ICK problems with Tangs. Pls Help!!!

jrcastro

jrcastro

New member
I just noticed my 2 large hippo tangs with white spots (almost certain Ick) last night. What should I do? I have about 10 other fish in this tank (135g) will they get infected? The 2 tangs still eat like pigs & it doesn't seem to bother them.

I started to feed them Garlic xtreme from Kent
http://www.kentmarine.com/foods/garlicxtreme.html
Will this help?

Should I do water change?
Quarantine them then treat?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

TIA
 
The only real cure for ich is to run your tank without any fish for 6 weeks or so. Usually this is not feasible and most do not do this. Did you recently add a fish or coral?
water changes rarely help as the ich typically does not float in the water column. In addition it will not aid the infected fish.
garlic is a good option. you can also try mixing metranidazol into the food.
you can also lower your salinity. this forces the ich off the fish due to osmosis. careful if you have inverts they tend to be sensitive to lower salinity.
UV skimmer helps as well. It will not aid the infected fish but can kill the spores which pass through it. The key is to have it slowly pass over the uv light.
Tangs are ich magnets and unfortunately can have outbreaks. You may just want to ride it out.
 
First off Garlic does not fight against ich.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/sp/index.php

The perfered way to treat against ich is hyposalinity. Hypo kills inverts, LR, and LS. You need to remove all your fish and treat in a hospital/quarantine tank for 6-8 weeks. Leave your main display fishless for 6-8 weeks and the ich will die off.
There are other possibilities such as treating with copper and just hoping your fishes immune system can fight it off

Ich and treatments:

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/marineich.html

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.php

Hyposalinity:

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/hyposalinity.html
 
We had the same problem with a Kole tang. Unfortunately, we tried other things before doing hyposalinity, and the tang died. We also had a foxface in with it that we QT'd and he's doing well. My suggestion, although I'm very new, is hyposalinity. Good luck
 
my hippo tang also has ick, all the other fish in my tank are fine, tried kick ick....don't waste your money. QT is not feasible for me so I'm letting it be right now. I'm running a 18 watt turbo twist uv on the tank. Let's hope it works out

EJ
 
It's in my tank. Never treated for it. It shows up for a few days on my Hippo Tang. Goes away. Comes back a few weeks later. Goes away. etc. etc. It doesn't seem to affect him or anything else in the tank. I think I'm doing less harm by leaving it alone than I could do by trying to treat it.

Just another opinion. . .
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7206400#post7206400 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ej1698
I agree, I don't want to rip up my tank either [120 lbs of live rock / coral's ..ect ]

EJ
Click to expand...

I'm in the same boat.
How are they doing now?
How long have they had it & did the other fishes get it?

Thanks
 
Hey,

well the hippo has had it for about 3 weeks now, some days he looks better than others. As of now no other fish look like they have anything, I just got the emperor angelfish [ juv ] and he looks good so far [day 8 in the tank]. I'm crossing my finger's ....I paid ALOT of money for him.

he's blue no purple...camera issue


P4140047.jpg
[/IMG]
 
Pull all of the fish out, treat them for Ich, (hypo or copper), observe in quarantine for 4 weeks after completion of treatment.

After tank has run fishless for 4-6 weeks, put them back in.

I did it. I had 8 fish. I took awhile to catch them all, but I eventually did it.

Josh
 
Hey Josh,

The Problem is the only other empty tank i have for QT is a 10 gal and it has a little crack in it, plus I will destroy my tank trying to get them out.

I do understand what your saying thou, That is the proper way to treat but just no an option at this time.....[wife...get it $$]

EJ
 
I'm trying Ich-Attack it is 100 natural all organic. The guy at the LFS told me it was his favorate.
 
Stress can bring on outbreaks. Make sure you are feeding him enough nori and remove other stress factors i.e. fluctuating temperatures, aggressive fish....
 
I got a Hippo tang as well, and all I have to say about tangs are they love to get sick. Besides the hippo, I have 2 blue tangs as well. One thing weird about my ICH is that when the light is ON, that is the only time I see it on their bodies. I have the timer set from 3-12pm, so that I can see the fish when I get home. But in the afternoon when direct sunlight hits the tank and I look in there, The tangs look really healthy swimming around, like they never got ICH before. I don't know whether the light may be the problem or what (have 4 compacts). I have other fish and softies in there, and they all seem to be doing fine. I just think that TANGS, especially, have a low very immune system. IMO. I feel your pain as I am just starting in the same boat as you are.
 
seems alot of us have the same issue with tangs / hippo tangs. honestly , right now I'm really PIs*ed off that I spent $40.00 on kick ick...followed all the directions...no skimming, removed all carbon and dosed as told .....nothing, to me it was a waste of time and my tank/water quality look like sh*t!! like I said, I know about the removing of all the fish thing but I don't have the tank to do it and I'm not going to rip apart my whole tank$$$$$$$$$ for it.

Hey, I might regreat it but what can I do at this point, And if all my fish get it and die...it's on me and I'm out about $500.00 worth of fish.
I'm sure some of you can relate....

EJ
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7215185#post7215185 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tibbs2
Stress can bring on outbreaks. Make sure you are feeding him enough nori and remove other stress factors i.e. fluctuating temperatures, aggressive fish....
Click to expand...

What is nori? is this a type of seaweed?
how often should i feed? I only feed my fish once per day.

My temp fluctuates from 79degrees in the early morning & 81.5 late evening when my halides turn off.
Is this acceptable? my tank is 135 + 40 gal sump/fug.
I heard this from my LFS that temp. plays a big role in getting ich.
 
No one is 100% certain about ich. Some believe it is in our systems all the time and it only effects fish when stressed, others believe it has to be intorduced for our fish to be infected. When you say your seeing it going away and comming back, thats just the life cycle of ich. it drops off into the substrate to multiply then reattatch to fish and so on and so forth. I understand completely about ripping apart your tank, but if you ask me its worth it to save the fish I paid for. You may have to move some rocks or all of them, but would you rather have the fish die.

Heres some methods of catching fish
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=707656

Heres a thread by leebca on proper nutrition
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=785228
 
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