Ich! Ich! Ich!
- Thread starter funloven
- Start date
BTTRFLYGRL
New member
Hippos are 'King ich' followed closely by the genera Ancanthuras with the Powder Blue out in front..
Dont want to hijack and mow another mans lawn here but Tang lovers unite! Ive had about the worst luck with Ich and tangs one can have. My solution and its not for everyone but its worked for me. I ditched the sand (where ich lives) then I bought a UV sterilizer and read alot of post on their health and mine is fat and happy now. Hippos seem to be the worst IMO. Yellows seem to be the easiest. They are all very sensitive to temp changes so your H2O changes should be about the same temp when you do them. Something I as a newbie couldnt seem to figure out til it was too late. Id say after 2 years with my PBT I licked ich for good. I even cured it with a Quarantine tank and some copper treatments not to hard to do. Make sure they get their greens and as mentioned garlic is god sent. For me they were the reason I got into this hobby so Ive studied each variety so as to provide the ideal enviroment and not keep killing them. PBT are also suseptible to pop eye and various other diseases but the UV is an ins. policy for them. Ive got mine eating from my hand now like a dog.
BTTRFLYGRL
New member
Ich falls to the bottom to reproduce, doesn't matter if there is sand there or not..it will reproduce regardless..I too have had some bad luck with ich and Tangs and now I am battling a Fluke of some kind with my Whitefaced Tang
I thought it was gone and now 3 weeks later...its back!! Glad he's still in qt
I thought it was gone and now 3 weeks later...its back!! Glad he's still in qtThanks to all of you for the input.
I have heard good things about the garlic so I think I will pick some of that up and add it to one of my daily feedings just for good practice. You can't give too much can you?
When I make up SW for a water change I make it at least 2 days inadvance - 1 for the salt to get well mixed/dissolved and 1 for the heater to have time to get the SW up to temp before I add it to my sump.
I hope I have a good feeding refime: alge sheets in the a.m. ( I switch between brown and green) and marine flakes, veggie flakes, and mysis in the p.m. and some cyclopez once a week.
I don't know anything about the UV lights except that I've heard of them. The Orbit lighting unit I have takes up the entire top of my tank (what a pain!) so I'm not sure how I could fit the UV in there?
Shawn, I see that you have 5 Tangs in your 125 gal. tank. I was a bit worried about room but it must be working for you. Do you have any other fish in your tank?
I love Tangs just like all of you. They are so graceful. I have a Sailfin and Orange Shoulder so far with no problems. I sure would love a PBT but I hear they are the worst ick magnets! I don't have a QT set up yet (naughty me). I have heard that the fish should stay in QT for 1 month. Is that right? It seems such a long time to be all alone!
:rollface:
I have heard good things about the garlic so I think I will pick some of that up and add it to one of my daily feedings just for good practice. You can't give too much can you?
When I make up SW for a water change I make it at least 2 days inadvance - 1 for the salt to get well mixed/dissolved and 1 for the heater to have time to get the SW up to temp before I add it to my sump.
I hope I have a good feeding refime: alge sheets in the a.m. ( I switch between brown and green) and marine flakes, veggie flakes, and mysis in the p.m. and some cyclopez once a week.
I don't know anything about the UV lights except that I've heard of them. The Orbit lighting unit I have takes up the entire top of my tank (what a pain!) so I'm not sure how I could fit the UV in there?
Shawn, I see that you have 5 Tangs in your 125 gal. tank. I was a bit worried about room but it must be working for you. Do you have any other fish in your tank?
I love Tangs just like all of you. They are so graceful. I have a Sailfin and Orange Shoulder so far with no problems. I sure would love a PBT but I hear they are the worst ick magnets! I don't have a QT set up yet (naughty me). I have heard that the fish should stay in QT for 1 month. Is that right? It seems such a long time to be all alone!
:rollface:
luvtolean
New member
I used to get ich every time I intro'd a tang. Sometimes they'd make it, sometimes not.
Then I finally decided to do what Consicentious Aquarist recommended and do a freshwater/methylene blue dip.
These aren't for the faint of heart, nor the inexperienced. You have to buffer the water up so the pH matches your tank, the water needs to be heated to match the temp, and it should be well aerated, I use a cheap powerhead I zip tied a venturi to for this.
To this, you add enough methylene blue to make the water very dark. We use a flashlight to monitor the fish while we are dipping.
As I prepare the dip, I'm adding water from the tank to the fish bag to get it acclimated to that.
The first time I tried it was with my black tang. My GF and I were freaking out dropping it in, but the fish didn't seem to care at all. It just swam around. We do the dip for 5 mins. No ich!
Over the weekend I got a larger tank set-up and we found a beautiful PBT that the fish store had just gotten the night before. It was well colored, fat and eating well, so we bought it. We did the methylene blue/FW dip for 5 mins and intro'd it. Never a spot of ich!
I do have good circulation, run ozone and barebottom, I also soak with garlic every meal when I have new fish, which I personally feel do help, but I feel the methylene/FW dips are what really do it.
Then I finally decided to do what Consicentious Aquarist recommended and do a freshwater/methylene blue dip.
These aren't for the faint of heart, nor the inexperienced. You have to buffer the water up so the pH matches your tank, the water needs to be heated to match the temp, and it should be well aerated, I use a cheap powerhead I zip tied a venturi to for this.
To this, you add enough methylene blue to make the water very dark. We use a flashlight to monitor the fish while we are dipping.
As I prepare the dip, I'm adding water from the tank to the fish bag to get it acclimated to that.
The first time I tried it was with my black tang. My GF and I were freaking out dropping it in, but the fish didn't seem to care at all. It just swam around. We do the dip for 5 mins. No ich!
Over the weekend I got a larger tank set-up and we found a beautiful PBT that the fish store had just gotten the night before. It was well colored, fat and eating well, so we bought it. We did the methylene blue/FW dip for 5 mins and intro'd it. Never a spot of ich!
I do have good circulation, run ozone and barebottom, I also soak with garlic every meal when I have new fish, which I personally feel do help, but I feel the methylene/FW dips are what really do it.
Similar threads
