Help! Helfrich's firefish in hypo seems to be dying!

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dward0487

I purchased a Helfrich's firefish about a week and a half ago from Mid-Cities Aquariums. He looked fine at the time, but upon getting him home, I noticed some ich spots under the lights. I put him (along with my 2 clownfish) in a 10-gallon QT and slowly dropped the salinity down over 36 hours from 1.026 to 1.009. I've been doing 20% water changes every 2 days, and the salinity has been very stable. The pH has been somewhat low (mid to high 7's), but the other parameters have been fine. I have an ammonia alert badge in the tank, and it always reads "safe" (I've been using Prime in the water since the QT has no sand or rock). The temp in the QT is 78 degrees. The firefish's ich spots cleared up in the first few days, and his color improved noticeably. My clownfish seem perfectly fine, and the firefish seemed happy until today. He did not eat today (just watched the food float by), and for better part of the day, he has been laying around on the bottom of the tank, usually in a corner or along an edge, opening and closing his mouth fairly rapidly. Half the time he's laying on his side, almost motionless. I'm not sure what I can do to help this little guy... He's only been in the QT about 8 days. I added some of the B-Ionic alkalinity solution to bring the pH up to a more reasonable level, but it doesn't seem to be helping. Any suggestions are welcome! Thanks.
 
Do you have an air pump and airstone in there? Wouldn't hurt to add that.

How are you measuring your salinity? If it is with a refractometer has it been properly calibrated recently? Running hypo effectively requires walking a very fine line as to the salinity. You could try increasing the salinity to 1.011 to see if it helps in case your readings are off.
 
Mike, I do not currently have an airstone in the QT. I've been meaning to add that, but I just hadn't gotten to it yet.

As for the salinity, I'm using a JBJ C-Scope refractometer. It is properly calibrated, so I don't think that's the issue.

This seems to be specific to the firefish, as my 2 clowns in the QT are swimming around and eating normally.

I have noticed the firefish swimming around a little bit more since raising the pH. I'm currently doing a 30% water change, just in case. I also added in a few pieces of tubing, since I know he likes to wedge himself in tight spaces for security. Hopefully he will try them out. I'm hoping he pulls through!!
 
You can buy a battery operated air pump with air stone at Walmart for around $8. They run on D Cell batteries and last a long time. Good for power outages and transporting, dipping new fish(safety stop).
 
Well, I found him dead this morning. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't save him... I guess I know one store I won't be purchasing fish from again. I saw WAY too many sick ones there, and this experience seals the deal for me.
 
Why on earth are you attempting to hypo your fish as part of QT? A single fish or batch of fish in QT for 2 weeks is MORE than enough time to see/treat any issues. Adding the stress and risk on hypo is NEVER needed and as you can see, comes with a set of issues. Time and a UV on a stable and NORMAL QT tank is all you need.
 
Dave, I wasn't putting them in hypo as part of a normal quarantine. I was treating a visible ich infection. If I were just doing a regular quarantine, I'd have just kept him separate with normal salinity. Copper and hypo are the two main methods of conquering ich, so I chose hypo, as it seemed like the least stressful option for the fish. Apparently this little guy just wasn't strong enough.
Time and UV is not a recommended way of treating ich that is already present.
 
@dward0487 wrote:
Dave said:
Do not use hypo as a treatment, unless its a treatment of last resort. Hypo is way too stressful. Ich is usually a stress disease... and usually present in all our systems. Happy and healthy fish it is rarely if ever an issue, stressed or sick fish, it can take a foothold and eventually kill em. A couple of spots is not a serious outbreak... if he was covered head to tail, then you might run him through. Otherwise just isolate. I wouldn't even use copper unless it was a major outbreak. Isolate and nurse them for a few days.
Click to expand...
 
Dave, I don't understand the reasoning in your post... I was under the impression that ich is only present in systems in which it is allowed to live. If fish are treated properly and the DT is left fallow for long enough, the parasites will die off, leaving an ich-free system. I have never read anything that says that isolating and "nursing" a fish with ich will cure it. It seems to me that if you notice a "couple of spots" and let it go, the spots (trophonts) will fall off, begin to reproduce in the substrate, and eventually pop up on the fish again in greater numbers. Since ich is a parasite that requires fish to survive, it seems like leaving it on a fish and calling it "normal" is a sure-fire way to allow it to multiply and take hold in your tank. If everyone did that, then it certainly would be present "in all our systems." I have seen that argument discussed in multiple articles, and every single one I've read has stated that it is untrue and based on experiences from those who did not properly deal with ich to eliminate it. Perhaps hypo did prove to be too stressful for my firefish, which was obviously stressed/ill from the very beginning. However, my clowns are doing fine, and I feel like hypo is the best way to ensure that they remain free of ich and my DT is eventually ich-free, as well. I consider it a safer alternative than the use of copper, as the lower salinity is actually easier on the fish's kidneys, which have to work harder to process saltwater at higher salinity levels. Water conditions seem to be the main concern with hypo, and I'm doing my best to control them and keep them at proper levels.
 
Ich is rarely a problem... even if it is present in a tank if the fish are healthy and the tank is cared for. Ich, while a parasite, is akin to the flu bug and is only a problem with a compromised fish otherwise you'll rarely if ever see it. It can come in on anything not just fish and eliminating it from your system means that you are going to be QT and hypoing everything from the frags to the fish to the LR itself. So..... you have the technical aspects of things correct, but not the practical. It's your system and your fish, but I have seen this many times with many peeps in this club and on other forums making the same mistakes you are making in going overboard and well beyond what is really needed to solve problems that don't need to be resolved or using techniques they are really not needing to use or prepared to do so, then losing animals in the process.

BTW Isolation is not a CURE, I never said it was. It is a recovery technique. Your claim that hypo is easier on the fishes kidneys is incorrect in that not needing to operate as much because you are living in an un-natural environment is not the same as a healthier environment ..... a saltwater fish is designed by nature and evolution to survive and thrive at its natural habitat levels.. IE Natural Sea Water levels. Anything else is a stressor on that fish one way or another, be it hyper or hypo and will have an impact on that fish.

Again though, it is your tank and these are your animals. Please do what you feel is correct....
 
I would agree that I would not knowingly allow iChat to be in my system. My livestock gets quarantined before going in the display. I also prazipro all fish while in quarantine. you might look into the tank transfer method, for future fish purchases.
 
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