Urgent I don't know what to do!!!!

My tank has been infected with something....it started with ich and only my powder brown tang had shown signs of being sick. i figured it would pass and everthing should be fine... It died two nights ago ..it was eating like a pig and everything just had ich. then it suddenly the last night it was alive looked like the first picture. they aren't white spots..it was like the skin changed color in a spotted pattern. next day i found it dead in the cave it usually sleeps in. Now all my fish are acting weird. My foxface looks like the second pict...also has ich but something else too...looks like it got sun burnt and the skin on his sides is peeling in little spots and strips. all my fish are swimming head on with the powerheads and are twitching or tweakin as they swim or when they are still. I don't know what to do!! do i rip my tank apart and try to catch them and put in QT?? I am afraid i'm going to loose all my fish i am in way over my head and need some sort of plan to fix this. I started dosing my DT last night with Melafix because at the time the only fish remaining alive that looked bad was the foxface and his eyes were begining to get cloudy. i was not trying to treat ich with melafix to be clear. all the fish are acting the same but not all are looking the same. my two percula clowns look like they have a fine white dusty layer stuck to the outside of them...its not spots more like a blanket. the only fish so far that seems 100% is my yellow wrasse and he burries in the substrate so shouldn't he be the first to get the ich?? it's got nothing. They all seem to breath heavy at times and relax for abit in a cycle...all are twitching. I don't know what else to say...anything i left out that would be needed info?

My water parameters are ideal: nitrate 0ppm, ammonia 0ppm, dKH 10, ph 8.4, salinity 1.024, temp 79, i use RO/DI water, phosphates .25

 

how long have you had those fish? Powder brown are NOTORIOUS for getting ick due to stress and they are fairly difficult to acclimate.

Your water parems seem good, is there temp fluctuations during the night, anything stressing the fish out?

I personally would not get the fish out to QT them. Ick is in your tank already, and personally I believe all fish have ich on them, just like we have bacteria on us. It is when our immune system is stressed or other events occur that we get sick (I have read some say all fish have it and others say no) But regardless it is in your tank now

Do you have good oxygenation in your tank? How many powerheads, etc? Is there good surface agitation? I would personally get a cleaner shrimp and put it in the tank.

Are you feeding HUFA's and garlic with your food? I would make sure that you add these to their food (I do on all my feedings) If they are eating, then usually they can beat this. I wouldnt dose anything or add anything (other then a cleaner) else

 

I just reread the post and it sounds like you have velvet, not ich.
Here is a site that you can look at.
There are medications out there that treats velvet but I honestly cant remember them, maybe somebody else can chime in?
Marine velvet

Edit: just thought of it...formalin will treat velvet.

 

yeah i know of a few but none that i can put into my DT as far as i know....i have done all that you asked...i have 2 skunk cleaner shrimp i left out of my stock list, I now ( as of 3 weeks ago) feed HUFA's, have more than sufficent oxygen in the water thanks to the micobubbles from my skimmer. I have 2 -korolla #2 and 1 aquaclear 30 powerheads, my skimmer and an aquaclear70 mechanical filter. all the fish were long time with me with the exception of the tang... seems like the tang gave it to em.. is the melafix gonna help in my situation or do i need to stop and do something else... as i said i did my first dose of melafix last night.

 

I'm due to give me second dose of melafix....hoping someone know if its effective against velvet??

 

I don't think Melafix will help because Oodiniasis (marine velvet) is a parasite.

 

great...so aside from tearing my tank apart and catching all my fish an treating with copper in QT is my only option? i can't find anything that says it's reef safe and treats velvet. API makes a anti-parasite powder you dose but doesn't say if its safe for corals and inverts. anyone know? what should i do? i need to act fast i think. as it is i just got my lights off. should i stop with the melafix? Do water changes?

 

you can try formalin, but unfortunatly velvet is a nasty disease that doesnt really respond very well to anything, it is a very very resistant disease.

Good luck

 

I don't know much about it, just that it's nasty. Try reading this article: Marine Velvet Disease: Symptoms, Treatment, and Prevention

Looks like copper is your best bet, but that is definitely not reef safe.

 

ok well i stopped melafix...only did 1 dose of it so hope i didn't cause any damage. I put new carbon and biomax into my aquaclear 70 cause i took them out for the melafix. I added my emergency filter with new carbon, its an aquaclear 30. I had the skimmer off for the treatment of melafix so i just turned it on low. I changed out 5% of the water already and got another 5% on the way. I am setting up a hospital tank with coppersafe treatment. I am going to run 1.018 salinity in the hospital tank and drip acclimate the fish for a long time before transfering to the QT. i'll have the temp at 79 in the hospital tank. running small elite filter with no carbon just sponge. sound good???