help..ich on a powder blue tang

MIKE ALERS

MIKE ALERS

New member
i just got home to find my powder blue tang full of ich.i've been monitoring him for a few days because i notice some blemishes on his color.i recently purchased the fish..about one week ago.i've been treating him with garlic guard for about 2 days now.but apparently the ich its taken over.what else can i use to treat him...i dont have a qt tank
 
Of course you will have to QT all of your fish now since they all quite possibly have ich but not that you can see.
 
you dont want to do hyposalinity in your tank if you have corals and other critters in there that can't handle the change
 
I just went thru a battle with Ich on our new 150. I added Garlic Extreme to the fish food (spirulina and duraflake) and alternated with Selcon.
This will help build up the fish's immune system and allow it to naturally fight the parasite.

I also got a Cleaner Goby and upped my water changes.

And then decided to try an old freshwater trick.... I got out my DE Filter and ran it for a couple hours every other day.
I noticed improvements in a couple of days, after 2 weeks the Ich was gone.

Fuzz
 
I've had ich problems a year ago and followed Waterfaller's advice and have not had a problem since. I left the display tank fishless for 2 months and put all my fish through Hyposalinity. I have a permanent quarantine and use it for all additions. I have a Powder Blue and a Kole tang. I am a believer that fish can't get ich if it's not in the tank.
 
A QT tank can be very bare bones/simple. Tank, heater, thermometer, hang-on filter, egg crate for top, a couple pieces of PVC for hiding. People here may have some supplies you could borrow or buy inexpensively.
When doing hypo-salinity:
use calibrated refractometer to test specific gravity
do not do in display
watch ammonia and PH carefully
have mixed airated saltwater handy for frequent water changes
be certain that SG. is in fact kept at 1.009
follow directions in link carefully/don't rush


*Fish such as gobies,dragonets, and blennies may have a thick enough slime coat not to be affected. Use your judgement.
Good luck

**In the future remember that some fish are more sensitive to being handled & stress easily. Causing them to lose their slime coat and making them susceptible to a full blown outbreak.
Always QT fish such as powder blue & hippo tangs for observation.
 
I recently purchased a very healthy Powder Blue. When I added him to my tank the incumbent Sailfin took issue with him. I knew they might not get along right off the bat but the Sailfin was pretty relentless.

My tank is too big with too much rock to get either of them out without tearing down the whole thing. So I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. After a couple days the Powder Blue was noticably stressed and Ich had attached to him in many places.

The first thing I did was turn my light cycle down to about 6 hours total to help promote a more calm enviroment. This will help the fish regain some of his confidence as well as protective coating.

I also added Garlic extract to pieces of Nori which I sank to the bottom for them. As well as crushed a little fresh garlic in with the frozen foods. This will help the fish repel the ich currently attacted to him.

Last but not least I uped my cleaner shrimp from 1 to 3. It has been 2 weeks now and everything seems to be fine. The Powder blue no longer has any spots, although, ich usually falls off after about 3 days anyway. The fish are "starting" to get along a little better and the Powder Blue is definitely not as skittish and starting to stick up for himself a little bit.

As for keeping Ich out of your tank all together, I think this is almost impossible. It lays dormant in almost everybodies tank. The best thing to do is keep the fish calm and happy and the ich won't attack.

Do your best to reduce the amount of stress the fish is under and with a little hellp from garlic and our underwater cleaner buddies (shrimp or gobies) you should be okay.

Let us know how things are going. Mine seems to be doing MUCH better but I still have my fingers crossed.

Good Luck!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10257619#post10257619 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by R33fp1mp
kick-ich is very effective on ich and totally reef safe
Click to expand...


It has been my policy never to treat a display tank with meds unless every other option has been expended first. Meds like Kick-ich are touted as being reefsafe, but in my experience they are very hit-or-miss.

As far as all the herbal remedies (ie using garlic guard, etc), it will not get rid of ich. Garlic is not proven to boost the immune system of fish. What it has been shown to do is entice fish into eating your prepared foods and thus eat properly (when a fish is stressed or sick, it tends to stop eating). This in turns helps to improve its immune system and possibly build an immunity to ich. This does not get rid of ich, it only suppresses it (the fish will still carry the ich, just not show symptoms). The ich will go into a dormant phase. Because the ich is still there, as soon as you introduce any new fish, or cause your current fish to be stressed, their weakened immune systems will no longer be able to supress the ich and cause another ich outbreak.

IMO, the only tried and true method to erradicate ich from a fish-only or reef system is to remove all the fish from that system and QT them for a period of 4-6 weeks using either a hyposalinity treatment as stated above, or using copper. Either way, the display tank must remain fallow for 4-6 weeks in order to completely erradicate any ich in that tank (ich needs a fish host). Once you have removed ich from your fish and your display tank, you must take care to QT any future fish in the same fashion (QTing for 4-6 weeks in a hypo or copper solution), or else you will have done all the previous work for nothing.

I know it sounds like alot of work, but keeping and maintaining fish/corals is not about taking the easy way out, or using quick cures. If you take waterfaller1's and my advice, you will be alot better off in a couple months and your fish will thank you :)
 
I agree with your statement mwdennis with one exception. Copper can damage certain fish such as tangs if done for long. Care must also be taken to the amount used & the maintainance of such.That is why I say hypo is best. IF DONE PROPERLY;)
 
I don't recommend Kick Ich either. I haven't seen any real evidence that it works. I think that those who have had "success" with the product have just been at the place where the ich is cycling to the next stage so it appears to have worked.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10257843#post10257843 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by waterfaller1
I agree with your statement mwdennis with one exception. Copper can damage certain fish such as tangs if done for long. Care must also be taken to the amount used & the maintainance of such.That is why I say hypo is best. IF DONE PROPERLY;)
Click to expand...

Oh believe me, I rarely ever use copper anymore. I just mentioned it because it is another proven way to cure ich. Just not my personal choice. :)
 
I second the kick ich being worthless. There is no known medication to kill ich other then copper. Hypo is the safest and the best method. I had one fish get it a long time ago but felt my large tank was calm enough to let the fish fight it. He got through it and haven't had an issue since.

I've never had an outbreak since.
 
I talked to Mike tonight, and tomorow am going to help him setup a qt and start hypo. Finally someone newer than me I can help! :)
 
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