Can't catch small blue tang with ich.

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vsco

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I bought a small blue tang a few weeks ago to add to my 100gl tank. I don't have a lot of livestock; 3 green chromis, 1 diamond goby, two snowflake clowns, and a new cleaner wrasse as of three days ago (I know it won't cure ich, but it can't hurt).

The tang started to show spots about 6 days ago. On day two she was showing more spots, day three she was breathing heavily at times and has more spots. Since then she doesn't seem to be getting any worse, but not better either. The whole time she has been eatting like a pig. She is a very finiky fish and gets spooked easily. Her hiding/sleeping spot? Wedged in the middle of my digita colony with no way to get her out.

I unfortunently do not have a big enough tank to QT all my fish, just a 12 gallon AIO cube. I have that set up and ready to go. I was going to treat just the tang with coppersafe.

My options at this point are to keep trying to catch her (stress) and get her into the QT which is small, OR leave her in the display tank, continue feeding, and see if she can fight it off. I know that ich will still be in the tank, but I do not have the room for a properly sized tank to qt every fish I get. If she doesn't make it, I'm done with tangs until I do have a larger qt one day since they are so susceptible to ich.

None of the other fish show any symptoms of ich at this time.
 
Your only real option is to get a bigger QT/HT and treat all of your fish while the DT stays fishless for 10-12 weeks. if you just treat the tang, it will have ich again as soon as its returned to the DT---these tangs are very susceptible to ich. You have ich in your DT, even if you don't see it and it will be a problem until you treat it. "Stress'' from being captured and moved to a QT is nothing to worry about---ich is. When you get this cleared up, (yes, its a pita), use the QT with all new fish and avoid ich (or worse) in the future.
 
Ok. What can I tell you. How big is she? 2 or 3 inches? If is like that she will be with enough space for now, so probably is not the space what is is freaking her out for now. If you read a post that I have made a few days ago.. I had the same problem with my Tang. To help my tang I have returned the yellow tang that was making her life miserable. (Advise: make sure there is no fish atterrorizing her, blue tangs are very sensitive to stress caused by other fishes) Also I did bought the QT and the Copper. But I didn't use it finally. Once I got the Yellow Tang out of the Tank immediately she started improving. I started reading a lot and I have found that if the infestation is not that bad you can try to treat her naturally (there are some meds on the market that probably you can use like: ICH-Attack or HERBTNA those are reef safe) I have used Herbtana and is 3 days since then and she is another one, no more white dots and discoloration in her belly, her blue and black are super bright. Also I have helped her with Garlic Xtreme of Kent - (a few drops in her food and in the water) and I am giving her Vita Chem Marine (Vitamins once a week). Also you can try to add a little live rock a few pounds and try to make her some caves so she can hide (There is a rock called real reef rock the man made rock, that rock you don't have to cure it- just wash it before put it in the tank with water from your aquarium to remove dirtiness). Also give her good variety of food. I have seen they enjoy different food (do not over feed her) You have two options try to help her with natural remedies, adding some rock and vitamins to enhance her immune system, or, treat her with copper in a QT. Personally, if you see the infestation is not that bad you can try natural remedies.... But If she is really seek I would definitively put her on a QT and treat her ASAP (I don't think you want her to die).
Try to post some pics so we can see her. Hope Dori gets better.
 
I forgot to tell you, just to have a back up for the future. Walmart sells nice aquariums that you can use as QT in a very reasonable price. Hope your Blue Tang gets better. :(
 
Thanks for the help. She is only about 2 - 2.5" so while the 12 gallon is small, it wouldn't be like putting a 5" tang in there! None of the other fish are picking on her, and there are a lot of caves in my LR, but she picked this digita colony right in the middle of the tank in the open for her hiding and sleeping.

I couldn't get any good pictures, but here it a video I took last night.
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She looks about the same today. Maybe less spots on her body, but still the same on the fins.

I think it's time to start pushing my fiance to let me get a properly sized QT either way...
 
I will probably get blasted of what I am going to say (from others in this forum), but, just try to evaluate her, and check if she is getting a little better, if she is, try to help her with the herbal remedies I told you (Just in the case you don't want to move her to QT). Mine has the same on her fins too.. but very.. very little... As I told you, the method I have used (Natural meds) has worked for me until today, I have to say like in a 90%... Hopefully she wont get sick again. My advise, you should give her the benefit of the doubt and get the natural meds hopefully it will help her a lot.
 
MICROBE-LIFT/Herbtana is a unique, herbal, immune-enhancing stimulant, which reduces: skin flukes, gill flukes, Ich, Oodinium, Costia, Chilodonella and Trichodina. Parasitic infections are characterized by symptoms, such as: milky skin, flashing and heavy breathing.

Parasites are generally present on most fish at very low levels at all times. These are naturally controlled by the fish's immune system. When stress levels increase, the ability of the immune system to respond to its requirement to control the natural level of parasites is directly affected. This poor response allows parasites to increase in numbers, thus causing any of the serious above mentioned health issues in the host fish.

MICROBE-LIFT/Herbtana supports the fish's immune system, driving off the excess parasites. Since they cannot return to the fish during treatment, the majority of the parasites will starve without a host.

------
The Vita chem and the Garlic Xtreme, I have to say are really good:
Vita-chem marine and Vita-chem fresh is a totally new concept in aquatic and marine vitamin formulation and methodology that is - give the animals and fishes exactly what they are missing from their natural habitat and environment in a compact concentrated and easily assimilated solution compatible with their individually specialized systems and environments.
-----------------------------------------------
Hope she gets better soon. :(
 
MICROBE-LIFT/Herbtana is a unique, herbal, immune-enhancing stimulant, which reduces: skin flukes, gill flukes, Ich, Oodinium, Costia, Chilodonella and Trichodina. Parasitic infections are characterized by symptoms, such as: milky skin, flashing and heavy breathing.

Parasites are generally present on most fish at very low levels at all times. These are naturally controlled by the fish's immune system. When stress levels increase, the ability of the immune system to respond to its requirement to control the natural level of parasites is directly affected. This poor response allows parasites to increase in numbers, thus causing any of the serious above mentioned health issues in the host fish.

MICROBE-LIFT/Herbtana supports the fish's immune system, driving off the excess parasites. Since they cannot return to the fish during treatment, the majority of the parasites will starve without a host.

------
The Vita chem and the Garlic Xtreme, I have to say are really good:
Vita-chem marine and Vita-chem fresh is a totally new concept in aquatic and marine vitamin formulation and methodology that is - give the animals and fishes exactly what they are missing from their natural habitat and environment in a compact concentrated and easily assimilated solution compatible with their individually specialized systems and environments.
-----------------------------------------------
Hope she gets better soon. :(
 
i would quit chasing the fish and just feed her good and keep your hands out of the tank,to keep the stress down...in the meantime get the HT setup up and running/cycling.....when she gets healthy then try to catch her and the others to rid your tank of ick for good....if shes eating good then leave her till she looks better,just make sure she has garlic nori available at all times while she sick
 
KatilicaClavijo said:
MICROBE-LIFT/Herbtana is a unique, herbal, immune-enhancing stimulant, which reduces: skin flukes, gill flukes, Ich, Oodinium, Costia, Chilodonella and Trichodina. Parasitic infections are characterized by symptoms, such as: milky skin, flashing and heavy breathing.

Parasites are generally present on most fish at very low levels at all times. These are naturally controlled by the fish's immune system. When stress levels increase, the ability of the immune system to respond to its requirement to control the natural level of parasites is directly affected. This poor response allows parasites to increase in numbers, thus causing any of the serious above mentioned health issues in the host fish.

MICROBE-LIFT/Herbtana supports the fish's immune system, driving off the excess parasites. Since they cannot return to the fish during treatment, the majority of the parasites will starve without a host.

------
The Vita chem and the Garlic Xtreme, I have to say are really good:
Vita-chem marine and Vita-chem fresh is a totally new concept in aquatic and marine vitamin formulation and methodology that is - give the animals and fishes exactly what they are missing from their natural habitat and environment in a compact concentrated and easily assimilated solution compatible with their individually specialized systems and environments.
-----------------------------------------------
Hope she gets better soon. :(
Click to expand...



herbtana does nothing but make your skimmer go nuts for months after use
 
when i used herbtana it seemed to help a little, but no more than feeding good and low stress....its a pain to get out of your system....if the fish eats normal(like a cow)for a baby hippo then she should be ok in 3-5 days
 
Feeding with garlic and providing nori for now. She does look better than yesterday and seems to be out in the open more. I'll look into the herbtana if it doesn't continue to improve.

Sneaton - 3" in a year!!! Wow I'm gonna have to get a bigger tank....I knew a 100gl wasn't huge for an adult blue tang just didn't think it would grow THAT fast.
 
Well, I saw her sick Sunday afternoon (very few white dots and a little discoloration,); on Monday I took off of the tank the Yellow Tang and as a miracle a few hours later some of her white dots were gone.. That same Monday I have started the treatment and by yesterday she was almost perfect.. As I told you guys it seems has worked for me. But it's up to you. Good luck! Wishing her a soon recovery!
P.D. The moment I saw her a little weird I have started, Didn't want to wait until she got all infested.
 
KatilicaClavijo said:
Well, I saw her sick Sunday afternoon (very few white dots and a little discoloration,); on Monday I took off of the tank the Yellow Tang and as a miracle a few hours later some of her white dots were gone.. That same Monday I have started the treatment and by yesterday she was almost perfect.. As I told you guys it seems has worked for me. But it's up to you. Good luck! Wishing her a soon recovery!
P.D. The moment I saw her a little weird I have started, Didn't want to wait until she got all infested.
Click to expand...

If it was really ich on the yellow tang, what you observed is just part of the life cycle. Please read all of the ich stickies to understand how the life cycle works. Ich has just fallen off your fish and are on the substrate reproducing now, and will strike 100x harder on the next round.

If you are lucky, your fish will have a strong immune system to fend off most of the attacks on the body, but not in the gills. Just because you don't see white spots it doesn't mean the fish are not infested. They are almost always infected in the gills, since there are no scales and slime coat to product the soft tissues. Don't fall for the herbtana trap or other "reef-safe" medications. Many people have tried and proved they don't work. Pick one of the three proven treatments: copper, hyposalinity, and tank transfer.
 
sandwi54 said:
If it was really ich on the yellow tang, what you observed is just part of the life cycle. Please read all of the ich stickies to understand how the life cycle works. Ich has just fallen off your fish and are on the substrate reproducing now, and will strike 100x harder on the next round.

If you are lucky, your fish will have a strong immune system to fend off most of the attacks on the body, but not in the gills. Just because you don't see white spots it doesn't mean the fish are not infested. They are almost always infected in the gills, since there are no scales and slime coat to product the soft tissues. Don't fall for the herbtana trap or other "reef-safe" medications. Many people have tried and proved they don't work. Pick one of the three proven treatments: copper, hyposalinity, and tank transfer.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Ich doesn't just go away. Even if ich "hides" a while, even months, its still there. Unless its been killed by one of the methods above. Ich will always return, at the worst possible time, to "managed" ich tanks.
While I admire the enthusiasm and willingness to help shown by KatilicaClavijo;
the long-term results of any of the ''reef-safe" or herbal remedies is dismal. On top of that; using them delays real treatment and just increases chances of fish mortality. They are heavily advertised and promoted and I can sure see why a hobbyist would try them. However, they just don't work; and that isn't my own original opinion,it is echoed by every major 'authority" on our hobby that I know.
 
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