My Poor Yellow Tang!

[timsedwards]

Hey Guys,
I have a yellow tang in my tank who has been through a lot recently, my tank spiked over a monthn ago and has survived through the most atrocious conditions, but made it, and for the past 2-3 weeks conditions have been good, but I turn the light on this morning and he seems to have little white things on his fins and body that look like little hydroid jellyfish, which I seem to have on the back glass of my tank. None of the other fish have them and the only thing that has changed in my tank was a small topup water last night (yes right temperature and dechlorinated, not RO but working on that).
He seems ok in himself, but I am concerned. Any one have ideas what it is? Or how to treat it? I cant use copper and I do not have a quaranteen tank Im afraid!
Anxiously waiting some help!
Tim.

 

[timsedwards]

After reading on a few sites, I think it may be Ich/Ick. Any ideas on how I can treat this in mind that I do not have a qt tank and cannot use copper? Please help!!!!
Tim.

 

[timsedwards]

Right well I am talking to myself on here because you are all asleep! We are 8 hours or so ahead here in the UK so I often find myself alone at times like this, lol.
OK update - all fish but one clown seems to have it, but I have phoned my LFS and they have some reef friendly non copper etc Ich treatment, which I am convinced it is.
Feel free for your comments on how it might have come about and how I can prevent it?
All the best,
Tim

 

[stacyt]

You could setup a q-tank pretty quickly, and inexpensively. All you really need is a container of some sorts, ie rubber maid container, cheap tank, etc., heater, and a filter. Do a search on q-tank, and you can find some info on how to set it up.
The only true way to cure and rid your fish of ich is hypo. You can do a search in this forum on hypo, and will find a lot of good info from beth and terryb on this process.

 

[barracuda]

Tim,
sorry to hear that your fish has this nasty disease. You will need to treat your fish in a Q-tank. Don't spend your money for "REEF SAFE" ich treatments, as they are not 100% sure. As said in ther prev post you may want to treat by using hyposalinity, or by using Copper sulfate. You will need to remove all your fish from the main tank and leave it fishless for at least 45 days.

 

[barracuda]

I stopped my prev post so you can undersatand that i'm here.
Here's the deal. There are 2 types of white spots disease: Cryptocaryon and Amyloodinium (oodinium). First is usually less virulent than second, which is usually fatal if not treated ASAP. You can use Copper sulfate, but most of people in this board will recommend you hyposalinity. IMO hyposalinity is a very good way of treatment, but i never tried. One of concerns that you have to have very accurate salinity/specific gravity device which is essintial for Hyposalinity treatment. I have treated ICK in my reef by soaking the food in garlic extract. But fish must eat for this treatment to success, and it's kind of "not completed treatment". I just cannot catch my purple tang or sixline wrasse or probably any other fish in my tank.
The difference between Cryptocaryon and Oodinium is that first looks like a tiny white dots on fish body, tail. Second looks like velvet, covers entire body (a tons of white spots all over the fish"

 

[barracuda]

If you will decide to start treating your fish, try to find Kent Marine's "Garlic Xtreme" in your LFS. This is very good product which will help you to keep your fish healthy and with good appetite even after the treatment. There is another similar product sold in GNC stores, but i would buy the first one.
During the treatment feed you fish with garlic soaked food and this will help their immune system.

 

[timsedwards]

Hey Barracuda,
Well before I read your post I went to the LFs and bought this treatment, they seem very confident at the LFS that this will work no problem, so I am going to give that a try, hopefully it will work, any down sides to this?
Yes I will look at some garlic soaked foods for them, can you buy them frozen or is it a DIY job? Is this a way of curing the ICK as well? Maybe without the help of the stuff I bought?
A Q tank is something I will look to in the future, being a student this is an expensive enough hobby as it is! I will try and save for one tho!
All the best,
Tim

 

[timsedwards]

Just a thought...
Ive just remembered I have some of Kents Ick treatment at home, (RX-P - see SWF medicinal section), will this be better? Baring in mind I have no corals in my tank, jsut live rock and inverts (red legs and snails).
Will this be any good or better than whatever else i have bought? I am at university at the moment so havent treated anything yet.
Thanks,
Tim

 

[barracuda]

Hey, i don't thins it's a good idea to treat your fish in the maintank. Curing with Copper will kill everything in your lr. No inverts can be in the tank during the treatment as well. DO NOT TREAT YOUR MAIN TANK WITH COPPER!!!
Kent's RX-P is seems to be Reef safe, but several species cannot be treated with it. I read a lot about RX-P, but still not sure if this is a good one. Copper sulfate in a Q-tank seems to me the best one if you cannot go with hyposalinity.
You will need a q-tank, buddy!!!
Garlic: You cannot buy garlic soaked food. You buy the galic extract, drip it to the thaw food wait 4-5 min and feed your fish.
Good luck,
Barracuda.

 

[timsedwards]

Hi there,
Yes I saw the Garlic stuff you were referring to on the SWF shop, will try and get my hands on that ASAP.
LOL, its ok, I know not to treat with copper, never intended to, both things I have are reef safe and do not contain copper.
What is hyposalinity? Can i guess from the word its putting loads of salt in?!?!
I really cannot go with the QTank, I really cannot afford it altho I am trying my best to save up for one. I will look into one tho, can you tell me everything I would need for one so I can price it up? I presume they dont need a light, substrate or anything?
So what are you thoughts on RX-P? Shall I start a new post and see what people think?
Thanks for all your help Barracuda, btw how come you are always on here? Have the internet at work or something?!
All the best,
Tim

 

[robb]

If I were you I would take your LR out and put it in a container with a powerhead going in it. Then start hypo right away. Don't depend on the meds you bought to work I have heard a lot of people say it didn't work for them. Doing it the hypo way is free you just have to keep doing water changes to get your salinity down. Just like Barracuda said do a search for info on it. You will need to keep your LR out of your tank for a good 6 weeks so if there is any ick in it, it will die off for lack of a host. Again this is my opinion but I would do the hypo and do it right away.

 

[timsedwards]

Hi,
The only thing I am cautious of is that I have not long got my levels down to acceptable conditions, and I was told to lay off the water changes to try and maintain this? I know things are slightly different now...
Im a little bit curious to why people say these things dont work where as if they didnt work surely they wouldnt be marketed by reputable companies such as kent marine. I will open another thread in reef forum and see what people think.
Thanks for your help,
Tim

 

[barracuda]

Originally posted by Robb
If I were you I would take your LR out and put it in a container with a powerhead going in it. Then start hypo right away. Don't depend on the meds you bought to work I have heard a lot of people say it didn't work for them. Doing it the hypo way is free you just have to keep doing water changes to get your salinity down. Just like Barracuda said do a search for info on it. You will need to keep your LR out of your tank for a good 6 weeks so if there is any ick in it, it will die off for lack of a host. Again this is my opinion but I would do the hypo and do it right away.
I agree with Robb. This is the way to leave your LR alive without treatin 'em with chemicals.
Think about long term having reef tank. You will need Q-tank. This is not a big deal. You can find cheap small tank, small air pump, heater (preferably good one, like Jagger).
As for RX-P you will probably get very different oppinions. What works for one, does't work for another. One will say don't buy it, another one will tell you that it's best treatment.

 

[timsedwards]

So for a QT tank I will need:
A tank (hehe)
water circulation pump
heater
filter of any kind?
Anything else? Does seem relatively cheap...
Ok I am going to try RX-P and hope for the best as i wont be able to get a QT tank now anyway sadly, but if my parents miraculous had a spout of generosity, how quickly can you set one up? Just plonk water and salt in, heat up and bobs your uncle? How about all the levels? How do they stay down? Cant be nice for the fish...
Will let you know more when i get back from LFS in 30 mins or so, thanks again for all your help, and one more question, how did ick get into my tank?
All the best,
Tim.

 

[timsedwards]

OK this is wierd, I come home to turn the light on see how my little buddys are doing, and there is no sign of ich on them whatsoever, they look perfect?
COuld it just have been bubbles or something on them earlier? All the panic for no reason? They all seem very happy....
All the best,
Tim

 

[barracuda]

Q-tank can be set up without bio filter. This kind of setup requires alot of attention.You will need to monitor NH3/NH4, NO2 and PH levels all the time and probably doing partially water changes. Takes some time. You need, i say, half a day to make this tank ready. Prepare saltwater, adkust salinity, add air pump and heater. Let it stay for at least half a day. This is it. Eventually you will need mechanical filtration, which even in England (very, very expensive country ) will be cheap.
Anyway,
have a smooth treatment and keep us updated.
Good luck!

 

[timsedwards]

OK on reading up about Ich on a website, it seems they fall off to reproduce, charming.
Im not convinced it is Ich because they are breathing normally, eating normally, not swimming darts and are not scratching themselves on rocks or anything.
I am going to wait a day or so and see if they come back, if they dont, then i guess it wasnt ich, if they do, ill whack them over the head with some treatment.
All the best,
Tim.

 

[barracuda]

Tim,
U have to know that when fish begins to breathe heavily it could be already too late to take any steps. How these white spots are looks like. Check my post where i explaned you the visual differences between first and second types of Ich.
Get Kent's "Garlic xtreme" or similar product and start feeding with food soaked in it.

 

[timsedwards]

Hi Barracuda,
Yes I will just have to wait until tomorrow morning, see what they are like. If they do have ich, then the earliest I can set a QT tank up (which is probably what I will do) would be saturday afternoon, they should be alright until then? Then what would I treat it with? Copper based stuff?
Cheers for all your help, I do appreciate it,
Tim.