Help me save a white cheek tang with ich!

[seapug]

I would post this in the disease forum, but there are only 2 people browsing there

Stopped off at petco to pick up some dog food on the way home and looked at their SW fish. I found a white cheek tang on the verge of death. I got the kid to give the fish to me if I bought medication for it. I've never dealt with sick fish before so need some help.

I gave it a fresh water dip which didn't seem to do any good. I took everything out of my 12 gallon frag tank and put the fish in there. It's sitting at the bottom looking pretty pathetic. I bought a copper medication and a Formalin/Malachite green medication.

Which one whould I try first? I've read copper isn't good for Tangs but may be more effective.

Please advise! Let's save this poor little guy!

 

[useskaforevil]

freshwater dips don't work against ich. not that that helps now....
ive read copper makes tangs sterile but i don't think that matters too much now. i'd say go with the copper and even if it dies you did yoru best. it's probably going to die no matter what you do. but i know you still have to try

 

[Stoner Tang]

i have a kinda similar situation but because of my own stupidity anyway, in your case i think you should try and cure your tang by doing hypo. you can search on rc for hyposalinity and ways to effectively implement it. i dont put much stock in ich medications from personal experience. anyway good luck and keep us posted

 

[Roy G. Biv]

How long did you do the dip for. Ive done it for a full 2 minutes before.

 

[seapug]

Did it for about 1 minute. He really started looking bad so I took him out. I just did the copper in the QT tank. He's laying in the bottom corner, breathing heavy. This is why I've never bought a Tang. Such cool fish but ich magnets.

Keep your fingers crossed. I'll keep you posted.

 

[SlowCobra]

Fresh water dips are a waste, they do not remove ich.
Copper is pretty much going to be the nail in the coffin. It reeks havoc on their internal organs. The only tang safe copper, and I do use that term loosely, is cupramine.

Typically the best course of action is hypo salinity, however at this point it sounds like that is not a possibility.

 

[seapug]

here's a pic....pretty damn sad.

 

[scotmc]

I would start Hypo and see if will eat. Use nori socked in garlic. If he is eating and you do Hypo you have a chance. Gradually get your qt tank salt level down to 1.09.

 

[MIKE ALERS]

he looks pretty bad.powder brown's can be pretty hard to maintain healthy.

 

[Voxboy]

Pretty cool of you to do something to help her out. I was at the LFS a few weeks ago. They had a pink tail trigger that was covered in ich. the owner came over and said that he had given him a few freshwater dips over the last few days and then said that it was probably time for another. I told him that FW dips were useless and by constantly subjecting the fish to them was stressing him out even more. Hyposalinate the fish and do what you can to get him to feed. If he does take food add some vitamin to it...having said all that..it's probably to late for the fish..Like MIKE said they are hard enough to keep when they are healthy.

 

[scotmc]

Fresh water dips are not a waste of time. They don't cure ick, but give the fish some tempory relief. In conjunction with hypo, it's a proven method to cure it.

 

[seapug]

double post

 

[seapug]

thanks....we shall see. Can't get much worse so if it makes it through the night there's probably hope. I will update in the AM.

 

[seapug]

it's in no condition to eat but I did buy some TLF Sea Veggies, Garlic Additive and Vitamin C additive. If she lives she's going to have all she needs. Would make a nice new addition to my 90 gallon....

 

[useskaforevil]

how do you think a freshwater dip would do anything?

 

[scotmc]

A fresh water dip will remove the parsites.

 

[useskaforevil]

no it won't "

In that study, Colorni watched as trophonts and their host, the Gilt-Head Sea Bream, Sparus aurata, were given freshwater dips. After the dips, which lasted up to 18 hours, were administered the trophonts were still there in their same positions. These same trophonts later dropped off the fish and reproduced successfully"

 

[seapug]

I did a freshwater dip. Didnt want to stretch it out too long in the shape it was in but it didn't do much to help. i've been doing reading over in the disease forum. Seems like the "experts" say it tends not to do much. Copper is the most effective treatment but can cause problems with long term exposure. I figured the shape it was in at this point required some immediate agressive treatment so went with copper. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[muerk1]

What study is that useskaforevil that talks about the sea bream, I would like to read it. In my experience, doing a freshwater dip is useful for killing the ich parasite that is embedded in the mucous membrane of the fish. The white trophonts usually will die for two reasons; the fish will shed its mucous coat and the visible spots with it, and/or the trophonts will burst because the osmotic gadient outside the cell (pure water) is so different from the inside the cell(saltwater). The inside of the cell will suck up the freshwater to reach equilibrium on both sides the cell membrane, and it will burst. If you want to try a freshwater dip, do it for at least 5 min for ich, or 10 min for flukes with same temp/pH water. If you were only doing 2 min, I could see why the fish didn't look any better. If the fish isn't already on its way out it can handle the dip. Also, a FW dip won't get rid of all the ich, just most of the white spots you see. There still could be parasites feeding deep in the fishes skin that you won't see, which is why it will come back until you can break the life cycle. Copper or hypo will kill the free swimming stage before it reattacks the fish again, but you will need to keep it going for 60 days to be safe. Basically, FW dips to get it off the body, copper/hypo to get it and keep it out of the system.

 

[seapug]

I'm certainly no expert on this subject, but take a look at the Disease Forum. There are links to quite a few articles about it.