To Treat Or Not To Treat, That Is The Question

[bgcook]

hello everyone

i have a 120 aga mixed reef. my blue tang may have ich. he/she eats and appears to act normal, but he will occassionally rub himself against some of the rocks. this has been going on for about 3 weeks without change (i've had him for 2-3 months). i cannot see any physical evidence of ich. breathing seems normal. all other inhabitants, including a powder brown tang, are happy. so the questions is, should i treat. aside from a fish trap, getting the blue tang out with a net will be almost impossible. he has a cave that he loves and darts into if threatened. i have a good amount of kick-ich, that reef safe treatment. i purchased this about 8 months ago when i had a fish only and my puffer was getting ich. i have never tried this, will it work?? everytime in the past that i had a fish with ick, there was some physical evidence. is it possible that this behavior is within the norm?? i am also considering adding my uv sterilizer to the tank. this was the best thing i ever did for that puffer. he was ich free thereafter.

any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Hattie B]

Hi bgcook,

well that will be entrily up to you to treat him, but I am a fan of actually knowing what the fish has before treating.

scratching and flashing can be signs of ich but without seeing the actual evidence and on PB you usually can with ease, I would continue to watch.

The problem is that if he does have it more then likly the others will catch it so I would make sure before you treat and if you do then treat the whole fish population at once and rid the main tank of it.

kick-ich imo does not work. Go to the website and make sure you read the updated info for it about Ref. and what not if you decide to do it.

PB are also know to be 'indicator' fish meaning if something is wrong they usually go down hill first


good luck