Help... I think my tang has ich

[cashemin44]

I have a white face tang and I noticed when I came home this afternoon that it has a couple of little white specks on it's side fins and a couple on it's forehead. Being new to the hobby and never having seen ich before, I'm guessing that's what's going on. We just got this tang on Wednesday and never quaratined him, which now I'm kicking myself for because that's obviously a no no. I just jumped on the computer to start some research on what to do b/c this is my first time dealing with it and I'm not terribly familiar on what to do. In my tank besides my tang I have 2 clowns, 2 damsels, a hermit crab, 5 dwarf blue legged hermit crabs, a diamond goby and a fire shrimp. I do not have any live rock or coral. I do have some live sand. None of my other fish have spots of anything on them. I just noticed as I was checking my water levels that the tang was rubbing up against one of our rocks. So I guess my question is now leading more toward what do I do instead of what do I have? They are all eating normally still even the tang.
Here are my levels:
Ammonia : 0
pH: about 8.0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: a little high between 40-80
Temp: 78F
Most importantly at the moment I do not have a quaratine tank. So if someone could please give me some options on what to do that would be great.
Thanks-
Shannon

 

[mikeyjer]

Originally Posted by cashemin44
I have a white face tang and I noticed when I came home this afternoon that it has a couple of little white specks on it's side fins and a couple on it's forehead. Being new to the hobby and never having seen ich before, I'm guessing that's what's going on. We just got this tang on Wednesday and never quaratined him, which now I'm kicking myself for because that's obviously a no no. I just jumped on the computer to start some research on what to do b/c this is my first time dealing with it and I'm not terribly familiar on what to do. In my tank besides my tang I have 2 clowns, 2 damsels, a hermit crab, 5 dwarf blue legged hermit crabs, a diamond goby and a fire shrimp. I do not have any live rock or coral. I do have some live sand. None of my other fish have spots of anything on them. I just noticed as I was checking my water levels that the tang was rubbing up against one of our rocks. So I guess my question is now leading more toward what do I do instead of what do I have? They are all eating normally still even the tang.
Here are my levels:
Ammonia : 0
pH: about 8.0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: a little high between 40-80
Temp: 78F
Most importantly at the moment I do not have a quaratine tank. So if someone could please give me some options on what to do that would be great.
Thanks-
Shannon
You can start by feeding garlic enhanced food like formula 2. I would feed nothing else but garlic enhanced food until the symptoms have disappear. I suggest feeding 3-4 times a day. I would suggest a good water change around 20-25% every other day to really lower your nitrate. Do you have a protein skimmer hooked up to your tank?? If not, you should look into one. Next, you should start looking for a QT tank. :happyfish

 

[badoleross]

If your search for a QT fails and you do determine that you have ich in the tank you can try Kick-Ich. I have used it twice with good results. It's about a 2 week program but i did get rid of the ich. As a footnote, I also increased the recommended dosage to a dose every other day instead of the days given on the directions. I have also heard good things about a product called "Stop Parastite" but I have not used this and am not sure if it reef safe.