Possible ich :(

[K3nnyG]

Hi everyone,

I am not 100% sure it is ich however my tang when it swims at certain angles towards me in the tank I can see white specks on its fins and body. Does Anyone know how to treat this? I normally would just dump chemicals into my freshwater tanks to treat it but is that okay to do with coral?

 

[lokii_37]

If there is coral in the tank there is no in tank treatment. You will have to catch him and treat it in s separate tank. You can treat it with either copper or hypo-salinity.

Some say you can treat in mean with a healthy diet, vitamins and garlic. This didn't work for me but some people say it does.

If you treat out of the DT leave the display tank fishless for 6-8 weeks to let all the ich cysts die before you put fish back in.

How many fish are in the tank? What size tank is it? There are some good stickys in the "new to hobby section". Hope this helps.

 

[K3nnyG]

I have quiet a few fish in my 40 breeder and only a 20b to use for QT.

I have
2clownfish
2bengai cardinals
1sixline wrasse
1melanarus wrasse
1yellow tang(has ich)
1 flame hawk

Lots of coral.

 

[woodnaquanut]

To add just a little to lokii_37's comments...

There is also the 'Tank Transfer' method. Fully explained in the 'Fish Disease Treatment' section of 'Marine Fish Forums' in RC main section.

Sounds like you need to visit Petco for their $1/gallon sale!

 

[zeroinverse]

Also sounds like a lot of fish for a forty gallon (if you are overfeeding)...

That's about 1 fish for every 5 gallons of water.

You can try cleaner shrimps and cleaner gobies to see if they can help.

Also, increasing water changes to keep "clean" water may give the tang a fighting chance. But, if he is "top far gone", then may be too late.

That is my take.
----

With all the various fish I have added over the past 2-3 years, I am guessing I have ich in my tank (I never quarantine, even though I should).

 

[K3nnyG]

Well after 6 hour battle getting the tang out it ended up just being sand stuck to it... Well atleast it is not ich I guess.

And I know I am caring a heavy bioload but I only feed what they eat in 3 minutes then I remove any leftovers which there is never any. Then on top of that I do 5 gallon water changes once a week.

 

[lokii_37]

Is the tang a new addition?

 

[northbay-reefer]

You can also use a UV to treat your whole tank when their is an outbreak. Also if your tank water quality is good, then the ick will just go away. My tangs have ick before but they all recovered and healed.

 

[Xx YOZER xX]

I've had a couple bad run ins with ick. I've learned that you never really get rid of them, but when your fish are happy (not stressed), they seen to fight off the ick, and everyone lives in a happy balance. Bad water conditions and/or over crowding will stress out the fish. When the fish are stressed, their immune system is weak, and they have trouble fighting off the parasite. Catching the fish and putting it into a new environment (QT tank) is also stressful, but if one fish is real bad, it's really the only option to try to save it. Plus, if one fish is covered in ick, and the others aren't, it is best to get that fish out so the parasite doesn't multiply exponentially in the system. Once the water conditions are Ideal for the fish, you should slowly see the parasite disappear (not always). You can also feed the fish with medicated food to boost their immune system. It does help to have a cleaner shrimp and/or a wrasse.