HELP!!! tang has ick?

[oneflysi]

well, all of the sudden i noticed my yellow tang has white dots all over him...i'm guessing ick. man, i hate my LFS. anyway, i have a 10 gallon tank and some spare premixed saltwater sitting around. how long should i let the 10 gallon run for a quarantine? does it have to cycle? if i have to wait a while for the 10 to be ready what should i do in the meantime? i don't want any of my other fish to become infected. any help is appreciated. thank you!
-One

 

[lordofthereef]

this should be in the diesese and treatment forum.

 

[blondenaso1]

Don't worry we can still help. What I did was take 10gal from your 55 and just do a really good water change. This way you don't have to wait for anything to cycle. Then get the tang, throw him in there and treat with some copper. Also, an alternative would be to perform a fresh water dip. Despite what others think about FWD I found that they are successful and don't cause as much stress as everyone thinks. However, this would only be temporary releif. I also have found luck soaking the tangs food in garlic. Your best bet would be the gt method.
Good Luck - I've been there before

 

[lordofthereef]

one more thing to add. run a diatom filter on the main tank to get out any free floating parasites. then after that run the filter once a week to make sure the water is free from any other parasites. i do this with my vortex filter, and never had any parasites in any of my tanks.

 

[oneflysi]

so it would be ok to put 10 gallons from my 55 right into the 10 gallon tank? and after that should i just take out about another 5 gallons and fill with 15? that would give me about a 30% water change....is that enough?
anything else??
-One

 

[oneflysi]

anyone....will this work?
-One

 

[starfish29]

Kick Ick...this stuff is 100% reef safe...we have used it a tank with clams, bubble coral and other corals that are sensitive...use as directed and you will be ick free, and your fish will be ok. I used it on a sailfin tang that was on its last stand and am happy to say, still swimming KICK ICK!

 

[therock0861]

Ok first of all if you plan on doing a fresh water dip you need a perfectly clean tank free of ich and other parasites. When you put the fish in the fresh water the parasites will die and fall off but if you put it right back in the same water he wil just be reinfected with the parasites. How long has the ten gallon been up? If it has been up for a while do the fresh water dip and put him in clean water only otherwise there is no point.HTH

 

[blondenaso1]

If he uses 10gal of water from his 55 and treats it with copper then it will be fine and a fresh water dip woun't even be necessary. The filter is a good idea but if there are not any other fish in the tank then it will clear itself of ick within a month or so. Taking 5 more gal out is not needed.

 

[byrself]

you might could get a cleaner shrimp to help out the fish, but quarantine is necessary also. i used paraguard in my quarantine, and my fish were better after a couple days. keeping your fish out of the main tank for 30 days is the only way to really rid your tank of ich though. i would be wary of any "reef safe" treatments. just my op =)

 

[salty james]

Yep.. learnt the hard way on that one! <img src="graemlins//silly.gif" border="0" alt="[silly]" />

 

[wamp]

Try KICK ICH by ruby reef products... Worked great for a friends yellow tang, and he did it in his main tank... Nothing got ill at all!!!

 

[oneflysi]

ok...here is what i did.
last night i took 10 gallons of my show tank water(the one the tang was in) and placed it into a clean 10 gallon tank. caught the tang (which was a bitch) and placed him into the 10 gallon tank. dosed it with the copper treatment almost immedietly, then dosed half of that this morning. will be testing it this evening to get a ppm reading of the amoount of copper.
then i replaced the 10 gallons from my 55 with new sw.
now, here is the next question. do i need to remove my other 4 fish and place them in quarantine also? (3 damsels, 1 clownfish) or can they stay in the show tank? also, someone recommended the use of a diatom filter for removal of parasites. i use a large dual hang-on filter...do they make the diatoms for these types? any certain brand name diatom filters?
thanks again for all your help!
-One

 

[oneflysi]

great, thanks anthem! let me make sure i have got this straight.
(just an FYI, i do have a hang-on filter on my 10 gal quarantine tank. i also have a heater, and powerhead for circulation and an bubbletube with a few large rocks holding it down to help oxygenate the water)
now, when i get home and put the other 4 in quarantine, i just continue to dose the copper how it recommends right? example: it says to put one drop per gallon, then after 12 hours put half that, or 1 drop per 2 gallons. i have already done both of those steps. what i'm asking is just continue on with were i left off right....don't start over? cause i'm guessing most likely that will overdose the tank with copper if i start over. also, as for the type of copper i don't know for sure what it is. i believe it is called seacure, but i'm not a 100% sure on that. i will check on that here in about 5 hours when i'm home from work.
also, are you saying i don't really need to test the water parameters if i have a biological filter on the q-tank? (which i do) or should i still test the copper levels?
-One

 

[oneflysi]

one more thing i forgot to ask. are you saying my 55 will be ok without the diatom filter? if i quarantine all fish, and i already did a 10 gallon water change on the 55, this will/should rid the 55 and its habitants of ich?
does this usually take about 30 days or so to dose the fish with copper?
-One

 

[oneflysi]

well, the filter has been cycled for about 2 months in a fw tank (the tank never had any fish in it though). will this work? i have a new one i could put in instead, but figured a more cycled filter would be better.
what about my show tank? will everything i said above work and rid it of ich?
you know, sometimes this hobby can kiss my ass
-One

 

[oneflysi]

man, daily water changes. how much? 2-3 gallons? i could take a filter out of my 55 gallon and use it on the 10...would that work? also, does this mean i should never change my filters on my 55 gallon tank? <img src="graemlins//confused.gif" border="0" alt="[confused]" /> thanks again for all your help!
-One

 

[oneflysi]

ok, thanks Ed!
i will transfer one of my filters from my main tank to the q-tank. the filter i have on my main is a dual filter and has one on each side. so i'll still be getting some filtration on the 55 gallon.
well, from what your saying i'm guessing i should never really change out the filter....maybe just rinse them out every once in a while?
thanks again for your help!! i am looking forward to catching those little damsels when i get home
-One

 

[jim672]

Anthem,
Thanks so much for your thorough, patient, and understandable responses to a couple of difficult issues.
I enjoyed reading all the good information you were sharing.

 

[oneflysi]

once again Ed, thanks for all your help! its great to have someone like you to thoroughly explain everything to an amatuer as myself. thank you for you patience and time you took to help me. i'll keep you updated on how the fish come along.
-One