick when they are stress and their immune system can no longer deal with parasites, just like humans.

Make sure you are feeding a good quality diet too.

Finally, there are no captive breed cleaner shrimp, but not all fish want to be cleaned and not all cleaner shrimp want to clean when easier and tastier food is available.

 

[thesnowflakeclown]

I will cut off on shrimp feeding and i guess ill find a way to only feed the fish. I did a water change yesterday and ill do one every 3 days i guess. Or 2 times a week. Just tested and everything is fine.. My sister was watching my fish while i was on vacation and i guess they missed me and got stressed. LOL jk she probably didnt treat them right... I feed them mysis shrimp every day and night. And i throw in a tiny piece of garlic. They eat all the shrimp and treat the garlic like gum. They chew it and spit it out... Until it goes in the filter. I moved all my corals to my other tank that finished cycling. I also moved the light fixture. I moved the corals because i want to continue the medication and not kill the corals. I soak my food in garlic and they do like it... Any sudgestions? How can i get my shrimp to clean my fish? Thanks for the help!

 

[thesnowflakeclown]

And i slowly raised my temp from 78 to 82 if that helps...

 

[little_fish]

I would leave the temperature where its at now, you want your fish to a stress free as possible. I would also add in some different types of food, just mysid shrimp isnt a great diet. Variety is the spice of life and key to good nutrition. You also dont need to add in the garlic if your fish are eating, the garlic is only suppose to help encourage fish to eat.

 

[thesnowflakeclown]

Oh really i thought it boosted their immune system..? And what else should i feed them. What ive agreed to do now is- Keep fish stress free, Remove all corals to my other tank, Keep cleaner shrimp, and water changes 2 times a week,

 

[little_fish]

That has never been proven. For the food, i would go to a petsmart/petco or your local LFS and see what they have in the frozen food. Then just grab a few different things and rotate through them.

 

[bjohanson1234]

Or get a food that has a whole bunch of stuff mixed in.

 

[Bifferwine]

Raising the temp to 82 and using that medication won't cure anything, unfortunately. I agree with what the others have said -- get your water quality back up and keep the fish eating. If you do want to treat, you will have to use a method that works. Any of the "reef safe" medications don't work.

 

[Bifferwine]

I headed down to the lfs and got some medication. Its made weak so it wont hurt anything in the tank.

Including the parasite. ;)

 

[appleton]

I could be wrong,but i've never seen a clownfish acquire the services of a cleaner shrimp.The others that chime in about water quality are absolutely correct.