I'm not sure how effective it is, given what the topical dose is, but I figure it can't hurt. I didn't want to treat the whole tank yet, but will if I see any signs that warrant it. So far it's one white dot on the MI that hasn't changed in days. Could easily be something else.

Well, day 6, and I'm calling it ich. Hate ich...

Me too.

Anthony, you have ich?? Must be itchy!! :)

Tell me about it.

MI is very blotchy today, and not looking well. Did a 50% water change and added carbon to remove any CP. Waiting to see how the night goes.

:neutral:

Much better today after a 50% water change and lots of carbon.

So, no idea really what happened, maybe a reaction to the CP? Tonight, he's fine, swimming and eating and being a normal fish. No marks, no ich spots. Let's see how the week goes.

MI
 

Well I did not read all the posts but my first MI was lost a night but from lack of O2 I don't know I believe it was just stress from my Scopas Tang the big bully, he just was on the MI all the time. I must admit the MI was a suck. So what do I do, about 2 months later I see a beautiful MI at the shop and asked can I see him eat and sure enough he was pigging out and what I noticed and all should take note of this HE KEPT HIS GROUND AND EVEN PUSHED A COUPLE OF TANGS A SIDE TO GET THE FOOD. If he sits of to the side and eats what comes his way forget it if he is going in after a bunch of other fish are in your tank already. My new MI I have had now for 5 to 6 months now and is great shape but the best part is he's got guts, just last evening I was looking at the tank and the Scopas took a run at the MI and it was like out of a Ninja Movie, the MI was stopped and all he did was turn onto his side and the Scopas just flew by and MI back up vertical and never missed a beat I mean it did not move forward or back just onto to its side and back up and at a speed that took me a second to think of what just happened. I don't even think twice about my MI his name is Bruce now. The food that I find he likes and most of my fish is NLS Marine Flake and they go nuts for Omega One Garlic Marine Flake.
They seem to like the NorthFin Marine Pellet more then the NLS and I find it tends to drift around more and longer then NLS. I also feed Myis shrimp but my MI seems to love Brine Shrimp. If you got Ick I would give the NLS Flake with Garlic and Omega One Garlic Marine a try. I had a couple of spots show up on my Naso and the Scopas looked a little pale a while back and I only fed then NLS and Omega One for like a week but I remember in 2 days spots where gone and Scopas colour was back fully. The newest food I have been trying is the New Era Grazing Ring. I will put one in at night 3 to 4 times a week and it gives them something to munch on over night.

That's my 2 cents hope it maybe of some help to someone.

All the best.

Skim

What is CP? Thanks

chloroquine phosphate, an alternative treatment for ich, velvet and a couple other things..

Interesting. Where might I find CP?

Oh and I love the look of MI. Best of luck.

Very difficult to get. And expensive. Unless you want a kilo of it :)

Lol yes definitely expensive, but the new life spectrum ick shield powder has some sort of CP in it. I have picked some up to give it a try in my qt.

Well, this ended poorly. While he was swimming around fine 10 hours ago, came home to find him dead.

Crappy news Brad, sorry to hear.
Anything you would do differently next time?

Doing the math, I think I may actually lose more fish in QT than not. I think CP bothered this guy, so not sure I'd treat again. My anthias school still hasn't fully recovered from the treatment either, still hiding and not eating.

One thing that bothers me is I had lots of feeder zoas in the tank when I treated, perhaps these released something that set this in motion. I dunno.

I'll try again.

Sorry to hear he didn't make it.

while i read the instructions for the ichshield i didnt follow them lol i broadcasted that food by the handfulls in a 500g reef with zoas, sps, clams, anemones etc etc. no issues for me

i do believe that some fish just don't take to meds as easy as some others do.

Well I'm a little late, and sorry to bring up oxygen again... But if this is truly the issue, I can't believe someone hasn't suggested reducing temperature. Not sure what you guys are running at, but reducing water temp will reduce oxygen demand by slowing metabolism, and also increase dissolved oxygen. Most corals do fine as low as 76f, so it would be worth a shot

No, this fish death had nothing to do with O2. Tank was super oxygenated. This was MI dying because it's a cloudy Friday.

As for temp, SPS growth is near 0 at 76 from my previous tank running at 76 :) O2 difference over 3 degrees is likely negligible

I dosed CP directly, not food (much)

Bummer.

Geez dude, rotten luck lately

Any chance your QT is contaminated ? Although you had losses in your DT too ... could something you're using in both tanks be a culprit ? Or was the DT thing an oxygen issue while you were away ( I think you mentioned that )

Maybe hypo next time ?

Wondering about dying zoas in QT. Only had issues after medicating, which would have ****ed off the zoas.
DT was O2 related, this wasn't. No cross contamination between tanks. Lost 2 anthias as well.

SPS is pretty nebulous, but if you're talking shallow water acropora from warm reefs, I guess growth would be pretty slow at 76.I run at 77-78, and have no issues.

Oxygen difference over 2 degrees Celsius at our range of temperatures would be around 3.5%. But I'm sure the demand for oxygen at a lower temp is at least that much less, probably more. So not insignificant. But do what you like :) just a suggestion...

Further reading:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/eb/index.php

Sorry to hear about the loss Brad. Always tough not really being able to point to something definitive.

My MI success resulting from the following;

1. No QT. this fish is much too sensitive to any treatments. Furthermore, any QT that has been treated will not sustain any of the valuable food sources it needs in rock, sand ect.. which most people do not keep in their QT's. If the fish is to be in QT, keep it untreated and set it up as mentioning below.

2. Observing this fish in the wild on many occasions on different reefs, I noticed all of their feeding or "picking" was at the bottom of the reef in the rock rubble, no sand. When I set my tank up with this in mind, I made a whole section of the tank with a rubble bottom, about a 2x4' area. As the tank matured, I could see the rubble covered with sponges and other life. When the MI went in, it would not eat anything I added, and I tried everything. It did however graze at the rubble, which I believe sustained it long enough until it eventually started eating what the rest of the fish ate, which took about a week. The best part about the rubble, was that the MI could only eat what it could reach between the rubble, so if it was picking at a sponge, some of the sponge under the rubble would survive to grow back, giving the MI a constant food source, or at least one that wouldn't be decimated.

Had more but have to cut short - baby calling...

Ya, this time QT only for observation, I have fresh rock with things to pick at. If he's good for a week, he's going into the DT.
Lots of flow, enough to pick at in DT to keep him fed until he eats (although the last one ate well within 24 hours).

I'm thinking of building a rubble pile anyway for pods, so that may start tomorrow. Probably use the large reactor media I have kicking around.

Did you pick up another one already? You should skip the qt and place it straight in. I really think if you can put the fish into a tank with little or no aggression it will be inclined to feed and once it starts eating that's half the battle already. Just a thought...

Have to wait a month for delivery, but will get one. I have a large yellow tang, so will put in observation first. Last one did fine until I poisoned it :)

I've been through the MI saga many times, for better and worse. Lost one a few months ago that I'd had for years. I would agree that putting straight into DT is the best bet.Sometimes they drop dead seemingly just to spite you though.. The long term successes I've gotten have thrived from day one. Ich is not a good sign in a MI and I've rarely had one recover from this, same goes for the parasites they seem to attract. Very sensitive to any kind of treatment unfortunately.

What about a nice bannerfish? Decent substitute for a MI imo

No :) MIs can be kept, lots of examples of it online. I had one that was almost 2yrs in tank. I'll try again, think I got this :)

I will nto just add him to my DT though, that's a bit reckless to the rest of the tank. I have a observation tank waiting with rock and a nice view of the ocean.

A nice view of the ocean...thats worse than killing him outright, now you're adding torture to the list haha

There is no replacement for MI. I have looked at them many times trying to convince myself to think of it as an alternative but no chance.

Just a temp setup, once he goes in the DT, he has view of the TV. Which might be worse !