sorry to be the bearer of bad news even if you QT your next achilles and it goes in the same tank it will still end up with ich. Reason being you had ich in there and will still be in the tank. To rid the DT of ich you need to QT and treat all the fish in the DT and leave it bare for 6-8weeks killing off the parasite. I have learnt this the hard way.
Achilles Tang Primer
- Thread starter BrianD
- Start date
sorry to be the bearer of bad news even if you QT your next achilles and it goes in the same tank it will still end up with ich. Reason being you had ich in there and will still be in the tank. To rid the DT of ich you need to QT and treat all the fish in the DT and leave it bare for 6-8weeks killing off the parasite. I have learnt this the hard way.
ccampbell57
Premium Member
Bill - yours is a great example of how QT saved your fish. Without it, you would be out an achillies. We have talked in length and you know my opinion on QT and I think it has kept your fish healthy through the ich which proves my point that QT builds the fishes strength and allows them to fight off other parasites.
padova335i
Member
So.... bummed! My achillies has been eating like a pig and has over come ich for the past 3 months.... I noticed the last few days after 2 weeks of bringing him back to 1.25 salinity that he stopped eating... I got worried and decided to toss him in my DT after he stopped eating and swimming as mush.. He swam around a bit in the dt and was left alone by other fish (tangs)
still no eating.. this morning he was swimming in circles and was laying on the sand, I then placed him back in his qt.. Im sure he will be dead when i get home..
So, ill be starting again w a new achillies in 2 weeks, ugh.... I think I will keep them in the qt for less time... I'll hypo right away for 3 weeks, the salt up for fourth, then add......... I think keeping him in the 20g long may have killed him, but he was eating like a pig and swimming around.. No idea:sad2:
still no eating.. this morning he was swimming in circles and was laying on the sand, I then placed him back in his qt.. Im sure he will be dead when i get home..
So, ill be starting again w a new achillies in 2 weeks, ugh.... I think I will keep them in the qt for less time... I'll hypo right away for 3 weeks, the salt up for fourth, then add......... I think keeping him in the 20g long may have killed him, but he was eating like a pig and swimming around.. No idea:sad2:
padova335i
Member
that may have been it, so mad, he was awesome looking... whats a safe way of bringing salinity up? i thought i did it perfect.. i'll do a week of taking out a pitcher and adding a pitcher of reg level salt?
Recty
New member
I never raise salinity more than .001 a day, it's pretty easy to do. There was no real science to my method, I just would have some really really salty water mixed up in a bucket by my QT, and add some to my QT. I'd check the salinity after 30 minutes of that water mixing in with the tank water and see what it was, if it had raised enough I'd stop, if it hadnt raised enough, I'd add a little more.
padova335i
Member
yes i did.. its so strange... and he had a deep orange fin too, a very diff looking achillies, very bummed! :thumbdown
Need your opinions: Currently have the following fish: Regal Tang, Powder Brown Tang, Sailfin Tang, 2 Yellow Tangs, pair of Black Ocelleris Clowns, Royal Gramma, 1 Blue Reef Chromis, Puple Firefish and a Swallowtail Angel. They are housed in a standard 215 gal tank w/2 tunze 6105's and a Dart hybrid return pump, (I also use a Reeflo Orca 200 skimmer). I am thinking of adding an Achilles, (after proper QT). Would this work considering the rest of the inhabitants? My QT is a 30 gal tank.
The only other Acanthurus tang he has is a powder brown which is smaller and less agressive than a powder blue, assuming he is talking about Acanthurus japonicus rather than A. nigricans. A. nigricans is very similar to a powder blue or achilles. That is why it hybridizes with both species.
I believe it is the japonicus based on pics I've seen on WetWebMedia...since he has a more pronounced white spot under the eye. Also this fish eats very well...he has also gotten more aggressive in the last few months, (currently approximately 4.5" long).
So what's the consensus?
padova335i
Member
i think u never know.. but my goal is 12-15 tangs in a 400.. i think it will work w heavy feedings and proper tang order, i think if you get an achillies thats a fair size, 5 inches he will be fine since he is the last added... might be tight space though.. but after that, it would be very hard to add anything else..
ive read a lot and people always recommend the achillies last
ive read a lot and people always recommend the achillies last
IFbettas
New member
Hi guys. A few months ago my achilles tang jumped out of the tank. I got a new one shipped to me 10 days ago from PIA. In the past, I've had better luck with acanthurus tangs when I put them straight into the display as opposed to qt, so this is what I did with this achilles. I'm now regretting my decision.
A few days after I got the achilles, he broke out with ich. It was only a few spots at first, but now it is getting worse. He eats lots of nori, is fat, and no other fish bother him. He doesn't appear stressed, but clearly he still has ich. Do you think it is worth stressing him out to pull him into my 55g qt tank, or is it better to keep him in the 180 to ride it out? I want to put him in hypo in the qt, but I'm worried that the stress of catching and moving him to a new tank could cause more harm than good.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1999772&highlight=achilles+ich
I found that thread, in which the general consensus was to leave the achilles in the display tank to ride out the ich. I'm not sure if that's what I should do or not. Any thoughts?
A few days after I got the achilles, he broke out with ich. It was only a few spots at first, but now it is getting worse. He eats lots of nori, is fat, and no other fish bother him. He doesn't appear stressed, but clearly he still has ich. Do you think it is worth stressing him out to pull him into my 55g qt tank, or is it better to keep him in the 180 to ride it out? I want to put him in hypo in the qt, but I'm worried that the stress of catching and moving him to a new tank could cause more harm than good.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1999772&highlight=achilles+ich
I found that thread, in which the general consensus was to leave the achilles in the display tank to ride out the ich. I'm not sure if that's what I should do or not. Any thoughts?
geaux xman
New member
IFbettas,
what else do you have in the DT?
what else do you have in the DT?
ironwill723
Well-known member
+1. Try a vortex diatom filter or an ozone reactor to reduce free floating ich parasites in water column. Mine has responded extremely well to both treatments, especially the diatom filter as it filters out parasites down to 1mm in size. Keep feeding it whatever it wants to eat and keep the water conditions ideal and it should be able to fight it off on its own.
PS...By the way mine has always had a few ich spots come and go on him for almost a year since I got him and has done extremely well in my tank (220g) by letting him ride it out and not pulling him or stressing in QT. If I was going to QT I would use Crypto-Pro to treat the ich and definitely not hypo or copper.
Last edited:
Recty
New member
This is the thing. You've got ich in your tank, either you introduced it with the achilles or it was already there. Treating the achilles in a separate tank will get rid of the ich ON THAT ONE FISH ONLY and then when you put him back in your display which has ich, he will get it again.
You either need to treat all your fish for ich or not, you cant just treat one.
I like quarantining my fish even if I'm not going to treat for disease, just to get them used to captivity and eating what I feed and calming down and destressing from the whole process of ending up in my care. They do MUCH better when placed into the display if they have a week or two to calm down and get used to life in my house.
FYI, 1mm parasites would be quite visible to the naked eye
I'd run ozone before I ran a diatom filter as a disease prevention technique, as the ozone not only kills the parasites instead of just catching them but it also cleans the water.
ironwill723
Well-known member
FYI, 1mm parasites would be quite visible to the naked eye
I'd run ozone before I ran a diatom filter as a disease prevention technique, as the ozone not only kills the parasites instead of just catching them but it also cleans the water.
LOL...oops forgot a decimal in there! :spin2: 1 micron is the term I believe they say it filters out correct?
