tang has ich

codydemmel4

Active member
so my grandpas tang has ich. his levels are real stable and everything else looks great in his tank. only has 2 clownfish and a yellow tang in a 125.

The tang was eating mysis shrimp and brine shrimp so much and would eat a ton of nori whenever he put it on a clip (usually once a day).

Now the tang still eats the mysis and brine shrimp, not as much thought and wont touch the nori. This is the word my grandpa, I havent seen the tang yet so I am not sure what shape he is in but before he was looking really healthy and fat.

What suggestions do you guys have? He is not able to take it out of the tank, so I am looking for suggestions on what to do for the tang to try to get the ich out and make the tang healthy again.
 
all the fish are going to need to come out of the main tank, the main tank will need a fallow period of round about 72 days.

the tang and the clowns will need to be removed and run through an appropriate treatment protocol. tank transfer method (aka TTM) or a copper treatment.

please see the following thread for information on the parasite and associated treatment regimens:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1992196
 
Your not gonna be able to get the ich out unless you remove the tang and clowns and treat as stated above.
 
I had a slight ich outbreak about a month ago. I raised the temp to 81degrees to shorten the lifespan of the ich and kept them very well fed with their food soaked in garlic. After a few weeks of it coming and going, everybody is ich free. I have done this multiple times with any small ich outbreaks and as long as the fish are eating well, they seem to make it through just fine
 
If you've had to do it multiple times, then no one has made it through. Your outbreak is still ongoing.
 
tang has ich

Mondo, you are correct.

However, the OP had the basic premise that the fish cannot be removed. Phish's suggestion meets that criteria (although doesn't solve the problem).

OP: you really really should remove them as everyone has stated. Your battle will be endless if you don't.

-ryan
 
Not seeing white spots doesn't mean ich has been eradicated, it just means your fish are healthy enough to fight off the infection. If your haven't done the isolated fallow thing, your tank is still infected.

The garlic thing is an old wive's tale that needs to go the way of damsels used for cycling and bioballs.
 
okay I will tell my grandpa they need to be removed, only thing is he doesnt have an extra tank and I will not see him till Christmas to help him with getting a QT set up. hopefully they will survive till then, thats pretty much why I was asking if there is anything to help keep them alive in the DT till I can get there.

Thanks everyone!
 
Ive just noticed that the garlic soaking kept their appetite up. The wives tale always worked for me also in getting a few finicky eaters to take a nibble at food.
 
Just went through an ich issue with bad results.... In a matter of 2 weeks I lost every fish I had (13 total).... I couple of them I had for 8 years so I have been pretty depressed about it.
I had ich in my last tank years ago but everyone survived it and I went years without seeing it again. I set up a new bigger tank going on 2 or more months ago and added new fish.... well about 2 weeks ago I spotted the ich on my tangs and a wrasse.... it quickly covered every fish, my naso tang and wrasse where so covered it looked like that had salt all over them. In a matter of no time it killed them all. I don't know if there are different strains of ich or what but this was a bad one. I have now ordered a UV sterilizer to help in the future but plan to run the tank empty for a few months.
 
okay I will tell my grandpa they need to be removed, only thing is he doesnt have an extra tank and I will not see him till Christmas to help him with getting a QT set up. hopefully they will survive till then, thats pretty much why I was asking if there is anything to help keep them alive in the DT till I can get there.

Thanks everyone!

Is he feeding dry mysis or fresh ones?
Fish are like us how when we feel sick we lose our appetite and then we aren't strong to fight the illness. If they get picky like that a special treat type of food can help. My fish really like clams, I buy a couple of whatever kind they have at the supermarket and open them (the juice that comes out is good too if you can catch it it a bowl you can soak other foods in it also). Once I open them I freeze them in the shell and then use a little knife to shave them into the tank. As a bonus the clam usually has some partially digested planty stuff in its belly that I think is really good for fish too.

also selcon.
 
I have a related question that has been bothering me. After the fish are removed and treated and the DT run fallow for 72 days how do you ensure that Ich is prevented from coming back in? it seems to me every new fish will need to undergo either TTM or copper because even if they are simply QT'd and don't show ich, they may have it. What about corals and inverts? They cannot undergo copper. Seems to me that sooner or later a drop water containing ich will make it into your tank.
 
I have a related question that has been bothering me. After the fish are removed and treated and the DT run fallow for 72 days how do you ensure that Ich is prevented from coming back in? it seems to me every new fish will need to undergo either TTM or copper because even if they are simply QT'd and don't show ich, they may have it. What about corals and inverts? They cannot undergo copper. Seems to me that sooner or later a drop water containing ich will make it into your tank.


I believe the recommendation is to prophylactically treat all fish as if they had Ich by doing the tank transfer method and then observing for 4-5 weeks in a quarantine tank. All inverts and corals are supposed to go into a separate quarantine tank that never holds a fish in it for 72 days. That way if there are any cysts on the corals or inverts, they would hatch and die out before placing into the dt.
 
I have a related question that has been bothering me. After the fish are removed and treated and the DT run fallow for 72 days how do you ensure that Ich is prevented from coming back in? it seems to me every new fish will need to undergo either TTM or copper because even if they are simply QT'd and don't show ich, they may have it. What about corals and inverts? They cannot undergo copper. Seems to me that sooner or later a drop water containing ich will make it into your tank.

There are a lot of threads about this already. If you search for "coral qt" and "invert qt" etc. you will find more info.
 
I believe the recommendation is to prophylactically treat all fish as if they had Ich by doing the tank transfer method and then observing for 4-5 weeks in a quarantine tank. All inverts and corals are supposed to go into a separate quarantine tank that never holds a fish in it for 72 days. That way if there are any cysts on the corals or inverts, they would hatch and die out before placing into the dt.

I can appreciate and understand the concept, but is it practical for the average hobbyist to do this? I can't imagine the number of people that even have the resources to do this - time, money, space, extra tanks w/heaters, lights etc.
 
A qt tank is cheap to setup, just a simple 10 gal tank (bigger depending on what your qt'ing), heater, cheap filter and cheap lights.
 
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