Tangs and Ich or Velvet

there are many secrets.

there are many secrets.

fix your skimmer.

Check all filtration, that its working properly. Add more filtration. Polish the water.

UV, but has to be running right, or wont work. Ha to have a slow water flow thru put. I ahve live rock, no corals. Dont know fithe UV is bad for corals.

Electric grounding probe to remove stray electrical current in water that can cause tangs to get lateral line disease.

Put powdered garlic on feeding of frozen Emerald Entree, thaw & mix all with salt water before serving.

check filtration again, add some filtration, polich that water.

Point a powerhead at surface of water, to increase exchange of gases at surface level.

Point another powerhead along bottom of substrate to increase bio cleansing of water and give the tangs a water flow to play in.

Feed nori roasted sewaweed sheets, their natural diet in the ocean.

get several different types of omega flake food (made in alsaska, from real fish meat, greens - read the ingredients list, its impressive for flake food)

Get a UV that is higher powered than recommend, if they say 13 watts for your aquarium, get the 18 watt. if it comes with a 320 gal per hor flow pump, use a 170 gallon per hour pump, the slow flow, and higher watts uv, will kill the big germs, better, ... versus possibly not at all with faster flow rates. I have not use a UV with coral, so I don't know if it will adversely affect coral.

A UV will dramatically help the tangs live a long life. but you'll have to research the affect on coral, so you don't kill off your coral. Some say, they corals dont care if they eat dead things after passing thru the uv, or live, without passing thru, ... but again, I don't know. You have to check out the affect of a uv on corals, if any.

Fire, skunk cleaner, and pepermint shrimp all can clean paracites off tangs and fish. Get at least one of each, and maybe 4 of the peppermints. My tangs seem to dock at the Fire shrimp the most for cleaning. so if your only going to get one, get the Fire shrimp. Next in line, they will sometimes go the cleaner skunk shrimp, but it seems not near as often as visits to the Firs Shrimp. You might get 2 Fires for that reason, but still get at least one of the other shrimp, just in case a particular fish might prefer one type over the other shrimp.

Get one, two, or three neon gobies, they clean parasites off tangs and fish. and can reproduce, breed, in the aquarium.

I have the most ick prone tangs of all, together, in a small, compaared to others here, 55 gallon tank. They have grown, and are living well, now, for 1.5 years. They will scratch on occasion, but as some have said, they sometimes just like to scratch. I dont like to see them scratch, so I watch that closely, and to date, I have not seen a single ick or other parasite breakout on the two of them, in the last 1.5 years.

I had one neon goby for a good while, but i think a bicolor psydochromis aggravated him to death over time. They can be aggressive to small gobies. Since then, the bicolor has died, while scrambling into some sharp skeleton dead coral, and trapping himself, and knifing himself, that literally cause him to kill himself from a coral puncture. I'm planning to get a pair or three neon gobies, so they may pair up over time, and breed, while doing their fish cleaning fun snacks.

Regards,

Cash


PS I run the UV 24/7. Monitor the temp, especially in summer, as it will give off additional heat. Make sure water is always flowing thru, to keep it cool, and prevent the bulb from heating up and breaking, as well as providing the protection to your fish. Never look directly at the UV Blue light, nor allow your fish to view the blue light (use dark blackened hose, as needed), as it can damage your eye sight, or the fishes eye sight, or cause blindness.
 
Few other comments, ideas...

Few other comments, ideas...

I have not used medication on my fish in the last 1.5 that the tangs have been thriving. Medication, may shorten a tangs their life, even it it cures a parasite problem short term.

Reef crystal salt, has addition ingredients fo offset copper and other toxins that may be in your tank for whatever reason. Again, its worked for me.

Buy some live clams on ice from the grocery store(make sure their shell is tightly closed, else they are already dead), that usually cost about $0.50 each or so, the size of about 2.5" or 3". I have had two clams for over 2 years now. I added five more, about a year ago or so, and all those last five have died, for what ever reason, but the original two are still living. 50 cents each.

Clams may EAT parasites, and ick, as they filter feed on the water. Also, the clam shell, that has a sort of sandpaper like surface, that the tangs like scratch on.

Its like the tangs may know, scratch off that parasite, on the clam shell, and the clam gets to eat a snack, it as the parasite flows around the shell off the tang, and in the clams filtering lips, and parasite problem is solved.

Not sure where or how these tangs learned this stuff.

Watch your clams, and if they die, (shells open wide, by an inch or more), take them out of the tank, scrape out the clam meat, and put it in plastic, with some powdered garlic sprinkled on top, and put the plastic bag in the freezer. You can later slice the clam meat thinly, and throw a small bit or two back in the tank over time, for a shrimp snack. Some of the fish may also eat some clam meat.

Last all the above may be incorrect, and I may have just gotten lucky, and gotten some super strong, great healthy tangs, in the beginning. Or, maybe both is true. Great tangs, plus great procedures that work.
 
one more item

one more item

I do have about 15 pounds of live rock, and 15 pounds of dead skeleton coral that has become alive with algae, etc, over time.
 
Why don't you go to the fish diesease forum and read up on ich. Sadly the published facts will dispute much of what you have been told here to 'work for sure'.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8534624#post8534624 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wayne in norway
Why don't you go to the fish diesease forum and read up on ich. Sadly the published facts will dispute much of what you have been told here to 'work for sure'.



Best advice yet.

Opinions vs. facts. It's up to you.

HTH:)
 
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