my weird blue tang

[enchilada]

I have this weird small blue tang since last Oct.
it gets ich every month but never dies. actually, i dont think the ich ever affected him anyway.
during the worst days, he got white spots all over him, and he constantly rub against rocks. but still eats a lot. after couple days the white spots just got away and wont be back for another 2 weeks.

oh btw, he NEVER eats veggie. no algae sheets, no picking on rock-----he only eats pellets and fresh raw shrimp :deadhorse::deadhorse:

so, is my blue tang sick or just having some mental issues?

 

[hotelbravo]

What is with that turtle. Is it the aquarium background or is that in the tank..

 

[jbvdhp]

is... is that... is that a TURTLE?!


oh and yes, that's the life cycle of ich, and unfortunately all your fish have it, IF it's ich. More than likely from what you describe...

 

[Alexito]

I'm fairly new to this wonderful hobby (started about 1 year ago) and in the beginning my tangs (yellow and blue) also got ICH. I have spent hours on blogs searching for the best method to cure/get rid of ICH. I found two methods to be successful: 1) hyposalinity and 2) medical treatment typically with copper based medication.

I haven't tried hyposalinity as this treatment takes a very long time and requires lots of patience. I have therefore chosen option 2 and treated my tangs with medications while in quarantine (I have chosen a product made by a very reputable manufacturer). I have lost 3 yellow tangs and 2 blue tangs in the meantime as they all died within 3-4 weeks of treatment. I followed the manufacturer's recommendations on the usage of the product very carefully. I contacted them and after several e-mail exchanges, their conclusion was that tangs are very sensitive to medications. My thought: what's the point of trying to cure ICH if you end up killing the poor fish.

Finally, after several searches on blogs I found another blogger who recommended that simply adding a Blue Streak Cleaner Wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) will solve the problem. I bought my 4th yellow tang and my 3rd blue tang together with a cleaner wrasse and truthfully all three fish seem to be living together in perfect harmony. I've had them for about 6 months right now. In the beginning they showed some white spots (similiar to yours), but the cleaner wrasse picked them all off. I'm sure I didn't get rid of ICH in my reef tank, but at least I do not see any symptoms of ICH (no white spots). All my fish look healthy and happy and eat very well. In my humble opinion (considering your tang do not show any signs of being sick or dying) simply add a Blue Streak Cleaner Wrasse and watch him pick off all the white spots from your tang.

 

[Ben_1313]

Can we address the turtle? lol

 

[tidus10]

Can we address the turtle? lol

i honestly feel like we are getting trolled with the turtle...

 

[rogerstammy]

Is that a real turtle?

 

[NarakuAulonocar]

Its a baby diamond back terrapin.
Typically brackish. Sometimes can adapt to freshwater.

I never knew it could be in full blown saltwater though.

It definitely needs a place to get out of the water and if you intend to keep it in the tank, I suggest once a week freshwater bath to prevent kidney failure.


With regards to ich, you have to remove all the fish and keep the tank empty for 7 weeks or more.

The fish need to be treated with copper or tank transfer in a separate tank.

 

[enchilada]

Its a baby diamond back terrapin.
Typically brackish. Sometimes can adapt to freshwater.

I never knew it could be in full blown saltwater though.

It definitely needs a place to get out of the water and if you intend to keep it in the tank, I suggest once a week freshwater bath to prevent kidney failure.


With regards to ich, you have to remove all the fish and keep the tank empty for 7 weeks or more.

The fish need to be treated with copper or tank transfer in a separate tank.

yes, i only feed my turtles in the reef tank because it can handle a large bio load. i raise them in fresh water since hatching.

 

[enchilada]

of course i know my fish got ich. i used to get my fish out , put in QT and treat with copper.but they only lived couple more weeks.

but since i got this blue tang, its been 6 month without any treatment, he still thrive----actually some of my other fish also got sign of ich once in a while, then back to normal couple days later. the only fish i lost in the past 6 month were two wrass went carpet surfing.
my point is, maybe we put too much pressure on sick fish when QT and copper treat them.it may accelerates their death at certain point?

 

[ThRoewer]

Those turtles have to go - they are screwing up your water.
No home sized reef tank can handle the bio load of even one turtle - let alone several - for an extended period without developing some serious problems.
Hell, every book actually tells you to not put too many fish in there because a reef tank can't handle high bio loads well.

If your tank is stable and the water is good most of your fish may develop resistance against ich (I doubt it for the tang as Hippos are ich magnets and have low to no resistance against it).
Though as long as you have your turtles using that tank as a toilet you will have all kinds of troubles and for sure no good water.

And if you don't want to medicate you need to consider to part ways with the hippo, as he is the one who will likely keep it an active infection going.

Also, if the ich goes untreated I wouldn't add any new fish to the tank, not just now but for years to come.

As for my experience with copper - It never cured anything and the fish never made it out alive. Now that was back in the 70 and I wasn't using a test kit, just trusting the directions. Since then I banned it from my treatment catalogue and fared pretty well without it.
Copper is a toxin to fish, so even if done correct it may cause some long term damage (that actually goes for almost all medications or chemicals). But doing it correct requires the right copper test kit and lots of testing to make sure you got the right therapeutic copper level and maintain it over the course of the treatment.

When it comes to treating an active ich outbreak my preferred method is hyposalinity for a month.
CP may or may not work and may have some side effects. But it also treats other infections that most other methods and medication can't treat.
Though as a preventive measure against ich or to fight outbreaks in small populations TTM is the best as it for sure does no harm to even the most sensitive fish.

 

[alprazo]

they need freshwater to drink. Otherwise they can do ok in salt. Not something you see everyday in a reef tank. There is a reason for it too. Anyway, as for ich. My advice is to pull all of you fish and place into a treatment tank. Copper, Hypo, TTM, CP - whatever and let the DT go fallow.

 

[tidus10]

What temperature is your tank at? This may sound odd.. but if you have a warmer tank.. the ich could be going through its life cycle before it can really hurt your fish..

I used to keep my 10 gallon REALLY warm like 84-85.. and any ich i got in the tank would die off quickly (i know it NEVER truly goes away) but if i brought in someething with ich it would be cleared up and eating within a week MAX...