HELP! I murdrered my first fish.

[Richard]

To some extent I agree with Tim and Robert. If conditions are right fish will very often resist outbreaks through their own immune systems. I feel that I have to continue to recommend quarantining livestock. Keep in mind that you guys have considerable experience and are more likely to recognize potential problems and correct them long before it becomes an issue. The majority of people don't have the benefit of your experience. On almost a daily basis I hear people say "I used to have a saltwater tank but the fish always died so I got rid of it". I think many of these people may have been successful in the hobby if they would have used a QT tank to keep diseases from getting into their main system.
I probably should rethink whether I even mention FW dips to people though. Although I do them all the time without problems, perhaps it's too easy for people to make mistakes and end up with a dead fish.
The truth of the matter is that although I'm always recommending QT tanks, very few people listen to me. Many of those who have end up turning their QT tank into a second tank long before they stock their main tank. This is one of the reasons we've decided to just start doing it for them.

[robertpower3]

I remeber when i first started keeping reef tanks how difficult it was to maintain a healthy tank. It just seems to me that it is hard enough in this hobby to maintain one tank in the begining with out throwing in medicated dips and another tank to watch. in the begining I think hobbyist should start with hardy fish that can with stand there mistakes and tryto master just one tank. If they can do that and feel that a q. tank is a good idea them they should get one. throwing a 1000 things at a new hobbyist will drive them out of the hobby.

[jay3]

Oh! Oh! Wait! I have an opinion on this one. Wait until you introduce an external parasite, such as a fluke, into a tank with your other cherished fishes. I have had this experience, and let me tell you something, brother; it is much easier on both you and the fish(if your dipping correctly) to dip the fish before, than have to catch him, and potentially others, in an established reef tank. If you haven't had this pleasure, or rather displeasure, I highly recommend avoiding it!
For those advocates of the "well kept system=no parasites" theory, I say this. Your half correct in the assumption that a healthy system helps prevent disease, but your also half lucky!

[robertpower3]

Did you not see the flukes on the fish before you bought it. I've seen flukes go away on there own and they usuaally are not life threatning are they?

[robertpower3]

Did you not see the flukes on the fish before you bought it. I've seen flukes go away on there own and they usuaally are not life threatning are they?

[jay3]

These flukes were very small and nearly transparent. The only reason I found them was because it was on the cornea of the fish and was causing edema (whitening) of the cornea. When I saw this I used a large magnifying glass to look at the eye, and to my surprise I could see a small nearly transparent organism that, under a microscope, I identified as a fluke. A freshwater dip solved the problem, but catching the little sucker was a bi@$#.
While the fluke may not have killled the fish, it would have stressed it to a point where it may have gotten seriously ill.

[Tim Marvin]

Go point Richard. I am so used to talking with Jim Norris and other friends I sometimes forget we are all at different levels. What seems like common sense to one may seem difficult to another.

[Isis]

Normally when it's the first fish I don't QT. But I try to quarantine everybody else that comes in since I've had bad luck before with some fish that looked fine but ended up with something.

You should quarantine all critters added to the main display. Many parasites live on the rocks or sand bed, and the way they get there is by the fish host. By not quaranting BEFORE they get into the main display, all you are doing is adding the problem to the tank, even though it seems it doesn't exist, i.e. it could be dormant, like a characteristic of ick. Ick has a latency period of 30 days, so just because a fish doesn't have it one month, doesn't mean it won't develop it the next. If we could add a fish and it not contaminate other fish while your display is full, why do it while it is empty?

I don't quarantine fish anymore, nor do I dip. If you keep your tank in top codition your fish can naturally fight off most problems. I do keep UVs on the tanks that I used to sell out of. The dip could have stressed the tang out too much. Don't forget this fish has been moved a bunch of times before you actually received it.

Keeping your tank in top condition is also the idea of preventative maintenance. If the problem has a potential to arise, IT WILL. Just because your tank is in perfect running order, doesn't mean that your fish won't get stressed by some other fish or incident that happens due to power or mechanical failure, and as we all know, stress brings about death and disease because it lowers our immune system's ability to fight back, and this is the same for fish.

Also, UV sterilizers IMO aren't the best at fighting anything since in reality it actually can be causing more harm than good. UV is used to sterilze water by destroying bacteria. Unfortunately, UV can only pass through a max of so many microns before it becomes inaffective. Depending on the clarity of your water, the amount of routine maintenance you perform on your sterilzer to keep the tubes clean and the strength of water flow and light, the UV waves can actually be causing the bateria to become "mutated" on a genetic level. This will either make the bad harmless or the good a major issue. Or if lucky, nothing with change at all. Personally, that is not something I would like to risk in my tank, let alone out in the real world, that is why UV sterilization is not in common practice for mass sterilizations.