Question about ich?

[Jah2707]

I have had my (powder brown) tang for about a month now and it is showing signs of ich. It has small white spots on it. They just started to appear yesterday. Does anyone have any experience with marine ich? I know they say the best thing to do is hypo. I guess I could put the fish in the 75 gallon tank and drop the salinity? (It has about 50 lbs of live rock in it.) What would you do? They say some fish can fight it off. I am going to start adding garlic to its food. They say that fresh garlic is good.

 

[Paul B]

Josh "they" say a lot of things but copper is the best way to cure ich. Hypo also works just not as fast. Is the fish in a tank with other fish? If it is, they all have ich. You can't treat a fish in a tank with corals or any other inverts. Ich is the easiest fish disease to cure if you can catch him.
Are you sure it is ich? If the fish is not scratching or shaking his head from side to side very fast or breathing fast he may not have ich. A few spots sometimes does not mean anything. Did you quarantine the fish? If you got it about a month ago, I would expect you did not. If that is the case you will have to get a quarantine tank for treating this fish and for fish in the future,
Paul

 

[Jah2707]

Well it is scratching itself on a filter in the tank. I had the tang in a quarantine tank for 2 weeks. (ten gallon) It really didn't not like it much. It was still alive so I added it to the tank. How long would I need to use Copper? When you purchase it does it tell you how much to use? Thanks for the help. Back to the ten gallon tank I guess.

 

[Paul B]

Josh a ten gallon tank is much too small for a tang of any size over about an inch. The stress of that tiny a tank will cause any fish to become ill. Ich may not even appear on a healthy tang if it is not stressed (but that is for another thread)
The copper or better yet "Cuprimine" has directions on the bottle. You have to read it carefully and don't overdose. If it says one drop per gallon, it means water volume measured from the inside dimentions of the tank to the water level, not the top rim of the tank. If you cure that fish and put it back in that main tank there is a good chance he will again get ich which is in your water. My only advice is to get a larger quarantine tank, cure the tang then read all of the info here about making a tank safe after an ich attack.
Good luck.
Paul

 

[Jah2707]

I just figured he came out of a very small tank at the store so I didn't think a big tank was needed for quarantine. I guess it was probably already stressed in the crappy conditions before I received it. the tang is about 2 1/2 inches long that is why I have it in my 40. It will eventually go in my 75 and then I will find a new home once it out grows that.

thanks for your help. Oh, I thought ich only lived 2 weeks without a host fish? Is that not correct? (read it on a thread earlier today)

 

[LargeJohn]

Josh,

I think you've already got some good advice. Copper is probably the surest cure, but IME chasing, netting and treating the fish add stress (for you and the fish). If you can catch him, I would do the copper ASAP.

I am a believer in garlic--not necessarily as a cure, but I do believe it is a healthy preventative measure. In any case, I don't think it can hurt to use garlic periodically as a food additive.

Good Luck! I have been in your shoes before.

 

[Paul B]

Oh, I thought ich only lived 2 weeks without a host fish? Is that not correct? (read it on a thread earlier today)

That is incorrect. It is closer to 6 weeks

 

[triggerjay]

hey josh, I have a spare 29g you can borrow for a QT if you want to...

Jason

 

[Red Sea Purple Tang]

I QT'd an Acanthurus due to ick. Used ParaGuard by SeaChem and it works fabulous.