Pleas help quick, my yellow tang has ICH!

[Mr.Pickles]

My yellow tang the last two days has shown a few small specks/particles in his fins and I didn't know for sure what is was. I wasn't sure it was ich, but this morning he is totally covered in white dots, mostly in his fins but some on his body and eyes. He still eats like a pig and is active and acts healthy. I don't have a QT setup, but I do have a second smaller empty aquarium 20-25 gal. Is there any way to treat the tang in the main tank without hurting the live rock, cleaner shrimp, crabs, and snails? I've read about various methods, what is best for me? I need to do something quick, I really don't want to lose the fish!

55 gal, protein skimmer, 25-30lbs live rock, 1 yellow tang, 1 cleaner shrimp, snails and crabs.

PS How did ich happen? I've had the tank up and running with live rock and invertbrates since April? Added the yellow tang 3-4 weeks ago. My tang hasn't been stressed at all, and he eats like a cow 2-3 times a day. I feed him a frozen mix food consisting of: green & brown algae, spirulina, peas, brine shrimp, squid, vitamins, chlorophyl, and trace elements.......parameters=8.2 ph, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 10 nitrates

 

[Sk8r]

You cannot safely medicate in the main tank. Remember those bacteria you suffered for weeks to grow during the cycle? You'll kill them all off.

Ich is a parasite. It was in your tank. Your water quality or salinity probably bobbled for a few hours and irritated the tang's skin. The parasite [freeswimming] found a way to take hold. Betweentimes, it lives in the sand. It will head for the gills and suffocate your fish if you don't get him treatment. Garlic can help, but he needs more than that as bad as this infestation seems to be. If you were earlier in the stages of this stuff, I'd say hypo, or maybe even just garlic would have knocked it back, but this is a day away from catastrophic, and I'd say treat it with a copper based medication. Leave your tank fishless for 8 weeks and the pest will die off. Your inverts can't get it or host it.

 

[Tigger240]

a fw dip is possible too (but prob too late to do that)- google is your friend - and this topic has been very well covered.

 

[scarpenter]

We have your same problem. Large yellow tang and ich all over him, especially over his clowdy eyes. Here is what my wife and I are doing for treatment in a reef tank. We mix garlic extreme by Kent with Selcon and antibiotics on the fish food. the tang will no longer eat seaweed from the clip, but will eat it if we shread it for him. He and all the other fish go nuts for the mysis shrimp. We feed this mixture three times per day. Yes our ammonia gets up due to the increased feeding. So I am doing 10 gallon water changes per day on my 120 gallon tank. It seems to be working but we are only on day 2, 3 more days of antibiotics. For what ever it is worth...good or bad this is what we are doing.