Tangs have Ich
- Thread starter wss5900
- Start date
bureau13
New member
I don't believe its futile, but you have to be almost insanely rigorous in your quarantine practices, as in EVERYTHING wet. Its not easy to do.
That said, I'm also a big believer in QTing most fish and removing them all to a hospital tank and treating them there if they have anything more than simply an occasional light bit of ich. If fish are eating aggressively, its actually not that hard to trap them and remove them that way.
jds
That said, I'm also a big believer in QTing most fish and removing them all to a hospital tank and treating them there if they have anything more than simply an occasional light bit of ich. If fish are eating aggressively, its actually not that hard to trap them and remove them that way.
jds
I would personally think there is bigger problems then just Ich losing 2 grand worth of fish in the year and a half you've been in this hobby. I haven't spent 2 grand on fish in the 8 years I've been in this hobby. Matter in fact, I still have the 2 original clownfish I bought as I built my first tank. They've been through Ich, and recovered, and in my latest episode almost 7 years later, they didn't get Ich in the latest breakout, every other fish did. I've had amazing luck keeping fish alive in my short time of this hobby, but I've never lost a fish to Ich, never had a fish quit eating during ich, nothing.
Through my own experiences, and everyone is different, of course. I don't find tearing apart a reef to get fish at to QT them an "absolute" needed thing. Much less, QT an entire 265G display. Doing the Tangs, by the QT logic, won't work by itself.
Last edited:
I agree with Reef This and HBTank. Thanks to all of you who responded. While QT tanks are a good idea and cannot hurt, even if you QT fish before inroducing them to your aquarium, ich can still happen in a closed system. It is a very smart and savey parasite and trying to keep it out of your system will be almost impossible with all of the creatures being introduced over the years. The mistake I may have made was putting the 4 tangs in at one time. In retrospect I probably would not try this again. The reason I put them all in at the same time instead on one at a time over several months was because tangs are very territorial and I was trying to avoid fighting and "murders" in the tank. The 4 tangs that went in together were a Purple, a Pacific Blue, Soho, and Yellow. They have had the ich for 3 weeks now and although they are uncomfortable, they are eating and dealing with it. It is hard for me not be upset with my mistake especially since I am not new to the hobby. If I had to bet, the tangs will survive and the ich parasite will go back into the substrate and lay dormant until it can find a new host. The parasite will have to wait a long time in that I have no plans to add other fish. Maybe just a few cleaner gobies to help my shrimp out. I will continue feeding garlic soaked Spirolina and hope for a successful outcome to this problem. Again thanks to all of you the offered advice.
Justin James
New member
Selcon is very good. It's made by American Marine Inc. It's an aquarium food booster. It's a highly concentrated mix of Vitamin C, Vitamin B12, Fatty acids, and a few other great things that you soak your foods in. It's not only fantastic for your fish but it's good for corals and inverts as well.
Roy G. Biv
Premium Member
Does Selcon make their own food? It would seem lucrative to do so. Instead of making a product to boost your crappy food, just sell pre-treated food.
I've lost my interest in going through these endless debates. Most are hypothetical in any event. Since most of us myself included will find a rationale to avoid breaking down an entire reef to make up for early quarantine failures.<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11009816#post11009816 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Pmolan
Waiting for the ich police to chime in.I didnt want to say that myself.
The ich won't go away as long as there are fish to host it. It will go away if their are no fish to host it. A very simple concept with no hocus pocus or poof about it.
Fish may resist it and do shake off crytocaryon irritans from time to time but it will come back when stressors occur, such as introducing new fish. It will go away if there are no fish available for hosting for several months. So if you don't quarantine from the outset and it occurs in your tank you need to decide wether to cope with it through enhanced nutrition and low stress -good things to do in any case or to attack it and erradicate it.
Excellent Tom. Ich is a problem in most tanks because of lack of proper QT methods. Nobody likes to QT but it is the only true way to having an "ichless" aquarium. I have lost many fish to ich but this recent outbreak for some reason does not appear to be fatal to the tangs I introduced a month ago. May the garlic is working? Hard to tell. But time will tell. Thanks Tom.
Thanks for the compliment.
I still have living cycling fish in my system from 5 years ago . They have never been moved and my system was without visible ich for about a year untill last month. A few spots appeared on my 4year resident Purple Tang and Hippo Tang for no discernable reason. Just to let me know it was still there. It dissappeared in a few days.
A system breakdown for me would involve leaving 6 tanks fishless totaling 360gallons and about 30 fish and hundreds of corals and other invertebrates. Such an undertaking would do more harm than good. So I have chosen to cope and hope it cycles out in 30 or so life cycles.
To cope I do the following: feed a variety 2x per day(enhance with garlic), steady temp varying by no more than 2 degrees,steady ph and salinity,4week quarantine for new specimens, uv sterilization 40watt on 120, 18 watt on 90( i run them slow),cleaner shrimp. I know the protozoan cryptocaryon irritans is generally too large to be erradicated by a sterlizer but with high exposure due to larger wattage and slow flow it can hjappen. Besides, the sterilizer is very effective against waterborn bacteria and algae,which are much smaller. Amyloodinium(aka the other ich or marine velvet) is a dinoflagellate algae and is almost always fatal without fast treatment. Fish can survive cryptocaryon and oftern do but the secondary stuff often gets them.
One thing about garlic. I've read a few things that have led me to believe that the active element, alinin,I believe, only stays beeficial for a short time. So many are advocating fresh sqwueezed garlic. I've been using garlic extreme but I am beggining to question.
Good Luck
I still have living cycling fish in my system from 5 years ago . They have never been moved and my system was without visible ich for about a year untill last month. A few spots appeared on my 4year resident Purple Tang and Hippo Tang for no discernable reason. Just to let me know it was still there. It dissappeared in a few days.
A system breakdown for me would involve leaving 6 tanks fishless totaling 360gallons and about 30 fish and hundreds of corals and other invertebrates. Such an undertaking would do more harm than good. So I have chosen to cope and hope it cycles out in 30 or so life cycles.
To cope I do the following: feed a variety 2x per day(enhance with garlic), steady temp varying by no more than 2 degrees,steady ph and salinity,4week quarantine for new specimens, uv sterilization 40watt on 120, 18 watt on 90( i run them slow),cleaner shrimp. I know the protozoan cryptocaryon irritans is generally too large to be erradicated by a sterlizer but with high exposure due to larger wattage and slow flow it can hjappen. Besides, the sterilizer is very effective against waterborn bacteria and algae,which are much smaller. Amyloodinium(aka the other ich or marine velvet) is a dinoflagellate algae and is almost always fatal without fast treatment. Fish can survive cryptocaryon and oftern do but the secondary stuff often gets them.
One thing about garlic. I've read a few things that have led me to believe that the active element, alinin,I believe, only stays beeficial for a short time. So many are advocating fresh sqwueezed garlic. I've been using garlic extreme but I am beggining to question.
Good Luck
Thanks Tom. I think the four sick tangs are improving and will eventually beat this ich outbreak. They are eating well and look better to me. I soaked their Spirolina three times a day with Garlic Guard and perhaps it is working. Who the hell knows!
Time will tell. I hope for the best. Thanks again.
Time will tell. I hope for the best. Thanks again.
reefergeorge
New member
I don't know why people think an ich free tank is so hard. My tank got ich due to not quarantining fish my first year and I learned my lesson. Quarantine every thing wet for eight weeks with no shortcuts. Use different tools on you quarantine so to not let one drop of water in you display. And I don't want to start a debate with this one, but if a tank goes 11 months without any new strains of ich the tank will be ich free.
Roy G. Biv
Premium Member
Do you towel dry your fish?
reefergeorge
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11019108#post11019108 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Pmolan
Do you towel dry your fish?
Do you think that will work?
No but after 8 weeks in quarantine you don't have to worry about it any more.
I don't know,honestly. The parasite generally jumps off the fish where it sleeps in the middle of the night(darkness seems to be important), the cyst lay there and "hatch" and reinfest in greater numbers. This usually happens in a several days but cysts can be viable
for up to 72.
Several years ago I lost some fish to what started as cryptocaryon but ended up with lots of secondary infections including amlyoodinium. The deaths happened within the ten days or so of onset.
Where does 11 months come from? I know there is supposed to be a time limit on strains but never heard it put so precisely. Either you are right about 11months or I am lying about being ich free for over a year only to see it recently. By the way no new specimens have been added for over 6months and they were properly quarantined.Similar threads
