[Turtle]

I have a number of sps, lps, soft corals, inverts, doing very well in my tank. I can't keep a fish and corals together however. I have had lingering problems with fish parasites and tail rot.

I just re-introduced my 2 tomato clowns after leaving my tank fallow for one month, and I noticed white scum on the edges of the fins and tail. Both clowns are working vigorously to train my 2 ft Condy. They are getting stung after being seperated for a month. (might be from the stings)
I did notice that the tail of the larger clown was slightly chewed. Possibly from the Yellow Angel they were sharing the hospital tank with. (He is still there)
Is this the result of poor water quality in the hospital tank that they were in? The filter is poor, 20 gal.
Can they overcome tail rot without medicating my reef tank? Or is that what it is?

Last time I let the tank run fallow for 2 months, same problems. But it was Ick.

Do I need to gut the tank, sterilize the tank and start over?

Should I give up on this near impossible dream of keeping healthy fish and corals together?

 

[skylergirl]

Something else is going on in your tank.

How many fish do you currently have?

Have you owned just a fish only tank with the EXACT same fish and not encountered the same diseases?

Here's what I would try. Get the fish in the qt. Let them all heal. Use plastic shields to separate them in the qt if you must to prevent fighting.

Then trade in the most aggressive fish you have to the lfs for credit. Trade in all the fish you have too. I'd let the tank run for a couple weeks with just the corals.

Then buy a fish an qt it for a month. Observe that it does not have any diseases, then place in the main tank for more observation.

That might be a slow way to do it, but it is ALOT less painful than tearing your tank apart.

Maybe get a UV sterilizer on your tank right now. That can only help.

Good luck

 

[mardemp]

I agree with Sunny,
I have gone through my saga with ick. What a pain! A UV Sterilizer might be a good idea, and realitively cheaper than tearing your whole system apart.
Marie

 

[tszetela]

One problem may be that a condi is not a hosting anemone. (But Dang! Two feet?! Thats huge!)
It has very powerfull sting (and is not even from the same ocean as our clownfish.) These stings could be stressing the clowns and allowing the infections to set in.

Also what is your SG, Alk and temp?

 

[Turtle]

Tank

I have 3 fish total. The two clowns are in the 90 gal reef tank. I checked them this morning and they don't look any worse. The large clown had tail rot before when I first got her and the tail disappeared very quickly - like in hours. This is not tail rot, based on what I saw before. The tail could have been a little chewed up from the Angel. The clowns have painfully reacclimated themselves to the Atlantic Condy Anemone. ( I would hate to do that to them again) They both have some white slimy substance on their side fins and a spot or two on the tails. Is this from being stung by the anemone dozens of times? I read somewhere that they rub against the tentacles to pick up a slimy coating that protects them from being stung.

The other fish is a dwarf Yellow Angel who is still in the hospital tank doing fine.

 

[Turtle]

tank

SG is .024
Alk is high

They are not getting stung anymore, at least not like yesterday. You could see them jump when they touched the tentacles. They did host this same anemone for few weeks in Feb. Before the problem with Ick which began with the Angel.

The Anemone is getting way too large, I can't get any corals anywhere near it. And it still seems to be growing. If the clowns don't heal I think I would like to get rid of it.

 

[Russ K]

I have two percs and when I put them in the tank they both got a slimy white coating on them. I did a freshwater dip for about 3 or 4 min. two days in a row. It saved them and once in a while the larger one gets some spots of ich and slime, but very little.

He fights it off everytime. The smaller one had scales fall off of his side and lost part of its dorsal fin. The fin grew back and the scales are coming back but there is a scar there.

I also treated the tank with GREENEX but that was before I had inverts. It says invert safe.

 

[Turtle]

Condition improving

Checked in on the clowns this morning and the fins of the larger female seem to be healing and clearer. Slime is all gone. The small male has no marks or fin deterioration. He did scratch on a rock once, which alarmed me but is otherwise OK. They are both eating well and have fully adjusted to the anemone.

I checked out Raptors UV unit and this seems like the way to go when I get the $$$

 

[Turtle]

Fallow Tank

The 1 month Fallow tank must have worked. Fish look healthy, healed, no sign of any problems. Keep my fingers crossed, and getting a UV when I can.