Help! ! ! !

[nisom88]

Okay, I'm getting a little desperate and very worried about my fish and I'm hoping some of you can help me.
I thought I was fighting a little bit of ich as my tang and my puffer had visible white spots (looks like little grains of salt) on their bodies and fins. It didn't seem too serious, so I hooked up a UV sterilizer and started to add garlic paste to their food. Everything seemd to improve until tonight.
The puffer looks worse than the tang, he's quite pale and his eyes have been clouded over. He won't eat, which is really unusual as he's normally swimming back and forth frantically begging for food. The tang is eating but also looks pale.
I'm not sure exactly what to do as I'm not even sure if this is ich or marine velvet...how can you tell the difference? Do a fish's eyes get clouded over with ich? Also, I don't really know the BEST way to treat this as I don't have a quarantine tank set up. I don't have any corals and very few inverts in the tank, should I use copper? I got desperate and added a product called Green-ex that contains malahcite green and quinine...they claim it's invert safe. Can anyone give me any other suggestions??
By the way the tank's a 55g with live rock and live sand...it's plumbed with a sump running a small skimmer and a uv sterilizer.
Please send any advice as I hate to see these guys suffer and I'm not sure how to best help them. I'd really hate to lose the puffer,he looks pretty bad...he's got such a little personality....

[nisom88]

Please! The puffer looks even worse today, he's not swimming around much and is breathing heavy. Can anyone give me any suggestions?

[Alice]

Don't add anything copper based to your system if you ever want to have corals or delicate inverts in that tank. I'd be wary about any medication used in tank but I know people use varying meds with different rates of success and damage to their tanks.

Have you double checked all your water parameters? Done water changes? Have a powerhead current breaking the water surface for extra oxygen exchange? Used the Green-ex according to directions?

If all of the above is true, you may need to pull the fish and medicate them with copper and or antibiotics. They can and do get secondary infections with ich and it seems that these kill them more often than just the ich itself.

You can set up a quick QT with water from your main tank (make sure the parameters are good first!) a piece of liverock (you'll have to discard it later) for the denitrifying bacteria, a "bubbler" or small PH for gas exchange and some pvc or other non-porous, non-toxic item for the fish to hide in so they will feel safe and less prone to stress.

Larger fish and tangs are hard to QT in small tanks; I feel the confinement is counter-productive BUT for short term treatment with meds, it's probably the best route to go if they are showing no signs of improvement in the display.

HTH and good luck!

~Alice

[nisom88]

Thanks Alice,
I may have to try to catch the puffer and set up a smaller QT like you described. I'm not sure that this new medication will be enough to cure the poor guy.

[Spanky]

[quote]The puffer looks worse than the tang, he's quite pale and his eyes have been clouded over. [/QB]

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Even though puffers are ick/velvet magnets you can't use M. green.
Carbon right now to help take it out. Or just remove to a Q tank with new water.
Wait a couple of days before treating for parasites now.
Treatment of choice for both parasites is formalin, without the M green.
Start out with two drops per gallon for a 30min bath, then new fresh untreated water. Aerate the water heavily before introducing the fish. You can use a clean bucket if you don't have a tank.

HTH
Jerel