I bought a blue tang a week and a half ago. 2 nights ago I noticed he has a whitish film on him, almost fuzzy. I'm assuming he has ich. Yesterday I did a 50% water change, added a protein skimmer, raised the temp to 84, and dropped salinity to 1.019 as recommended by my lfs. Yesterday before all of this, my little guy wouldn't even come out to eat. Today he is swimming around, eating galic soaked food, and the white film is about the same. My lfs said to put him into a qt tank would only stress him more. All other fish seem fine, a coral beauty, 2 clowns, saddled puffer, a green chromis, and bangaii cardinal. After reading several posts on this site I'm now wondering if I should transfer him and all fish to a QT tank? If this is the case, can I take some of my cc and water from my display tank and put in my to fill my 20 gallon tank?
another problem with ich
- Thread starter tura71
- Start date
6stringpenguin
New member
What kind of Blue tang? If it's a Hippo, the 20 should be enough for a QT. I had a nice one in a 10 gallon with a clown for almost a month and she was happy as heck, ate like a horse, too.
My 02
That doesn't sound like ich to me .. ich is pretty easy to identify and most would say it looks like your fish has been sprinkled with salt.
A white film is the fish generating excess mucus in response to skin irritation ... often a parasite but it may simply be a water quality issue. You have alot of fish and unless you have a rather large tank you may be dealing with a water quality issue. Check you water specs .. especially ammonia.
If you water quality is Ok ... then Qt the hippo. Your 20 gallon QT is way too small for QT all your fish so I would leave them in the ST until you have better information on the potential disease.
Heres a link which discusses some of the more popular fish diseases .. amylo and brooklynella a probably the two diseases often associated with excess mucus.
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/fishdiseases.html
BTW .. I suggest you find a LFS that specialises in saltwater.. the advise you got was an old freshwater ich cure and inappropriate for marine ich. Raising water temp will only stress the fish and lowering the salinity to 1.019 will have no impact on marine ich.
Hope this helps.
That doesn't sound like ich to me .. ich is pretty easy to identify and most would say it looks like your fish has been sprinkled with salt.
A white film is the fish generating excess mucus in response to skin irritation ... often a parasite but it may simply be a water quality issue. You have alot of fish and unless you have a rather large tank you may be dealing with a water quality issue. Check you water specs .. especially ammonia.
If you water quality is Ok ... then Qt the hippo. Your 20 gallon QT is way too small for QT all your fish so I would leave them in the ST until you have better information on the potential disease.
Heres a link which discusses some of the more popular fish diseases .. amylo and brooklynella a probably the two diseases often associated with excess mucus.
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/fishdiseases.html
BTW .. I suggest you find a LFS that specialises in saltwater.. the advise you got was an old freshwater ich cure and inappropriate for marine ich. Raising water temp will only stress the fish and lowering the salinity to 1.019 will have no impact on marine ich.
Hope this helps.
well now he definitely has a few white spots and one of his eyes looks a bit cloudy, probably due to the increased temp?? My water levels have tested ph 8.0, spec grav 1.022, amonia 0, nitrite 0,and nitrates have been 20 for the past 3 months. The weird thing is tonight my ph went up to 8.4. I just bought a protein skimmer a week ago yesterday and not getting too much in the cup. Should I try another 50% water change? What about bringing the temp slowly back down?
My 02
Start to reduce the tank temperature now .. as previously stated the high temp stresses the fish and actually accelerates the ich life cycle.
If your fish has ich .. then you can assume your tank is now infested and if you want to eliminate ich from your ST you will need to QT all of your fish .. treat with hypo salinity (SG of 1.009). If you leave your ST w/o any fish for 5-6 weeks any ich within the ST will naturally die off since they need a fish to perpetuate their life cycle.
The disease link I previously provided has a treatment section which will show you how to use hypo.
If your dealing with ich then their is no quick cure and your immediate concern s/b to reduce stress in the tank. Stress is probably the number one killer of fish ... stress also reduces the fish's immune system making them more susceptible to ich and other diseases.
As far as water changes go ... you only need to do when you have an ammonia issue. (PH will always fluctuate and your nitrate level is fine for fish) Additionally .. water changes and tinkering with the tank will create additional stress which is something you s/b avoiding.
I suggest you start shopping for Qt setup large enough to handle all of your fish.
Hope this helps.
Start to reduce the tank temperature now .. as previously stated the high temp stresses the fish and actually accelerates the ich life cycle.
If your fish has ich .. then you can assume your tank is now infested and if you want to eliminate ich from your ST you will need to QT all of your fish .. treat with hypo salinity (SG of 1.009). If you leave your ST w/o any fish for 5-6 weeks any ich within the ST will naturally die off since they need a fish to perpetuate their life cycle.
The disease link I previously provided has a treatment section which will show you how to use hypo.
If your dealing with ich then their is no quick cure and your immediate concern s/b to reduce stress in the tank. Stress is probably the number one killer of fish ... stress also reduces the fish's immune system making them more susceptible to ich and other diseases.
As far as water changes go ... you only need to do when you have an ammonia issue. (PH will always fluctuate and your nitrate level is fine for fish) Additionally .. water changes and tinkering with the tank will create additional stress which is something you s/b avoiding.
I suggest you start shopping for Qt setup large enough to handle all of your fish.
Hope this helps.
Similar threads
