Is it possible for new tang to contract severe ich after a few hours?

[Mightyfish]

I bought a new kole tang today. It was a bit shy at LFS but it was eating (shop owner fed brine shrimp to show me). I did my usual acclimatization and released it in QT. After a few hours i looked at it and it has a severe ich infestation. The whole body include eyes are cover with ich. It is also breathing very rapidly. Is it even possible for it to contract such severe ich infestation in such short period of time? I did ask shop owner whether they run a mild dose of copper in his tanks and he said no.

My QT water parameters are fine zero ammonia and nitrite, 15 ppm nitrate. In fact i have another flame angel in the QT for 4 weeks now and it has had no issue. Given such serious infestation i doubt this kole tang will make it but i am keen to know what could cause such severe condition so rapidly?

 

[Nina51]

only a guess on my part, the fish already had ich and the stress of being caught/transported was what caused the outbreak.

it isn't too late to save him. i'd suggest doing ttm as soon as you can. the flame angel will need the same thing since they are (i assume) in the same qt.

 

[snorvich]

only a guess on my part, the fish already had ich and the stress of being caught/transported was what caused the outbreak.

it isn't too late to save him. i'd suggest doing ttm as soon as you can. the flame angel will need the same thing since they are (i assume) in the same qt.

My guess would be the same.

 

[Mightyfish]

Would you think the LFS indeed runs mild copper in his tanks? I can understand that stress can cause an outbreak, but with so many white spots came out only a few hours in my QT made me suspect shop owner was not telling me the truth.

 

[snorvich]

Would you think the LFS indeed runs mild copper in his tanks? I can understand that stress can cause an outbreak, but with so many white spots came out only a few hours in my QT made me suspect shop owner was not telling me the truth.

There is some merit to that. I know that many LFS run a low level of copper and that does mask parasites. Of course, you could always test his water. :lmao:

 

[andy01748]

only a guess on my part, the fish already had ich and the stress of being caught/transported was what caused the outbreak.

Based on all the reading I have done here at RC, the classic salt crystal look of ich is not the actual parasite, but merely the fish's response to the parasite, which in itself is not visible to the naked eye. Anything that changes the fish's environment(such as stress) may suddenly impact their body's response, and hence trigger what appears to be an instant outbreak (via seeing the salt crystal look), even though the parasites were already present.

In the past, I had what appears to have been an extreme case of varying symptoms, as for several days the classic ich look (salt crystals) would be present in the morning but disappear during the day. This is inconsistent with the ich cycle (i.e. the parasite does not have such a short duration of infecting the fish then dropping away).

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2411232

I assume because of my newness to these forums and my relative inexperience, the thread didn't trigger much discussion, but I am confident in my observations. The good news is that I put the fish through TTM, and it has been symptom free ever since. I think that confirmed my observations were due to ich.

Based on reading info here, copper can mask the symptoms, but I'm not sure that is only reason why a fish can go from showing no symptoms to a visible full blown outbreak in such a short time.

 

[Spar]

andy is right there. those spots are the 'exit wounds' from already present ich that is jumping off to cyst and multiply. they jump off after 3-7 days of feeding on the fish, so you can be assured it had it before you bought the fish.

the low levels of copper at the LFS/supplier will trick you nearly every time. TTM is the easiest and quickest solution IMO/E. just gives the parasites all time to run their course.

 

[Mightyfish]

andy is right there. those spots are the 'exit wounds' from already present ich that is jumping off to cyst and multiply. they jump off after 3-7 days of feeding on the fish, so you can be assured it had it before you bought the fish.

the low levels of copper at the LFS/supplier will trick you nearly every time. TTM is the easiest and quickest solution IMO/E. just gives the parasites all time to run their course.

If i read you correctly low dose copper would prevent ich from jumping off to cyst and leave exit wounds on fish? Hence thats how we got tricked?

 

[snorvich]

andy is right there. those spots are the 'exit wounds' from already present ich that is jumping off to cyst and multiply. they jump off after 3-7 days of feeding on the fish, so you can be assured it had it before you bought the fish.

the low levels of copper at the LFS/supplier will trick you nearly every time. TTM is the easiest and quickest solution IMO/E. just gives the parasites all time to run their course.

Andy and Spar are right on.

 

[CoralsAddiction]

There is some merit to that. I know that many LFS run a low level of copper and that does mask parasites.

There is 100% merit to that. I've seen it happen in my own QT when, unbeknownst to me, I had a low level of copper for 10 or so days. When I ran a poly filter to remove medication...Boom, white spots. But 4 weeks of hyposalinity thereafter took care of ich.

 

[CoralsAddiction]

Your tang is certainly not a goner. I would treat it as soon as possible.

 

[Nina51]

The good news is that I put the fish through TTM, and it has been symptom free ever since. I think that confirmed my observations were due to ich.

unless i'm reading this whole thread wrong, you couldn't possibly have accomplished ttm in one day. it's 3 transfers, 3 days apart, then to qt for a total of 12 days.

 

[andy01748]

The three days was when I initially observed the symptoms. I did TTM after that. Now I understand that TTM should be started immediately, regardless of whether any symptoms are present at the time of acquisition!

 

[Nina51]

oops, my bad! i was thinking it was the OP and not you posting. duh!

 

[billy mitchell]

I have been talking to a guy in Australia and he swears by a product by
Poly Lab called Medic
it is used successfully in reef tanks to control and remove Ich,marine Velvet and other parasites
has anyone tried this product

 

[Mightyfish]

I have been talking to a guy in Australia and he swears by a product by
Poly Lab called Medic
it is used successfully in reef tanks to control and remove Ich,marine Velvet and other parasites
has anyone tried this product

No it does not work. I tried it. I used double dosage for more than maximum suggested treatment period and ich kept coming back. I think it works in a sense that outbreak wont bloom but it does not kill the parasite, hence it keeps coming back. For such expensive product it is a waste of money.

 

[Mightyfish]

I spoke to the LFS owner and told him about the tang. He finally admitted that he does run mild copper in his system. It is upsetting that i did ask him that question before made the purchase but he lied about it. Will do anything to make a sale i suppose. Now he left me with a situation to deal with and curing ich is such long and labour intensive process.

 

[Puffyluv]

I spoke to the LFS owner and told him about the tang. He finally admitted that he does run mild copper in his system. It is upsetting that i did ask him that question before made the purchase but he lied about it. Will do anything to make a sale i suppose. Now he left me with a situation to deal with and curing ich is such long and labour intensive process.

So sad...gives LFS everywhere a bad name...so sorry for your trouble! :-(

 

[Garry 13]

I also have a blue and yellow tang that has ich and doesn't feed anymore. My other fish are still happy and are feeding but I can see signs of ich on them as well. Could anyone give me some advice on how to proceed with this problem. I understand that the tang will end up dead due to the fact of not eating so should I just remove him now? I've upped the amount of feeding and introduced garlic to help build up the immune system. I don't have any other tank to remove the fish so I'm stuck on what to do??

 

[Puffyluv]

Do you have inverts in the tank? (Sorry, didn't look!)

If not, hyposalinity is a good idea...if you cannot take them out and treat them in a separate tank. (I prefer chloroquil if you can) For now, turn your heater up to 80-82, and try and speed the cycle up...