Medium Blue Hippo Tang Treatment advice

[fishinforfacts]

Hello, I have had a saltwater tank for about 1 year. I recently ordered some tangs from blue zoo aquatics and the blue hippo tang was in rough shape. Right away he went down to the substrate and has not been eating. He has had some spots and signs of a parasite. I have been letting him try to fight it off on his own with garlic and selcon in the water however he does not eat much. It has been two weeks and I am ready to hospital tank him. None of my other fish show signs of disease they are all happy and healthy, The powder blue tang and yellow tang did have a few spots but they have been eating like a horse and appear to be fighting it off naturally with the selcon and garlic extreme wit the help of the cleaner wrasse/shrimp. I did not quarantine him for many reasons. One being that I do not have a tank large enough to support a medium blue tang, second being that my main tank has two cleaner shrimp and cleaner wrasse along with a 18w uv sterilizer. I have an apex hooked up the the tank and the ph is at a constant 8.3-8.4. I felt that there would be a good chance dealing with a sick fish but from my research and experience I have found that most fish when battling a disease or parasite will fight it off on their own given a healthy environment as well as a healthy diet. I am going to hospital treat the blue tang I would appreciate some advise as to what he may have and the appropriate treatment course. I have a 29 gallon tank that I will be using.

Tank specs 75g display 20g sump refuge 5g cpr aquafuge 2x800 gph hydor 1x 240 gph hydor 1x 425 gph hydor sps tank. sump flow gatevalve on a 795gph pump 1" overflow, hob 200gph 18w uv sterilizer 200gph, 2 bags chemipure elite 200ml purigen, 2x ecotech radion xr30w, apex aquacontroller w/ lab grade probe, reef octopus recirulating dnw150b external skimmer 200gal rated.

Water testing upon acclimation mg 1280 ca 480 dkh 9.5 via red sea coral pro ph 8.41 apex probe temp 78.2 apex ammonia >0 nitrite >0 nitrate >5 via API kit current temp 79.5 ph 8.3 now evening 8.44 this afternoon.
Fish are eating frozen brine/krill/silversides blue zoo mix seaweed garlic flakes. A mixture of these not all at once but throughout the week soaked in selcon / garlic extreme occasional tank dose. roughly 4 meals a day enough that they can be eaten in >2 mins the yellow and powder blue tang eat like a horse. All tangs were acclimated together no agression whatsoever.

Blue tang is no longer hyperventilating, he skurries about the substrate sometimes swims backwards. Has small white spots on his tail fin to were the design comes in. He has been in the main tank for 2 and a half weeks with small signs of change low appetite occasional scratching.

Here are pics of the reef tank and fish

<a href="http://s52.photobucket.com/user/sacredpancake/media/IMAG0727_zps19d05370.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g14/sacredpancake/IMAG0727_zps19d05370.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMAG0727_zps19d05370.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s52.photobucket.com/user/sacredpancake/media/IMG_20131002_103134_zps6ec069d8.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g14/sacredpancake/IMG_20131002_103134_zps6ec069d8.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_20131002_103134_zps6ec069d8.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s52.photobucket.com/user/sacredpancake/media/imagejpeg_0_4_zps98b09824.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g14/sacredpancake/imagejpeg_0_4_zps98b09824.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo imagejpeg_0_4_zps98b09824.jpg"/></a>

Please if you have any idea what he might have and the best treatment for him let me know. Note that I can not remove all the fish from my aquarium I do not have the type of quarantine system yet to do that It is on my future list for when I buy a home.

 

[SaltWaterAdam]

I did not quarantine him for many reasons.

And now you're paying the price...

I am going to hospital treat the blue tang

Should have just done that to start with... Your tank now has ich, and needs to go fishless for 10 weeks and your fish need to be treated with, my opinion, Cupramine...Otherwise you'll always have it in your system and choose to expose any new fish to it, regardless of QT'ing the next fish.

I do not have the type of quarantine system yet to do that It is on my future list for when I buy a home.

For the amount of money you spent on three tangs, you should've bought a 29g tank a heater and a pump...boom, QT... Good luck my man.:wavehand:

 

[fishinforfacts]

I have a 29 g heater and a pump but in my opinion a qt tank for a tang has to be min 40 gallons to do it properly with live rock and sand. Im going to try copper safe treatment. I am still not 100% certain it is marine ich I talked to a rep from live aquaria and think he may have flukes. In the past with my other system I have had fish that showed signs of ich and they fought it off with a healthy enviorment and uv steralizer. sofar the only fish in trouble is the blue tang its been 2 weeks well see how this goes. Im more trying to figure out what the fish has because choosing the proper treatment is critical. I have formalin-ms coppersafe and ich-x containing mild formaldehyde. I am not sure if the tang will need a biocide in order to recover.

 

[MrTuskfish]

A 29 will work just fine as a QT for those fish, just give them hiding places. All the talk about tangs needing g space is true, but that is for ling-term living. 10-12 weeks isn't going to hurt them at all. I'm not sure what your fish have; but if you had fish "fight off" something with nothing but a healthy environment and UV; it wasn't ich.

 

[SaltWaterAdam]

Well, what you're choosing to do then is to manage the problem rather than solve the problem. I wouldn't want to live with a baseline level of any disease in my tanks. I would choose to fallow and kill the "whatever" that you're dealing with. Like Tusk said, 12 weeks of bumping elbows isn't going to hurt them. Bottom line, you need to QT from now on, and I'd recommend to treat preventatively rather than play the wait and see what pops up in my DT.