White Tailed Bristletooth Tang

[pktech]

I'd skip the kick ich & other bottled remedies. TTM is considered effective against ich so you might want to continue that way. Sounds like you might have 2 issues now - 1st either ich or flukes or whatever in your main tank is probably infected as previously mentioned. Leaving your dt fishless for 60 days would go a long way to kill off whatevers in there.

2nd - how much do you love your mated pair of clowns? They're established, territorial & will harrass to death anything you put in with them so this cycle will continue unfortunately.

 

[Jade5051]

I'd skip the kick ich & other bottled remedies. TTM is considered effective against ich so you might want to continue that way. Sounds like you might have 2 issues now - 1st either ich or flukes or whatever in your main tank is probably infected as previously mentioned. Leaving your dt fishless for 60 days would go a long way to kill off whatevers in there.

2nd - how much do you love your mated pair of clowns? They're established, territorial & will harrass to death anything you put in with them so this cycle will continue unfortunately.

I can leave the DT fish less for 60 days no problem consider it done. But, if I do TTM. Should I do it with all my livestock (two clowns, mystery wrasse and a splendid dottyback) at the same time or just infected fish? Since my DT is infected where would I get the water for TTM? Would it be easier to put them all in a 20 long and do hyposalinity or copper? I understand those treatments are just as effective against combating ich and it seems more practical and less work (10 gallon water changes every 3 days for two weeks) to treat all my fish via hyposalinity or copper over TTM.

I'm not so worried about the clowns. I've watched their behavior and interaction very closely for hours. They are territorial about only about their mushroom rock anything within ~6 inches will get a warning, outside of that they are pretty docile. The tang and clowns were occupying the same territory so I moved their rock, separated their territories and the harassment stopped. After I moved the rock the tang started to settle and started pushing back at the clowns. The clowns became submissive very quickly.

 

[ksicard]

I personally have had great results treating ich with copper in a separate QT. Put all fish in the QT and maintain copper levels of 0.5ppm with cupramine for two weeks. Works every time for me. The worst part is leaving the DT fallow for 6 weeks or more.

 

[Jade5051]

White Tailed Bristletooth Tang

Next question. Bought a 20 long today. I want to put 2 clowns, a wrasse and a dottyback in there and treat them with copper or hyposalinity. Should I use egg crate to divide the tank so the fish are not fighting over territory? Should I just get a 40 breeder and use that?

 

[deleau]

Next question. Bought a 20 long today. I want to put 2 clowns, a wrasse and a dottyback in there and treat them with copper or hyposalinity. Should I use egg crate to divide the tank so the fish are not fighting over territory? Should I just get a 40 breeder and use that?

I think you should be just fine with those 4 in the 20. Most likely the dottyback and wrasse (and the clowns given their size) will all fit through the egg crate anyway.

 

[Jade5051]

Why are you putting them in QT when you don't know if they have ich? Slow down and see if it appears.

I'm in that process now. It's been 11 days since I removed the tang from the DT. None of the fish in the DT have shown signs of serious infection. The wrasse had a two questionable spots on it 3 days ago and then again 1 spot last night. He is clean at the moment. I'll be observing them for a few days. I want to see signs of serious infection before I commit to QTing them all.

I'd like to go down to Best Fish in Milwaukee this Sunday and pick up another white tail tang.

Question is how long do I wait before I can determine if I'm in the clear?

I setup a 20L QT today because I want to have it ready for if my fish show signs of infection. Furthermore, I need it for the next fish I decide to introduce to the tank. I'm QTing all fish for 30 days from now on period. The upside to all this is PETCO is having a $1/gallon sale! 20L 20 bucks! I think I might go back and get a 40 breeder for 40 bucks! What a deal!

 

[Jade5051]

It could take up to a month for ich to show back up. I've freaked out in the past thinking a spot was ich when it was sand that fell off of the fish minutes/hours later.

I recommend QT for 8 weeks. I used to do copper for 2-3 weeks, then prazi, then into the display. I recently introduced ich into my DT that way. From now on all new fish are going through 2 months of QT. I have the QT setup in my office so I still get to see them. It's like I've added another full time tank to the house.

Well then...if no signs or symptoms show up in the next couple days I guess I will push forward and start the QT process for the next fish. If things take a turn for the worst in the DT in the next two weeks then I'll pick up a 40 breeder to hold all my fish for 60 days.

Can someone explain their QT process to me? Do you only treat fish that show signs and symptoms or are all fish treated for the most common diseases even if they look perfectly healthy? I was thinking 30 days of observation treat sickness as signs and symptoms arrive.

 

[Jade5051]

I had started a new thread with this and someone pointed out that I had a tang which I suspected had ich. So, with such a valid point I thought I would attach this to thread and continue the discussion here.

So got home all my fish seem happy then feeding came and the mystery wrasse didn't eat. I've tried feeding 3 times today and he hasn't had a bite. It ALWAYS eats this is the first time I've ever seen it not eat. It's being bullied by all its tank mates but it's been like that for weeks nothing new there. It's not showing any significant signs of fighting or struggle. It's swimming around the tank and seems to be normal maybe a little less active or more sluggish than usual but nothing to alarming. His breathing seems heavy and more labored than usual. Seems like there should be a reason for the sudden loss of appetite. Everything else is eating and active with normal behavior. No signs or symptoms of anything else. Pictures below.

What do you do? Chalk it up and say it's only one day? Pictures below...

Didn't you have a white tail tang that came down with ich in your tank? The wrasse probably got it too.

I'm not sure if the white tail had ich or not. It may have I was being cautious because I know they are very susceptible to it. The other day I was at a LFS saw a goby with ich and I said to myself my tang looked nothing like that. It's been 16 days since I removed the tang. The wrasse looks clean but I understand the parasite can attack the gills and may not show up on the skin. How long do I need to monitor this before I can decide if ich is in the tank? When do I know if I have to QT all the fish and go fallow for 60 days?

 

[Jade5051]

 

[Jade5051]

Status updates he started eating again today! Saw him pop a pod when the lights turned on and gave him some flakes. Made me pretty happy. Kind of odd to see a fish just not eat for one day. Still keeping a close eye on it.