blue tang with ich

46cobraguy

46cobraguy

Member
Well i went home for thanksgiving and had my roomate feed my fish. He was just feeding them and knows nothing about "observing" them. I came back today and saw that my blue tang seems to have ich. After looking closer it looks as if my yellow tang's spine got ahold of him near his mouth because there seems to be sort of a wound. Im guessing this is what happened because i have seen a few light "scratch marks" on the blue tang before. I think that this wound has caused the fish to be stressed hence the ich. The blue tang is still very active and eats like a pig. None of the other fish have any symptoms of ich, other fish being : two clarkii clowns, lawnmower, yellow tang, and yellow tailed damsel. I have about 100 lbs of live rock w/ corals in my 75 gallon tank. I do have a QT tank thats established. I understand that catching the blue tang and putting him in the QT for hypo would be the best way to solve this problem, but as i stated before 100lbs of live rock is going to be a big pain to catch him. I do have a cleaner shrimp that loves to jump on my clowns because they let him. I have seen the blue tang swim over by him every once in awhile and the cleaner will try brush over him but the tang doesnt stay long. IS there any other pratical and safe way to take care of this situation other than catching him for the QT? What if i bought a cleaner goby...could that possibly be enough with the clearner shrimp to rid him of this problem? Any help will be appreciated, thanks.
Chris
 
46cobraguy

46cobraguy

Member
anyone have any ideas? i tore half my reef apart last night trying to catch her. the worst part about it is, i had her in the net and i propped the net up while i was getting a bag ready to transport her to the QT in when the net fell and she got lose and went to the other side of the tank where i hadn't touched yet. So frustrating! I guess ill keep trying to catch her. She still eats like a fatty and is very active...i noticed she didnt have as many ich spots on her today.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Ich is a parasite, not something that the fish just catch. It must have already been in your system. How big is your qt? While hypoing the tang is advisable, the fish will get ich again if you do not treat all of your fish.
 
46cobraguy

46cobraguy

Member
i understand that it is a parasite. I have never had an outbreak in my tank before. THe blue tang was quarantined for like 5 weeks before it was introduced into the display tank. I just checked again and more of the white spots have fallen off or maybe the cleaner shrimp got them, but there are only like two or 3 spots left. None of the other fish are showing any signs of sickness at all. Could it be somethong other than ich? Ill try and see if i can get some pictures of it, if i can get my digi cam to work. I dont know how it could have gotten into the system. From what ive heard when fish get stressed they drop eggs in their feces which will hatch the parasites. So i take it that its from the stress of tangling with the yellow tang...?
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
At this point, all fish are certainly exposed to ich. The only viable way of treating is, as you guess, to QT and treat all the fish. At this point, if you are not ready for that step, you can see if the cleaner will be able to keep the situation under control.
Did the ich just go unnoticed while the fish was in QT?
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by 46cobraguy
i understand that it is a parasite. I have never had an outbreak in my tank before. THe blue tang was quarantined for like 5 weeks before it was introduced into the display tank. I just checked again and more of the white spots have fallen off or maybe the cleaner shrimp got them, but there are only like two or 3 spots left. None of the other fish are showing any signs of sickness at all. Could it be somethong other than ich? Ill try and see if i can get some pictures of it, if i can get my digi cam to work. I dont know how it could have gotten into the system. From what ive heard when fish get stressed they drop eggs in their feces which will hatch the parasites. So i take it that its from the stress of tangling with the yellow tang...?
If fish have a healthy immune system then they will fight off the parasite but enough will attatch to keep the life cycle going. When the hippo was injured his immune syetem was trying to heal his body and the parasites were able to host. Is the 29 gallon cycled? How big are your other fish?
 
rudedog40

rudedog40

Member
I had the identical situation as you about 2 months ago. Bought a 1" blue hippo, put him in my DT, and he started getting spots. None of my other fish exhibited any symptoms of ich. I used the Ich Attack for the 5 day treatment. Once completed, I fed the tank soaking my frozen with Seachem Garlic Guard and Metronidazole. The ich disappeared off the tang, and it's been almost two months since his outbreak. Every fish in the tank appears healthy, and eat like pigs. Haven't seen any signs of ich since.
I've stated my findings in several ich threads, and unfortunately most of the seasoned members here dispel my treatment as coincidental mystery oil. You can try it if you like. It seemed to work for me, but there's no guarantee the same will happen for you. Good luck on whatever treatment you decide to try.
 
46cobraguy

46cobraguy

Member
ok so as the day progressed there are barely any spots left on the blue tang and all the others are still looking clean. Sometimes with that soft skin ive noticed the blue tang will get crap stuck to it from time to time, so i dont know if that was it or wat. As for the tang when it was in QT I made sure it was clean as a whistle and that it had no spots because i knew that tangs were very suseptible to ich. Do i really need to yank every fish out? I know that if it was ich then they were exposed but it doesn't seem to have hosted on any other fish and its going away on the blue tang. So far i have not added or done anything to my tank to aid in this. The fish have always been big eaters, healthy, and hardy. The sizes on my other fish are: clarkiis(1 inch) yellow tang (4in) blue tang (1.5 in), lawnmower(2.5 in), and the damsel is small. I am kind of in a pinch, i forgot to add that i currently have a coral beauty in the QT as i just bought her about two weeks ago. She is very healthy but I dont know what i should do if I have to yank the other fish.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by 46cobraguy
ok so as the day progressed there are barely any spots left on the blue tang and all the others are still looking clean. Sometimes with that soft skin ive noticed the blue tang will get crap stuck to it from time to time, so i dont know if that was it or wat. As for the tang when it was in QT I made sure it was clean as a whistle and that it had no spots because i knew that tangs were very suseptible to ich. Do i really need to yank every fish out? I know that if it was ich then they were exposed but it doesn't seem to have hosted on any other fish and its going away on the blue tang. So far i have not added or done anything to my tank to aid in this. The fish have always been big eaters, healthy, and hardy. The sizes on my other fish are: clarkiis(1 inch) yellow tang (4in) blue tang (1.5 in), lawnmower(2.5 in), and the damsel is small. I am kind of in a pinch, i forgot to add that i currently have a coral beauty in the QT as i just bought her about two weeks ago. She is very healthy but I dont know what i should do if I have to yank the other fish.
Personaly, I would pull the fish out and treat them all. It is realy up to you. You have a coral beauty in qt now, if the fish is clean of parasites you will be introducing the fish into a tank with ich in it. If you decide to treat the fish then let us know if you need any help. If you would rather not then I suggest making sure that your fish have high immune systems and keep them all as healthy as possible.
 
46cobraguy

46cobraguy

Member
what is going to be the difference if i do or dont pull the fish out? THe tank will still have ich in it will it not?
also if it is ich, i dont see how it would mostly go away so soon without any treatment? could it have been a mis ID on my part? From my experience in this hobby ich just doesnt go away on its own and this quick...
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by 46cobraguy
what is going to be the difference if i do or dont pull the fish out? THe tank will still have ich in it will it not?
also if it is ich, i dont see how it would mostly go away so soon without any treatment? could it have been a mis ID on my part? From my experience in this hobby ich just doesnt go away on its own and this quick...
Without fish in the display the ich will not have a host and will therefore die off. What you saw is the natural life cycle of the parasite. They feed off of the fish then drop off to reproduce. Being so many were on your tang you can expect a large increase in the number of parasites in your display in roughly seven days.
 
46cobraguy

46cobraguy

Member
eh thats what i figured after i posed.....So should i put all the fish in the QT even tho the healthy coral beauty is in there? I guess i should probably do this before the other fish break out in ich. How long will i have to keep them in QT. I live in a townhouse for school and xmas break is coming in 2.5 weeks. Home is 3 hours away. Im really hoping that im not going to have to take the QT tank home with me, but it looks as if thats whats going to have to happen.
 
46cobraguy

46cobraguy

Member
is the 29 gallon big enough for all the fish....coral beauty(3 in) two clarkiis(1.5in) blue tang (1.5 in) yellow tang (4 in) lawnmower (2.5 in)? Id hate to see them get stressed out in there.
 
rudedog40

rudedog40

Member
Well if you use the 1" for every 5 gallon rule, I'd say you're putting them in a tank that's half the recommended size. I would imagine the only one that may get stressed is the yellow tang. However, I've seen a similar amount of fish in a 29 at my LFS, and they seemed fine. Don't know how they'll react to a bare tank with only PVC to hide in for 6 weeks. Doesn't the lawnmower require or prefer a substrate or LS to thrive in? Might affect him with nowhere to hide. You'll also have to monitor your ammonia and nitrate levels real close with the bioload you'll have with that number of fish in that small of a tank. Just have a lot of spare water setup to handle the numerous water changes you'll need to do.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
They should be perfectly fine for a month and a half in the 29. For the blennie you can add a few cups of sand in one area of the QT. You can also pick up some fake decorations to make them more at home. You will have to watch the water parameters, especialy at first. Did you figure out how you are gong to treat the fish when you go home?
 
46cobraguy

46cobraguy

Member
i think what i am going to do is take them with me. I have no other choice. My roomate won't be competent enough to do hypo plus that is a lot to ask of some1 thats not into the hobby. I should have enough bags and rubberbands to keep each fish separate. I also have a styrofoam box that a lfs guy gave me when i bought my coral beauty. I'll probably bag them up, and place them inside the box to keep the temp stable and to also prevent stress. Ill put the water that is in the QT in 5 gallon water jugs that i have and then set the tank back up with the water ive been using and go from there. Any opnions or objections to this? Im waiting to pull the fish until tonight to make sure all of the ich has dropped off the blue tang. That way none of the fish will really have any visible spots to watch which would probably be less stressful for the move anyhow.
 
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