Messed up and got Ich

[Shilpan]

Hey guys! So my white cheek tang finished 4 weeks of quarantine. This was only observation however and no medications were used and I used different nets and kept my hands dry in between tanks. I added him to the tank, he was fine for 3 days and then 2 days ago he was covered in many many white spots (100+). I fed so much garlic soaked nori like you wouldn't believe. Anyway today I've noticed there are only 10-20 spots left today.


I also have a rabbtfish, firefish, sand sifter, bangaii, wrasse and 2 clowns. The last 4 fish in that list were added into my tank 10-12 months ago without quarantine when I first started.

Did I do something wrong with my quarantine process? Or is it likely my main tank always had Ich due to my earlier non quarantine? Thanks for your time.

Also if the tang recovers and I don't add anymore fish should I still fallow? My quarantine tank is too small for all my fish, in fact I suspect this 70L tank my have been too small for my tang too. Obviously I can't add fish anymore because I'm risking their health from being infected too.

 

[lmforbis]

My guess is it was the tang. If it was in sub therapeutic levels before you got it it might have suppressed the disease. If there were hundreds of spots it might be velvet. There is a cycle to the parasites where it looks like they are getting bettter but they really aren't. With tangs I would always treat even if nothing was visible.

 

[Shilpan]

Ahh ok, oh yeah maybe I'm exaggerating too much with the number of spots haha, its definitely white spot.

Hmm so now what's the likely outcome for my tang? It'll just get sicker and sicker and die? I don't see the benefit in treating the tang unless I can fallow my tank, otherwise he'll just always get re-infected right?

 

[lmforbis]

That is true. Fallow is the only way to clear the tank of ick. It will actually clear of other parasites except uronema marinum which doesn't need a fish host to survive. If you do nothing any time you add a new fish or the current ones are stressed you will get an outbreak. The most current info is a 76 day fallow period. This will allow all the ich to die off.