Achilles tang can't fully shake off the ick

If the fish is eating, acting normal, and not flashing, I would wait it out. If it gets at all worse, then rethink things. When I moved, and upgraded my reef, the fish broke out VERY badly with ich (I knew my tank was never ich free). At one point the powder blue had skin texture like he was dried and salted :( BUT... he never once flashed, never stopped eating, and never showed any signs of distress other than visual appearance. So, I just waited it out... eventually it cleared. Mind you, this was a 4 year old PBT in my care. I doubt a new addition would have done as well.
 
Yeah, I missed that. Why are you adding more fish while you have a major ich outbreak?! Stop. Just stop.
 
It's an Achilles, they never really rid themselves of ick. Keep it fat and healthy is all you can ask for. Uv might help.
 
SDguy said:
It doesn't matter if he QT's or not... he has ich in his DT. He needs to not add any fish.
Click to expand...

True.
But; based on just this thread...I'm not sure the OP's tank has ich.

I think a lot of the posts of ich appearing at night and disappearing the day on this, and similar threads, are not really ich. Ich does not behave that way and the presence of "spots" is not an accurate indicator of ich. The spots are not the actual parasite. They are scar tissue left from the ich theront burying into the fish. Reading the ich stickies will help anyone make sense of what is going on in their tank. New ich parasites usually emerge from the substrate at night and that's where most fish sleep. This is why UV is of limited, if any, help. These new parasites, buried under a fish's skin, will not go away overnight. If fish aren't scratching, I doubt if ich is present. Cleaner fish/shrimp don't eat ich, only the scar tissue, if that. This has been proven with stomach content studies of cleaners; they don't eat ich.

Tangs, and many fish, can really show different colors at night and under different lighting. If these "spots" continually show up at night, disappear during the day, it is very unlikely that this is ich. Some fish can develop temporary immunity to ich, but those fish would not have "ich spots". Also, if they were ich spots, that is a sign of ich progressing in its life cycle and other fish would be infected. I may have missed something, but based on just this thread...I'm not sure the OP's tank has ich. However, if two unquarantined tangs are added, it may ich have shortly.
 
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Jeff000 said:
It's an Achilles, they never really rid themselves of ick. Keep it fat and healthy is all you can ask for. Uv might help.
Click to expand...

Of course you can rid an Achilles of ich, they respond well to any of 2-3 ich treatments. UV does little, if anything, for ich.
 
I don't have major outbreak

The tangs I am adding is been qt
PBT more than 4 months
The orange shoulder will be a month
Long enough to make sure that there is no velvet

Not really terrified of ick.
As I mention before most of my friend that have achilles on their reef have ick for years without issues even Ching Chai have ick on his masterpiece.

Ick is present on the ocean and can only be eliminated if you run fowlr
Or reef tank that has not been fallow for 3-4 month and willing to not add any livestock ( sand to corals) unless qt for 3-4 months.

I cants do that buy if you can do that then more power to you.
 
I don't understand what's going on here... You have ich in the DT, but you are adding more fish, and QT'ing them? So I guess my question is... what is the point of this thread?
 
SDguy said:
I don't understand what's going on here... You have ich in the DT, but you are adding more fish, and QT'ing them? So I guess my question is... what is the point of this thread?
Click to expand...

Good point.

I'd love to see a pic of this tang while it has spots. Maybe I can learn something; at my age, I need to be sure I learn something everyday. Wife & kid shopping and it isn't quite martini time; so I over-do everything that interests me

I've seen, or heard of, several "managed'' ich tanks and most have turned out to be ich-free, or the ich wins. The fact only the tang shows ich and the timing of the spots coming and going just defy everything I've ever seen or read on the subject. Ich does morph and I guess its possible that a strain of ich has become dependent on only one fish. I just have a gut feeling that Lawrence isn't dealing with ich. Misdiagnosing of ich is very common, even among long-time hobbyists.
 
I am one of the few that believes in the value of an appropriately sized UV sterlizer with the right flow helping to stave off an ich outbreak. With the size and scope of your current system, it might be worth while to look into spending $200 to help with the problem.

Aisde from that and realizing the recommendations in treating ich, I'd say keep doing what your doing. Good diet, keep him eating, and living in a thriving reef.
 
SDguy said:
Yeah, I missed that. Why are you adding more fish while you have a major ich outbreak?! Stop. Just stop.
Click to expand...

sorry i was out a about with my family
anyway
the major velvet outbreak was over 2 years ago
i go fallow for 2 -3 months during that time.
my achilles is the only one that have ick for almost a year its been very fat, healthy and eats like a pig.

so no major outbreak...
 
Curious George said:
I am one of the few that believes in the value of an appropriately sized UV sterlizer with the right flow helping to stave off an ich outbreak. With the size and scope of your current system, it might be worth while to look into spending $200 to help with the problem.

Aisde from that and realizing the recommendations in treating ich, I'd say keep doing what your doing. Good diet, keep him eating, and living in a thriving reef.
Click to expand...

i have to run 400 watts uv sterilizer to really protect my tank according to friend although i have a better luck with ozone ick never spread in my tank.

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also the achilles only show ick because during the day the cleaners do this

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powder blue
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I think you are crazy adding a powder blue to a system with an Achilles broke out. I've had a big powder blue for a few years that I was sure was immune to ick. Even when my hippos would break out it would stay clean. Well I added an Achilles to the system and it broke out and all my other tangs did too. It took a few months but they are all clear now but the powder blue. It took it a good month to finally catch it but once they catch it they are harder to clear up. I had to take the Achilles out because it was basically a breeding ground for the ich. I agree. If it's ick indeed cleaner wrasse can't touch it. Might be something else. For your sake I hope it is. Achilles is the hardest fish I've ever tried to keep by far and I know tangs. http://youtu.be/BHkFtVUYhLM
 
Thread is 4 years old :lol:. Wonder if the OP is still around and would comment on what the eventual outcome was. I've had an Achilles in a tank with known ich now for three years. It presents spots on occasion, but thrives in all other respects. I've stopped worrying about it. Interestingly, since the point was made in this thread, I still QT all new fish because I don't wish to introduce anything new. None of my new fish show any signs of ich.
 
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