Steps to take for yellow tang

[jbannick18]

Bought a small yellow tang yesterday from my LFS. They have had it for two weeks in their tank which they run copper through and the fish ate and looked healthy. Could not see any visible signs of illness like ich etc.

Came home and put him in the 75 gallon DT. Over the course of 3 hours I saw him flashing and rub the rocks a few times which I have read is the telltale sign of early signs of ich. I removed him and put him in the fuge overnight and setup a QT this morning (I know I should of QT first).

I've yet to see him rub on the LR in the qt and he has eaten a few pellets. Should I leave untreated for about a week and just observe or should I go ahead and run copper through the QT now? Read a few places that rubbing against the rocks can sometimes just be an irritant from changes in water params from one tank to another as he was in a bag for about hr 30 minutes before I got home , I'm hoping it was just that last night :uhoh3:.

Any input? Thanks everyone

 

[sandwi54]

my suggestion is first, never put any fish (no matter how healthy looking or whether LFS treats it or not) into DT without QT. second, scratching is a sign of external parasites. It doesn't have to be ich. Flukes is another notable, common parasite that infects most fish you buy. I always treat new fish with prazipro and cupramine in QT for 2-3 weeks before placing them into DT. I recommend that you do this to the yellow tang, or any new fish you buy down the road.

If the yellow tang does indeed have parasites (which is highly likely given the fish was scratching), the parasites are likely to be in your DT now. Even though the fish was only in the DT for one night, some of the parasites could've fallen off the fish to reproduce already, so your DT is likely to be infected now. Leaving it fallow for 8-10 weeks is the only way to let them run through their life cycles and die on their own.

I am not criticizing, but as you can see, a lot of the times when an aquarist rushes to place a new fish into DT (most likely due to impatience), he ends up having to wait longer (the 8-10 week DT fallow time). Whereas if a strict QT procedure is followed, 3-4 weeks are all that's necessary, and do not put the existing DT fish in jeopardy.

By the way, the copper concentration that LFS runs is usually very low, just high enough to kill marine velvet but not ich. velvet can be killed at 0.2ppm and that's usually what LFS runs at. Ich requires 0.25-0.35ppm. Copper also does not kill flukes which are very common as well, so just because the LFS runs copper it doesn't mean the fish is parasite free.

 

[jbannick18]

Thanks for the advice, I'll have to get those and run it in the next couple of days. I know I would have to leave the tank fallow for 2 months of fish but there is just no way I can remove the 6 I have in there now and set up a QT big enough for them. I guess at this point I will treat the YT and cross my fingers on the DT :uhoh2:

I have bought all my fish from this LFS over the past year without having the ability to QT until now and have yet to have an issue in the DT but I knew I was pushing my luck.

Thanks again

 

[sandwi54]

hey no problem! i've gone through the same thing before when i first started out in the hobby.

is your tank a reef tank? if not it shouldn't be hard to take the live rocks apart and catch all the fish. i would really try to cure the disease once and for all and not "cross fingers" or "push luck," as you have just gotten bitten. because all it takes to kill the entire tank is one fish that gets stressed out at any time from many reasons (temperature/pH fluctuations, aggression, improper water changes, etc).

A large QT can be purchased for cheap on craigslist (there are tons of people exiting the hobby and selling used equipment). I got my 55 gallon for only $40. If money is an issue, i would consider doing hypo in the DT provided that it's not a reef tank. just don't try to "push your luck" as mother nature always dominates at the end of the day.

 

[MrTuskfish]

.

A large QT can be purchased for cheap on craigslist (there are tons of people exiting the hobby and selling used equipment)..

Ironically, many leaving the hobby because they didn't use a QT

 

[jbannick18]

Yea its a reef tank :/. I wish I could set up a larger qt but the 75 in an apt already takes up most of the room. Is it possible that without showing physical signs of pest that I removed the yt before the lifecycle in which the pest drops off?
Not going to break down the tank at this point with all the corals in there and wont be pushing my luck anymore now that I have a small qt.

 

[sandwi54]

it's often and possible for fish to be infected with ich and not show any physical symptoms, as ich generally attacks gills first since that's where water flow is the higest and gills tissues are softer and easier to penetrate. most of the time when fish are healthy, they will carry a low number of infestations and not show any signs, so no it is not enough if you just remove the YT. you'll have to remove all of the fish to treat to completely eradicate the disease.

by the way, how many and what fish do you have now? i can't imagine all of those fish that are in a 75 gallon cannot fit into a 40g breeder QT. those tanks are dirt cheap on craigslists. you should be able to pick one up for like $30-$40.

 

[sandwi54]

Ironically, many leaving the hobby because they didn't use a QT

yup! i read a report saying that the avg lifespan on this hobby is 18 months. lots of people who don't do enough research and run the system properly quit the hobby every single day. a properly run QT would really fix 90% of the problems in this hobby...

i'm a pet person and have kept almost pet you can buy in a pet store, and i can say with all my heart that saltwater fish are the absolutely hardest pets to keep. most people fail to realize that taking a fish out of the ocean and putting it in a small box requires a lot of work and persistence to make it work, and most people just aren't like that.

 

[jbannick18]

I actually have a 4o in the garage just no equipment for it and no $ for equipment till late october. If I didn't run meds right away within what sort of time frame would ich start to show?

 

[sandwi54]

I actually have a 4o in the garage just no equipment for it and no $ for equipment till late october. If I didn't run meds right away within what sort of time frame would ich start to show?

this would depend on how healthy your fish are and how good the environment is. healthy fish can often fight off most of the ich infestations provided that the environment is low-stress. That is, top notich water quality, good circulation, no aggression from tank mates, etc. if your 75g DT is relatively stress free, I would leave the fish in there for now, unless you see a sudden large infestation.

in the meantime, you need to prepare to set up a QT. this involves buying the sponges/ceramic rings that will go into the filter you plan on using for the QT, for less than $15. Put the sponge/ceramic rings into the DT's sump now to start seeding the bacteria. there is about 6 weeks between now and the end of october and that should be enough time to develop biological filter on the sponge/ceramic rings. then when the time comes, set up the QT with the filter and the seeded spong/ceramic rings and you're good to go.

 

[jbannick18]

I actually went out this morning and purchased a 10 gallon and used that for a qt, have small equipment laying around from my nano. Put a few pieces of LR in there to seed the HOB sponge. Would he show signs within a week in QT? Haven't seen him flash today at all and has no labored breathing. Looks relaxed in the 10.

Would not temp acclimating the YT cause him to rub against rocks? He was in transport for about 2 hours before I got home and then I had something come up that I had to just throw him in the DT so not sure if that sudden change in params could of caused it.

Thanks for the responses sand

 

[sandwi54]

I don't think scratching is due to acclimiation issues. It's really hard to say if it'll show signs. Like I said, if the fish is healthy, it may not show signs for a long time, until stress kicks in. I would just closely monitor him (and the rest of the fish) for now and see how they do.

At a minimum though, I would apply prazipro to both the yellow tank and your DT. prazipro is reef-safe though it will kill worms in your live rocks.