I have a Blue Tang that is healthy, and eats like a pig. I feed him a varied diet of micies, brine, seaweed, and protein infested pellets. All meals are soaked in garlic and unthawed. Here is my problem. He started getting little flakes on him that have now turned into brown bumps all over his body. No other fish in the tank is affected by them. There is no way i can catch this dude. I would have to remove every rock from the tank and i will never get them back to where i have them in order to properly display the corals where i have them mounted now. What are my options. Anyone know what this might be? Please healp. BTW, my params are right on. My nitrates were right at about 5ppm but its probably due in part to me overfeeding while he has these bumps. Please help!
Blue Tang Help
- Thread starter pcurry18
- Start date
Nu2SW
New member
Could be a form of ich.
the way I catch fish with rock, is to try when they are in a corner. When they are in the corner I put my hand to one side and then the net on a another and try to keep him trapped.
I catched 2 false clowns, 2 chromis (fast little guys), a blue yellow tail damsel ( Faster little devil) and a yellow damsel. with the way i described.
Also, what is your ammonia at? Do you test that?
the way I catch fish with rock, is to try when they are in a corner. When they are in the corner I put my hand to one side and then the net on a another and try to keep him trapped.
I catched 2 false clowns, 2 chromis (fast little guys), a blue yellow tail damsel ( Faster little devil) and a yellow damsel. with the way i described.
Also, what is your ammonia at? Do you test that?
matttaylor
Jeeper in my free time
How long have you had him? Without making a blanket statement, all tangs will have ick at some point. It may also reappear on them at random times. As long as he is eating and looks healthy i wouldn't worry too much. My little blue tang had ick on and off for almost a month and it eventually went away. Keep feeding him a lot and it should get better on it's own. You may not want to add the stress of capture on him as it may be enough to allow the ick to get a good foothold and win the battle.
Fragmented
New member
Do you have a cleaner shrimp or cleaner gobie? They really help clear up problems like this.
chem-e
Active member
Do you have a pic of the spots?
I have a blue tang and when it get ich, I soak all the food in garlic and I leave the lights off for a couple of days. Not sure if the lights do anything, but I figure that it gets more sleep, more rest, and less stress. I guess I treat ich like a cold.
I have a blue tang and when it get ich, I soak all the food in garlic and I leave the lights off for a couple of days. Not sure if the lights do anything, but I figure that it gets more sleep, more rest, and less stress. I guess I treat ich like a cold.
I have never heard of brown ICK before - but that doesn't mean anything. I suggest that you ask Matt (Wombat2) on Reefs.org. He's pretty knowlegable when it comes to fish.
My hippo blue tang has gotten ICK (due to lack of quarantining). Both times, I left the tang in the tank and just feed it food soaked in garlic. I even fed it tiny garlic chunks.
Something I wrote at http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=8288172
My unprofessional opinion about ICK is as follow:
1. If possible, new fish are quarantined before putting it in your main tank. If the quarantine fish has ick, then go ahead and treat it with any medication or hyposalinity. Unfortunately - I am not always good about quarantining my fish.
2. If for some reason, my main tank gets ick, I leave all the fish in there. I found it difficult to catch some of my fish without breaking down the tank and stressing out the fish. In addition, putting them in a new environment (often smaller) probably stress them out even more.
I have had ick three times. The first time, I quarantined the two
new fish in my quarantine tank. They looked fine, so I put them in my main tank. Turned out then had ick, but I couldn't see it in my poorly lit quarantine tank. I ended up tearing up most of my rock work in the main tank to catch the two little buggers. I was unable to catch the hippo blue tang which had been in my tank for awhile, and didn't show any sign of ick. All my fish eventually got ick. The two new fish that I caught and re-quarantined eventually died. I think the stress of catching them ended up killing them. The fish in my main tank were fed a garlic enriched diet, and fed more frequently. All the fish in the main tank survived.
The second time I had ick, it was from another tang I added to the tank. All my fish caught ick from this tang. This time, I decided to leave the fish in and not stress them. Instead, I fed them a garlic enriched diet. I also fed the fish more often. In about 1.5 months, the ick was gone.
Third time I got ick (from a fish that I purchased from some's tank) - I left the fish in the tank. Once again - all my fish caught them. Fed them a garlic enriched diet, and they all recovered.
If (when) I accidently add another fish with ick in my tank, I am just going to leave it alone and try the enriched diet, more frequent feeding, and try to make the environment less stressful for the fish (no major water change). Hopefully the fish will be able to fight off ick on its own.
On the other hand - I have heard stories from very knowledgable people where a single fish with ick ended up killing all the other fish in the tank.
Minh
My hippo blue tang has gotten ICK (due to lack of quarantining). Both times, I left the tang in the tank and just feed it food soaked in garlic. I even fed it tiny garlic chunks.
Something I wrote at http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=8288172
My unprofessional opinion about ICK is as follow:
1. If possible, new fish are quarantined before putting it in your main tank. If the quarantine fish has ick, then go ahead and treat it with any medication or hyposalinity. Unfortunately - I am not always good about quarantining my fish.
2. If for some reason, my main tank gets ick, I leave all the fish in there. I found it difficult to catch some of my fish without breaking down the tank and stressing out the fish. In addition, putting them in a new environment (often smaller) probably stress them out even more.
I have had ick three times. The first time, I quarantined the two
new fish in my quarantine tank. They looked fine, so I put them in my main tank. Turned out then had ick, but I couldn't see it in my poorly lit quarantine tank. I ended up tearing up most of my rock work in the main tank to catch the two little buggers. I was unable to catch the hippo blue tang which had been in my tank for awhile, and didn't show any sign of ick. All my fish eventually got ick. The two new fish that I caught and re-quarantined eventually died. I think the stress of catching them ended up killing them. The fish in my main tank were fed a garlic enriched diet, and fed more frequently. All the fish in the main tank survived.
The second time I had ick, it was from another tang I added to the tank. All my fish caught ick from this tang. This time, I decided to leave the fish in and not stress them. Instead, I fed them a garlic enriched diet. I also fed the fish more often. In about 1.5 months, the ick was gone.
Third time I got ick (from a fish that I purchased from some's tank) - I left the fish in the tank. Once again - all my fish caught them. Fed them a garlic enriched diet, and they all recovered.
If (when) I accidently add another fish with ick in my tank, I am just going to leave it alone and try the enriched diet, more frequent feeding, and try to make the environment less stressful for the fish (no major water change). Hopefully the fish will be able to fight off ick on its own.
On the other hand - I have heard stories from very knowledgable people where a single fish with ick ended up killing all the other fish in the tank.
Minh
I have 2 cleaner shrimp and the blue tang is constantly using them for cleanings. I have a orange diamond spotted goby that literally turns over the sand in my tank atleast twice a day.
I have fed my fish garlic soaked foods since the day that i got them. they have a varied diet and eat 3 times a day. i just did another meticulous testing of my water last night and everything is good to go.
I read that lowering the salinity a bit would aid in the removal of the ick. Some have said that i should lower it to 1.021. I did a small water change last night and I lowered it to 1.023.
I have noticed that early yesterday one of my true percs headed to the rear of the tank behind the rocks and has not returned. I checked all my fish and none of them had signs of ick and all were eating healthy so i dont know what is wrong with him! I am assuming he is dead but who knows. If all the fish die, then i guess i lose about $200 in fish..gggrrrrr...I am electing to leave him in there and see how things go.
I have fed my fish garlic soaked foods since the day that i got them. they have a varied diet and eat 3 times a day. i just did another meticulous testing of my water last night and everything is good to go.
I read that lowering the salinity a bit would aid in the removal of the ick. Some have said that i should lower it to 1.021. I did a small water change last night and I lowered it to 1.023.
I have noticed that early yesterday one of my true percs headed to the rear of the tank behind the rocks and has not returned. I checked all my fish and none of them had signs of ick and all were eating healthy so i dont know what is wrong with him! I am assuming he is dead but who knows. If all the fish die, then i guess i lose about $200 in fish..gggrrrrr...I am electing to leave him in there and see how things go.
Natterjak
New member
You mentioned that you have corals - I'm pretty sure that hyposalinity would not be good for your corals or your inverts. I've also read that it needs to be 1.019 to be effective.
I have a 2 year old hippo tang that had ich when I first got it - I tried a lot of things that didn't really work (except for a QT with hypo - it's the most sure-fire way, but I've just never had luck keeping fish in a QT for some reason). I finally just started feeding food/nori soaked in garlic, selcon and zoe, and it eventually went away. I also added a UV sterilizer at that time, which I think helped.
The tang went for nearly two years without any signs of ich, grew like crazy, and is big and fat. We upgraded to a new tank, and either we had a small cycle, or it was simply the stress of the move, but the tang broke out in ich again (I was surprised, as no new fish were added, so I guess the parasites must be around in low levels at all times, even if I couldn't visually see any). She had white spots and brown spots, but didn't really show any signs of distress.
I went back to soaking all the food and nori in garlic/selcon/zoe (the new system is also running a small amount of ozone), and it took a few weeks, but the tang is now pretty much ich free. It did get worse before it got better, but she was acting and eating normally, so I just waited it out.
Good luck with it!
I have a 2 year old hippo tang that had ich when I first got it - I tried a lot of things that didn't really work (except for a QT with hypo - it's the most sure-fire way, but I've just never had luck keeping fish in a QT for some reason). I finally just started feeding food/nori soaked in garlic, selcon and zoe, and it eventually went away. I also added a UV sterilizer at that time, which I think helped.
The tang went for nearly two years without any signs of ich, grew like crazy, and is big and fat. We upgraded to a new tank, and either we had a small cycle, or it was simply the stress of the move, but the tang broke out in ich again (I was surprised, as no new fish were added, so I guess the parasites must be around in low levels at all times, even if I couldn't visually see any). She had white spots and brown spots, but didn't really show any signs of distress.
I went back to soaking all the food and nori in garlic/selcon/zoe (the new system is also running a small amount of ozone), and it took a few weeks, but the tang is now pretty much ich free. It did get worse before it got better, but she was acting and eating normally, so I just waited it out.
Good luck with it!
MrMikeB
New member
Paul,
I would be VERY careful about changing your salinity in your main tank so fast. Dropping that much in a single water change will almost certainly cause issues and really the cure can be just as much a killer as the ailment. I know the kneejerk reaction for problems like this is fix it right away by correcting the problem or trying a new remedy, but as Minh pointed out, sometimes its best to just wait it out.
I am a firm believer in allowing the fish/coral/creature to find their own natural way of dealing with these types of things - at least issues that they typically deal with in their natural environment. Ick, assuming it is ick (would love to see a pic to help confirm) is almost certainly in the water and as long as things come and go, will typically always be there in one form or another. My suggestion is minimize any more changes and be very consistent on your treatment of foods and dealing with water params (lights, temp, additives, etc.). Regal tangs are remarkable creatures in that they will fight the ick on their own given the right environment and consistency.
As a side note, I have a blue regal myself and one day it will have a few spots of ick attached - sometimes pretty scary, and the next be remarkably clear. These particular tangs are notorious for having ick (more so than your clowns for example) and deal with it in their own way. If it gets really bad, more extreme remedies can be used, but if its swimming, eating, looks good, and otherwise seems to be at peace in its world - you're good!
I would be VERY careful about changing your salinity in your main tank so fast. Dropping that much in a single water change will almost certainly cause issues and really the cure can be just as much a killer as the ailment. I know the kneejerk reaction for problems like this is fix it right away by correcting the problem or trying a new remedy, but as Minh pointed out, sometimes its best to just wait it out.
I am a firm believer in allowing the fish/coral/creature to find their own natural way of dealing with these types of things - at least issues that they typically deal with in their natural environment. Ick, assuming it is ick (would love to see a pic to help confirm) is almost certainly in the water and as long as things come and go, will typically always be there in one form or another. My suggestion is minimize any more changes and be very consistent on your treatment of foods and dealing with water params (lights, temp, additives, etc.). Regal tangs are remarkable creatures in that they will fight the ick on their own given the right environment and consistency.
As a side note, I have a blue regal myself and one day it will have a few spots of ick attached - sometimes pretty scary, and the next be remarkably clear. These particular tangs are notorious for having ick (more so than your clowns for example) and deal with it in their own way. If it gets really bad, more extreme remedies can be used, but if its swimming, eating, looks good, and otherwise seems to be at peace in its world - you're good!
wonderful suggestions....thanks a bunch...i checked my salinity again a few minutes ago and it is at 1.024 so in actuality i only changed it .001. Ill leave it where its at and see how it goes. The tang this morning was eating like a rockstar and swimming very actively. Im going to continue the 3 times a day feeding and see how it helps. Wish me luck.
