blue tang with ich

ren9999

ren9999

Member
I have a new blue tang in my tank who has white dots on him looking like sprinkled salt. does this mean its itch 100%?
the tang has been in tank for about 3 days.
Other fishes include clown, fire goby, royal gramma. and inverts.
90g tank up for 1 year.
only feeding the tang algae sheet, flakes pellets and plankton.
I did not qt the fish and planning to get a QT tank tomrorow.
amonia nitrite nitrate 0. ph 7.9 morning 8.1 day, salinity 1.026. temp 80-82 depending on MH lights.
i am wondering if I should start the treatment as soon as I get the QT tomorrow? even though the QT won't be cycled?
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
I'm afraid that is ich, and now all your fish will be getting it as well. All fish will need to be treated.
Do you have a refractometer?
 
ren9999

ren9999

Member
I have ordered a refractometer, but it wont be getting here until end of next week.
Should I put everything in a QT tank even though it is not cycled?
 
tower con

tower con

New Member
Before you go adding chemicals to your tank, watch your tang carefully.
Tangs are known for having faded color and white spots on them in the morning when the light comes on.
Check your tang about 3 hours after the light has been on and he's been active. If the white spots are faded or gone, it's just the tangs natural coloration.
My hippo tang has a faded blue color and white dots around his nose and face daily. Some times it even extends to where the dorsal fin begins. After the lights been on and he's become active, the dots are gone and his color is back to the color you see in the books.
Be careful with Ich medication. Most contain copper and at the dose recommended can kill salt water fish. Be very careful if it is ich.
 
ren9999

ren9999

Member
After about 5 days, I think the hippo is doing a little better. He had 5 sparks of sprinkled salt on day 1 or day 2 , but now only 2 spot left. I hope this means hes getting better. All other fishs have no signs of itch. The only bad news is that the hippo is scratching him self against live rock.
I will wait more before doing the QT. besides, the QT equipment hasn't even arrived.
What do you guys think??
 
scubadoo

scubadoo

Active Member
Until or if you move the animals to a QT, keep stress to a minimum, feed garlic and vitamin soaked food, maintain water quality within acceptable limits and keep the temp at a steady 82.
 
ren9999

ren9999

Member
thanks scuba doo. I have been doing what you said.
The white spots seem to be getting smaller. Those 3 spots i mentioned earlier had all disappeared except for 1 spot on his top. But another new white spot has appeared on his side fin. :mad:
You guys think I should move him to QT?
 
payne66801

payne66801

Member
They will fall off but only to return by larger numbers. If you read this board you will find that about 70% of the ich cases come from tangs starting it. And the blue stresses real easy. The temp raising yes but I would lower the salt in the tank. Everyone sayes salt down to .019 or so. But wth inverts if you have them that may cuase other issues. Contact a reliable person before doing anything. The qt is a must if you are going to keep tangs. My friend had his tank up for over a yr and qt first and then dripped him and then into his tank and his hippo is happy. Most hippo ich you read about is coming from the store to show tank and then they get ich. I bought a qt after my hippo got ich. I have all my fish in the qt tank now. Becuase I got ich on my hippo but I did not read enogh prior to buying one like most people do. My tank is way to new as am I for a hippo. I used copper in my qt and the ich left the fish fast and they all seem very happy. But read up on copper becuase some on this board say copper is not the best for tangs. It had no ill affects on my fish yet. I am new at this so all I can say is what did work for me. Without a qt thou all your fish will end up with it possibly. Good luck hope it all works out for ya......
 
payne66801

payne66801

Member
Drain 10 gallon out of your main into qt so as not to further stress him out. Yes you will pull the ich into the qt but my lfs guy said no biggie the ich will be dead soon anyway. But I would not wait for it to cycle. You are endangering your other fish by leaving him in there. And down the road I would think about a 20g or so. That hippo will get big and a 10 would be a bit tight..
 
payne66801

payne66801

Member
I have my copper set at just below 1ppm and the directions said 1 to 2ppm. So I went with the lower number out of fear. And like I said the ich is off the fish and they all got these color back and seem very happy again. With the water changes I will probably let the ppm on the copper go down a bit. But like I said before ask a person that knows their stuff. If you live in a large ctiy you can go to a lfs and ask. Just be careful that you do not ask a college kid that started last week and now is an expert :)
 
miked0523

miked0523

Member
My blue tangs got a couple spots on them sometimes. I bought a cleaner shrimp and since then they have been spot free. blue tangs get can parasites very easily but as long the fish is not stressed and water quality is excellant the fish can fight it off themselves. they normally will look worse in the morning and by night will look better.
 
ren9999

ren9999

Member
OK I am going to start the hyposalinity treatment. I have my refractometer and a 10gallon QT.
My question however is still will a 2-3 " blue tang live in a 10 gallon for a month?
Another question is, the only infected fish i can see is the blue tang. When I move him out of the main tank, i will still have other fishes in the main. After a month, when I move the blue tang back, obviously i guess ich can still be in my main. WOuldn't that reinfect my blue tang?
i only have a 10 g qt, i can not QT 2 clown, 1 fire goby, 1 blue tang, 1 royal gramma.
any suggestions is welcome.
 
A

anthonynyc

Guest
Originally Posted by ren9999
OK I am going to start the hyposalinity treatment. I have my refractometer and a 10gallon QT.
My question however is still will a 2-3 " blue tang live in a 10 gallon for a month?
Another question is, the only infected fish i can see is the blue tang. When I move him out of the main tank, i will still have other fishes in the main. After a month, when I move the blue tang back, obviously i guess ich can still be in my main. WOuldn't that reinfect my blue tang?
i only have a 10 g qt, i can not QT 2 clown, 1 fire goby, 1 blue tang, 1 royal gramma.
any suggestions is welcome.
I'm new to this and could be wrong but after reading about the life cylce on ICK, your entire tank is most likely infected and the only way to be sure is treat your main tank with hyposalinity for 6 weeks.
You only see 1 stage of the life cycle, when they are attached to the fish and feeding. After that they drop off cling to something as they multiply and then start swimming again looking for hosts.
I would say the fish will live in the 10 gallon tank but obviously the larger the better. My advice would be to move any snails, live rock, crabs into the QT tank and treat the main tank with Hyposalinity. In 6 weeks after there is no sign of ick move everything back into the main and then keep the QT set up for other fish additions in the future.
Anthony
 
ren9999

ren9999

Member
You are correct. My tank is likely infected.
However I have 150 lbs of Live rock and few inches of sand and lot of inverts. So i can not treat the entire tank with hyposalinity.
Bad news is that my QT is only 10 G, so I can only move the blue tang into it.
I have to leave the clown fishs in the main and hopefully they don't get ick. If they do get ick, i have no idea what I am going to do. I really dont want to go out and get another QT.
any suggestions anyone?
 
ren9999

ren9999

Member
OK everyone, here is an update
My blue tang has been in QT for 3 or 4 days now. I have NOT yet lowered the salinity to 1.009 yet. He has not showed any white dots for the past 2 days, so I decided to slowly lower the salinity. (plus I have been busy and not able to attend the QT every few hours every day)
I have been feeding him garlic soaked flakes, pellets, seaweed on a clip, bloodworms (he doesnt eat much of this) frozen planekton. He eats like a monster!!! and he poos like a monster too!!
Tank water parameter looks good.
I have the following 2 concerns thou,
whenever the lights are on, he would constantly hide under a rock every other minute.
also he is breathing very rapidly.
What does everyone think about that?
 
robpsca

robpsca

Member
you can always move your inverts into the qt tank and treat the main tank. unless u have corals ...
but your gonna have to do an increase in water changes do to the lack of a clean up crew in the main tank.
 
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