Blue Tang ICH?

[cmack]

I believe my blue Tang has Ich (small white dots, occasionally rubbing it's side on rocks etc...). The fish is active, and eating algae off the rocks, Seems to be acting normally.
The tank is 90 gal reef, with Crabs, starfish, snails, etc. The other fish in the tank do NOT show any signs of disease, they are: Tomato clown, royal gramma, and a hawkfish. The largest fish are the hawkfish and tang, they are bote about 3-4 inches.
I dont currently have a QT tank set up, but will be starting that right away. So, my questions are:
1. Should I use water from my main tank to set up the QT (possibly ich in the water)? Or do i have enough time to let it cycle normally?
2. Should I put just the Tang in the QT for now and watch the other fish closely, or put all fish into QT tank and risk stressing them all dur to the smaller size tank?
Thanks,

 

[reavely]

1) How big is your qt? this makes a difference in how much stress you put your fish under. at one time I had a 2.5 inch tang, a 2 inch lawnmower blenny & two F. perc clowns in a 10 gl QT. (not good, but they survived).
when I started my tank, I had no qt. got a tang with ich, had to tear-down & not only keep the tang (the clowns and the blenny) in qt for about 45 days, but had to keep the DT "fish/host- free" for at least 30 days as well. this is the only way to be sure that the ich cycle has run it's course with no possible host, thus killing off the infection. meanwhile I DID use water from my DT to start my QT. since I was doing the following cycle of treatment: hyposalinity, copper, maracyn 1 & 2 - the ich in the water wouldn't survive anyway - thus the point of the QT & treatment cycle.
I did this: get the qt set up with DT water, add fish. over a period of about 3 days, drop the salinity in the QT to .009 - you must have an accurate salinity testing device, any higher and the ich will survive, any lower and the fish may not. leave it at that salinity reading for three weeks and then VERY slowly (one week)bring it back to your normal DT level. During this rise in salinity I dosed with copper for a week. then when the slalinity was back up and the copper round was done, did a water change, and followed instructions for use of MAyracyn 1 & 2 to fight off secondary infections.
Good luck.

 

[cmack]

For the tang (about 3"), the hawk (also 3"), a tomato clown (2.5"), and a royal gramma (about 2.5"), how big of a QT should I need?
And correct me if I'm wrong, but if i use the Hypo method, I shouldn't need any chemical meds?

 

[reavely]

Terry B's response is correct by conventional wisdom, no you SHOULDn't need meds if you do hyposalinity correctly, but if your salinity measurement device isn't precise (a refractometer being the only one I know of that is) you may be off a little + or - a few "degrees". This can mean that the ich cyst may survive if you haven'ty been at exactly .009 steadily for at least three weeks. Therefore I used the copper to be sure, and the Maracyns as well - particularly when QTing new fish. Caution should be taken of course, be careful to follow the label directions to the letter and testing levels of copper daily (if not twice a day). Last thing. If you are going to cram all these fish into a smaller QT than your DT - I advice you do frequent water changes. This makes doing steady hyposalinity even more difficult - thus my use of the copper, etc...