Blue Tang driving me nuts

[coral boy]

I bought a blue tang about 6 weeks ago put him in my Q tank it got ick real bad i was treating it with ick attack did not work then i put copper in and in a week it was gone i kept him in the Q tank for two more weeks with no ick i put him in my show tank last week and today i see more white spots what should i do, i can't put him back in my Q tank because i have a Naso tang in there

 

[heavenly damsel]

Knock on wood....my tank seems to be staying ick free. I have 3 yellow tangs in a 105 gallon reef tank, I put a cleaner shrimp in with them and it seemed to work well. He has a cleaner station in one of their swimming paths and they stop to let him clean them on a regular basis. It is really kind of neat to watch. I also have always fed garlic soaked foods about once a week. I know tangs are ick magnets so I have tried a preventative approach, so far it has worked. HTH

 

[jdl/dayton]

The problem is that the ick is still in your main tank. Parasites will go dormant if there is no host. This dormancy can last for quite a long time.
Assuming there are no inverts in your main tank I would lower the salinity down to 1.010-1.012 while your treating your blue. Your fish can tolerate this for several weeks but the parasites can not. Give it two weeks than reintroduce your Blue making sure to acclimate him to the lowered salinity. Keep your salinity low for another two weeks and observe. After two weeks you can adjust your salinity back up to 1.020. No need to go higher than this unless your keeping inverts.

 

[jdl/dayton]

Oop's I did not see the Naso part.
In that case just lower the salinity and leave the Blue in there. Your fish will be fine, but the ich will die off once you get it down near the 1.010 level. Some say you can go lower, but I am too much of a chicken heart to try it.

 

[jdl/dayton]

I have found 1.010 to work fine. I find my fish stress level increases rapidly below 1.010.
We are talking about a difference of 1/1000 th, and I it is not like any instrument used by hobbyist is 100% reliable at such resolutions.