Again, pardon the relentless cutting...
"Thanks for the clarification Henry. The ich problem only seemed to worsen after having watched my hippo tang for 2 days and was worried that he wouldn't recover. I was hoping by doing exactly what you mentioned, he would. But didn't want to chance it."
~~~ i can understand that. it took quite a bit for me not to remove my wrasse and my sailfin when i first added the tang into the tank. both broke out in cryptocaryon. but, i only have 1 20g q tank. i couldn't treat both. figuring that in general wrasses are pretty resistant to infestation, the choice would have been the tang. but to me, it didn't make much sense to chase a tang around a loaded 75g to put him in a 20g bare bones system - only to have to add him back at some point which most likely would have led to another outbreak. i just left both in. that was my decision. but i watched closely for weeks, months ensureing the infestation was on th decline and not coming back.
"The deciding point was when I didn't see him one day swimming about. He was hiding in a barnacle and poked his head out enough for me to see his worsened condition. I picked up barnacle, tang and all, and placed him in Q tank. (of course, checking water temp and parameters on Q tank before doing so)"
~~~ good decision. i would have done the same. there comes a point where we must intervine and assist in any way we know how. how are you going about the copper treatments?
"So, once you introduce a new fish to a reef tank, you're suggesting not to use a Q tank for treatment?"
~~~ not exactly. like i said, use your best judgement. if the fish is not lethargic, and has a good appetite, why stress it out? continue feeding well. let it recover on it's own, in the best possible conditions that you can give. if the show tank is a 100g and the q tank is a 100g, then i'd move it into the other 100g by itself. but most people are like me, a 20g or so used for qing. the size alone has stress written all over it.
"I admit, trying to catch the ill one is only adding more stress to the situation as well as effecting the other inhabitants. And LR only complicates this process!"
~~~ LOL. yes it does. i'm pictureing me when i was catching my cardinals - whom are easy compared to tangs. i had rock in the sump, rock in the refugium, rock in the fry tanks, even IO buckets. not pretty.
"Question, do you have suggestion on foods that have proven to be more effective in this type of situation?"
~~~ not necessarily "proven" per say, but maxed in vitamins. spirulina works well. i love to feed freeze-dried plankton. it is packed in protien, plus by being dry it soaks up vitamins really well. i soak it in 1ml of selcon for a few mintes. the plankton acts like a sponge and soaks it right up and doesn't release much upon hitting water. same with vita-chem or any other liquid vitamin supplement. another way of delievering the supplements is using live foods. locally i can get live black worms. a gather a spoonful - one feeding portion - and drop just small pinch of sea salt on them. this dehydrates them and causes them to drink. at this point, drop on the liquid vitamins. it dissappears rather quickly. however, the worms do not live long there after. feed shortly there after, like a few minutes. basically, don't match "pre-mixed" bacheds of the things. they stink when dead. they die in a matter of an hour or 2. of course, you could freeze selcon enriched black worms
HTH
[This message has been edited by hcs3 (edited 10-21-1999).]
