Is this the famous Ick/Ich?

[JohnyBravo]

Ok guys, couple of questions...

I've had her (Blue Tang) for about a month now, and up until a day or two ago she looked great. Started to notice her scratching herself on the sand bed and rocks a couple of days ago. Came in today and notice a couple of white spots near her tail fin.

1. Is this Ick/Ich?

2. If it is, should I treat for it in my main or QT?

Reason for asking is, I have Fish Only tank, no LR nor Inverts.

 

[kau_cinta_ku]

hard to tell from the pics but to be safe i would move her to a qt tank and keep and eye on her and if it gets worse then start hypo treatment along with any other fish you have in your tank for 6-8 weeks. IMO i would never treat any desiese(sp) in the main tank. unless absoulty ness. cause you never know if you will ever want to change to a reef tank down the road.

 

[JohnyBravo]

This is the best picture I can get. I would zoom in but don't know how. I made the pic bigger maybe it will help.

 

[Teremei]

She looks perfectly healthy. As long as your main tank is a nice sized tank she should not be stressed. Just keep feeding her and keep any eye on it. In a stress free tank a little bit of ich will go away and not beable to completely take over the fish. My coral beauty had some for a week or 2, just some minor spots on her fins. But I did not "hospital" her or "treat" her. In my opinion, your stressing out the fish more by chasing her with a net and then putting her in a hospital (probably smaller) tank. If that's what she looks like now I woulnd't worry about it and just keep her feeding. If it gets bad then I would reccomend copper treatment. If there are NO live rock and NO inverts just go ahead and treat this tank as long as you plan on NEVER having a reef in that tank.

 

[dchao]

I second what Teremei said.

If you have a FO tank, maybe you would like to consider an UV sterilizer. If you have one with adequate size and kill rate, it can keep parasites and bacteria in the water in check. It should be able to prevent a minor ich infection becoming a full blown ich outbreak.

 

[smcnally]

My hippo is going through it right now too. Must be "That time of year". I've had her for a year and this is the first time. Mine has about the same amount as yours. I'm just planning on feeding her more garlic soaked food and getting some Selcon to soak it in as well.

 

[Billybeau1]

I second the UV sterilizer. I run a 25 watt on my 72 gal FO. Great insurance. FWIW I also run my tank at 1.020 . They say its less stressful for fish. And you use less salt.

 

[Teremei]

Who says that? It's true if there is less salt the fish goes through less work to purge salt from their system. But natural ocean water is around 1.026 and that's what I try to mimic. But I've also read that if you keep the temperature higher that somehow compinsates for higher SG.

I run my tank at 81f and 1.026 SG.

 

[JohnyBravo]

Thanks guys. Maybe I'm just being a bit anal. I can't help but to stare at my tank and fish, and note any change. I think is just the fear of missing something. Any change is a big change when your new. I guess the thing to do here is to watch her. Thanks again.

 

[xinumaster]

Hippo tang likes to hide specially when they're newly introduced in a tank. Put a piece of dark pvc for the hippo to hide in.

 

[Marga]

you can try fresh water deep for 3 minutes no more. It worked for my yellow tang

 

[Teremei]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6524775#post6524775 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JohnyBravo
Thanks guys. Maybe I'm just being a bit anal. I can't help but to stare at my tank and fish, and note any change. I think is just the fear of missing something. Any change is a big change when your new. I guess the thing to do here is to watch her. Thanks again.

Good idea, just watch her a few days to a week. If she starts getting significantly worse then I would consider copper treatment. But don't subject her to that yet, see if she can fight through it.

 

[Billybeau1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6523224#post6523224 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Teremei
Who says that? It's true if there is less salt the fish goes through less work to purge salt from their system. But natural ocean water is around 1.026 and that's what I try to mimic. But I've also read that if you keep the temperature higher that somehow compinsates for higher SG.

I run my tank at 81f and 1.026 SG.

Thats where you should be with a reef tank. I have a fish only. No inverts, corals. Just fish. I've had my tank at 1.020 to 1.022 for about 4 years now. Even my LFS keeps his tanks at 1.022.

 

[Pandora]

Ich is dormant in many tanks, and comes out during times of stress, especially in tangs. I agree with a minimalist approach in a minor case like this. Have you tried feeding garlic? This always helped my fish in borderline cases.