Lost our Blue Tang today

[xxxespoxxx]

Well bad day today, we just got home and found our blue tang dead. He was in QT everything was fine yesterday. He had ick was getting treated an getting better ick was falling off scars from the cyst were healing, an he had his tail nippped in our display, but heal perfectly in QT. Anyways he's gone now, my wife was very upset so am i and i want some answers maybe you guys can answer some questions. He's was going to be put back in the DT 2morrow which really sucks and really pisses me off. Anyways we were using meds called "MEDIC" has any1 heard or experience treatment with this med. Also, in general when treating a fish with med's are you suppose to remove the carbon? All parameter were fine, other then amonia was 0.50 but that was the first time the amonia reading was like that, all others readings were 0.
Plus I me and my wife were wondering cause were smokers how bad of a role can smoking in a household affect your tank.

 

[sepulatian]

I have never used this medication personally. I looked at their website and it says that you must remove the carbon during treatment. I will also tell you that reef safe medications tend not to work. Reef safe means that it will not harm the invertebrates in the tank. Ich is an invertebrate. It is hard to expect a medication to not harm sensitive inverts yet kill the hardiest of inverts (ich).
I would not think that smoking is terribly detrimental to the tank. Many hobbyists smoke and I have not heard of it being an issue.

 

[xxxespoxxx]

So then what do u think could have done this to her she was a day away from everything being normal again and no signs of this death were noticable. I have used this med on my other tanks previously and worked fine. All the fish that were treated in my other tank that had ick by this med worked and I never had an issue with ick and the tank has been up for 2 yrs. This new tank I started is a 65gal up for about 4 months....only difference is the 65gal is reef and the other is 150 fowlr...and me using this med in my DT just worried me too much so that is why I used it in QT(20 gal)...i don't know i'm so fustrated

 

[m0nk]

I'm not sure how well the medication would work to treat ich, it really depends on what it is doing and likely isn't a "cure", but more of an aid.
It's also possible that the immune system of the fish was entirely too damaged to recover. The best thing when treating for anything is to add plenty of liquid vitamins and crushed/chopped garlic to the fish food. There are numerous ways to treat ich, but all of them weaken the immune system so you need to help it stay strong with what you feed.
At any rate, sorry for your loss there, it's always a bummer loosing a fish. Hopefully you'll be able to learn something from this loss to help in future fish keeping.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by xXxEsPoxXx
http:///forum/post/2660772
So then what do u think could have done this to her she was a day away from everything being normal again and no signs of this death were noticable. I have used this med on my other tanks previously and worked fine. All the fish that were treated in my other tank that had ick by this med worked and I never had an issue with ick and the tank has been up for 2 yrs. This new tank I started is a 65gal up for about 4 months....only difference is the 65gal is reef and the other is 150 fowlr...and me using this med in my DT just worried me too much so that is why I used it in QT(20 gal)...i don't know i'm so fustrated

I understand that you are frustrated. The website didn't say too much about what should be done in the tank. Some meds require more flow because it depletes the oxygen. Some also require that the tank be fully cycled because it kills some of the biological filtration. On an uncycled, or not fully cycled, tank that would cause high spikes. Were you testing every day? Did you add a power head? How long did you treat the fish?
On the 150, it may not have actually killed the parasites. Fish can live with ich. If they are healthy then they will fight off the parasites. Some still attach, in the gill tissue for example, and you would never notice it.

 

[xxxespoxxx]

we caught it very early so i don't think she had any problems with her immune system, but I can't be certain. She was eating like crazy, like normal as if she was in the DT....all parameters were normal lil spike today , but probably cause she died there was the spike. I put back the carbon and do more test in a couple hours....Is a powerhead needed for QT...ppl told me no

Originally Posted by m0nk
http:///forum/post/2660783
I'm not sure how well the medication would work to treat ich, it really depends on what it is doing and likely isn't a "cure", but more of an aid.
It's also possible that the immune system of the fish was entirely too damaged to recover. The best thing when treating for anything is to add plenty of liquid vitamins and crushed/chopped garlic to the fish food. There are numerous ways to treat ich, but all of them weaken the immune system so you need to help it stay strong with what you feed.
At any rate, sorry for your loss there, it's always a bummer loosing a fish. Hopefully you'll be able to learn something from this loss to help in future fish keeping.

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by xXxEsPoxXx
http:///forum/post/2660794
we caught it very early so i don't think she had any problems with her immune system, but I can't be certain. She was eating like crazy, like normal as if she was in the DT....all parameters were normal lil spike today , but probably cause she died there was the spike. I put back the carbon and do more test in a couple hours....Is a powerhead needed for QT...ppl told me no

Yes, you should have decent flow from powerheads in a QT otherwise detritus will build up along the bottom (no cleanup crew) and as Sepulation mentioned, oxygen levels are important, especially with tangs; they require more dissolved oxygen in the water than many other ornamental fish.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by xXxEsPoxXx
http:///forum/post/2660794
we caught it very early so i don't think she had any problems with her immune system, but I can't be certain. She was eating like crazy, like normal as if she was in the DT....all parameters were normal lil spike today , but probably cause she died there was the spike. I put back the carbon and do more test in a couple hours....Is a powerhead needed for QT...ppl told me no

Yes, a power head is needed, especially when adding medications.

 

[xxxespoxxx]

Well we did test tonight and it all the parameters ended up all being normal...the amonia spike was gone within a few hours. So other then not having a powerhead in my QT, that was probably the cause of the death, but i'm still not so certain. For the future i probably will not use meds and do hypo. It was just we didn't have a refractormeter and our LFS at the time had none in stock, so thats why we ended up use the meds. Just curious what is recommened for a QT tank?
When i went to the LFS he told me Blue tangs are notorious for ick at the introduction stages of there life in your tanks. So now what we want to know is what would be the most hardiest tang. We really want to go with a blue again but i don't think we can go through losing another 1

 

[sepulatian]

Most fish are likely to get ich if it is introduced to it. All tangs are prone to ich. Your LFS was somewhat correct. If ich is ALREADY (key word here) in your tank then a tang would be likely to get ich when it is first introduced into your tank. If you quarantine all new purchases then ich never enters the display and no fish is likely to get it once in the display. You can buy a refractometer online if your LFS does not carry them.
Beth has instructions or setting up a QT in her Common Treatments FAQ at the top of this forum. Basically what you need is a heater, filter, power head, and something for them to hide in. That can be lengths of PVC pipe or aquarium decorations. Some people do not bother with a light. I have a light on both of my QT's. I like to observe my fish very carefully. I have not had one yet be bothered by it. I keep the light off for the first day, after that they are on the same light schedule as my display. It is good to darken the bottom of the tank. You can use dark construction paper or paint the outside bottom glass. The bottom of a tank is reflective and can disorient the fish.