value of uv sterilizer

[t-byrd]

i have been fighting an infection of cryptocaryon, my power went out for about 8 hours and the temp dropped about 6 degrees, and ever since then
it has been a problem. ive been soaking food in garlic and its been helping, havent lost any fish, but i cant get rid of it.

would this be a good thing to add, or are they not that effective?
i have added a bunch of feather dusters and cleaner shrimp hoping
they would help filter them out while they are in the free swimming stage,
but it has not been eliminated and im getting frustrated. been going on for almost 2 months.

 

[SAT]

IMO, UV will cut down on the rate of reinfection but won't eliminate the problem. Crypto can be killed by UV, but it's a large protozoan that requires a heavy dose to be highly effective. Besides, reinfection typically occurs while the fish are sleeping near the bottom of the tank.

A chronic infection implies the fish are still weak. Best bet is continue working on the fish's general health, particularly water conditions and food.

Depending on the kind of fish you have, you might try a neon goby. But don't add any more fish if your tank is already near its capacity limit.

 

[caecosystems]

A UV sterilizer will help cut down on the free swimming stages of this protozoan but will not solve your problem. A Diatom Filter will also pull out the cryptocarion. Keep going strong with your regime and be patient. If you could catch some of them easily and fresh water dip them its worth a try, BUT.......DO NOT CAUSE A BIG SCENE IN THE TANK BY TRYING TO CHASE A FISH ALL OVER THE TANK TO CATCH HIM! THIS WILL CAUSE MORE HARM THEN GOOD. Keep your water changes on the small side until they get over this problem. I say this because you want to stay away from instabilities right now.

 

[t-byrd]

as for the fish load, i was wondering if i was near the max and
the tank couldnt handle, adding to the problem.
fish
1 coral beauty angel
1 scooter blenny
1 diamond goby
1 yellow watchman goby
55g with 65-70 lbs of live rock, 4 inch sand bed
0 ammonia and nitrite, nitrates never been above 8
would lowering the salinity slowly help?
just about impossible to get any fish out, my original plan was to put them in 2 treatment tanks and let the reef go without fish for 6 weeks, but with
my rock ziptied together that isnt going to happen

 

[SAT]

A 55 should be plenty big enough.

I wouldn't lower salinity unless (a) it's higher than normal (35ppt) or (b) you decide to try hyposalinity as a treatment. I woudn't do the latter in a display tank except as a last resort (but I would do it before I used copper). It's possible, however, that whatever you're using to test salinity is off -- maybe too high. Try taking a sample down to the LFS and let them test it.

I agree with caecosystems that you want to maintain stable conditions right now. Especially, try to keep your temperature and salinity rock solid.

 

[t-byrd]

ok, thanks.
im going to continue with the garlic, keep all parameters the same,
and take it slow and see what happens.

i was thinking of the neon goby, but havent seen the around. have seen cleaner wrasse, but heard they dont live that long in a tank.
is that because of their diet? do they only pick parasite, and refuse other foods? i figure they'd be good at picking at the angel, maybe diamond goby.

thanks for the help.

 

[SAT]

Cleaner wrasses should be left on the reef... their diet is very particular and they rarely do well in an aquarium.

Good luck!

 

[caecosystems]

I second that emotion!!!! By the way.....your bio-load is tiny.

 

[Anonymous]

A cleaner shrimp would be more practical.

 

[t-byrd]

yea, i have two cleaner shrimp in there, they are fairly new to the tank
and are just starting to show an interest in cleaning the fish.
actually over the past few days the crypto seems to be going away.

 

[Bill2]

actually over the past few days the crypto seems to be going away.

It'll be back. It's just probably going through it's life cycle. Feed the fish good and keep them happy and DO NOT add another fish untill this clears up. The best solution for ich is to find the problem, which you know, and keep the fish fat and happy.