help with clowns

[cavipower1]

starting off everything else but my pair of clowns are fine, my fire fish, blenny, all my zoas and even my purple anemone are absolutley fine. it started with my clowns having ick, treated em and now theyve lost some of their color and have some like white splotches on them. one of the eats fine and the smaller one isnt looking to good. salinity and the water is fine. i do water changes every week i change out four gallons every week.anyone know wat might be wrong with my fish? im so stumped right now

[cavipower1]

sorry for the fast post

[Bill S]

OK, let's see if we can get some more info here:

Tank size, how long it's been up, water paramaters (not just "water is fine"), history of the ich problem - what did you do to treat them, etc.

[cavipower1]

20l, five six months, ph=8.3,alkalinity=300, nitrates and nitrites=0, salinity right around 1.025, treated them with freshwater dips since i was told that medicine for ick might have copper and it would kill my anemone and duster, started feedind food with kent marine garlic mix

[Bill S]

I'll put this one into the memory bank for another "no dips for Ich" vote.

FW dips are a bit of a controversy. Kind of like treating a cold. Treat a cold, it'll last a week. Let it run its course on its own, and instead, it'll take about 7 days.

Personally - and really, this is just my opinion, but I generally DO express it on the weekly "Ich thread", I don't like dips for Ich. Many WILL disagree with me. In my short 35 year experience with SW fish, Ich almost always develops due to stress. Remove stress from the fish's life, feed well and give it good water, and it will usually recover. While FW dips DO make the parasite drop off, it's very stressful for the fish. As a last resort? Maybe.

At this point, your best bet is to keep the clowns as happy as you can. See if you can scrounge up some live brine, or small ghost shrimp it might be tempted with. CB used to sell a Mysis that picky fish really, really like, but I'm not sure who else does. Maybe try some fresh mussels from HEB?

P.S. I like your regular, large water changes.

[Bill S]

Oh yeah. Unless you are keeping stony corals, your fish will be happier (and less stressed) with your salinity a bit little lower.

[MKCindy]

Also check the temperature. When you do water changes make sure the fresh water is at the same temperature before adding, to reduce stress.

[cavipower1]

thanks guys for the help, one of my clowns died last nite, the other one looks fine swimming around and eating today he even ate outta my hand lol, it just has alot of white spots on him, hes acting perfectly normal unlike the other one. my fire fish has like two or three spots now from wat i can tell now. temp doesnt fluctuate since its in an area were it doesnt get any drafts and the temp stays at the same level. on another note does temp fluctuating maybe one or two degrees play a big role in the stress of the fish? my temp stays at 76 sometimes goes to 77 rarely to 78, might this be the problem?

[erikharrison]

double check your salinity, if everything else is in check and the fish are not fighting it off, something is obviously wrong. I highly doubt that small of a fluctuation in temp would cause this great of an outbreak. My clowns have yet to get ich...

[cavipower1]

thanks for the help man i just really cant figure out wat the prolem is