Marine Fish Tank Diseases

Marine Fish Disease – Help Needed!?

I have lost all my fish in my tank except 1 ( starfish and a few shrimp and crabs still surviving, so far.) It started with some white, not spots, on a couple of fish. It then spread. I’m not certain that it was ick at first, but towards the end I did see some.

I have tested my water, and everything is basically where it should be. The only thing out of normal is an outbreak of algae lately. I have treated for ick with ‘Ich-Attack’, but it has not really worked (I guess all the dead fish would be the first clue!!)

Do I continue treating my tank with the meds, even though I don’t think its working? If so, how long do I keep treating? I have never gone through this before.

I have ordered a UV sterilizer and protien skimmer and plan on installing them tomorrow. How long should I wait before I start to introduce any new fish, and is there anything I could do better this time?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

The white you saw on the fish, did it look patchy almost velvety? If so, it was most likely oodinium or marine velvet. Its a parasite similar to ich, but harder to treat and much more deadly. The only medication I know of to treat is copper, which would be detrimental in your tank w/ the inverts. But in your case the parasite will die w/out a host (fish) in about a month. At this point the UV and protein skimmer will not help, but will help to maintain a better environment for your future fish. For now do a partial water change to remove the Ich Attack and do not add fish for at least 4 weeks to allow the parasite to go through its life cycle and die. If you want to prevent this in the future you may want to quarantine your fish with copper for 2 weeks before adding them to your main tank, as this is how the parasite got into the tank.

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