Powder blue died of ick

hammy

Member
I recently bought a powder blue tang who was about 4 inches, so he was pretty big. I am saying was because he passed on a couple days ago. He was only in my tank for about two days before I realized he had ick. I do not have a qt tank so I was wondering what to do in the future to help prevent this from happening again? I have heard that powder blues are one of the most easliy prone fish for ick. I love this fish and would like to get another one but I hate to spend all that money and have this fish die a week later.
 

lefty

Active Member
I'm afraid the only thing you could do to treat the ich before introducing it into your tank would be through use of a QT. There are no medicines that are both reef/invert safe that will cure ich. There are some that claim to do so, but they are largely ineffective. QTs are relatively inexpensive. I know you've probably heard that before, but a 10g tank is less than ten dollars. And I just borrowed a PH from my display and already had a heater for heating up my premixed saltwater before adding it to my display. The only thing I had to buy was a Whisper filter, which put me out an additional 13-14 dollars. :)
-lefty
 

hammy

Member
what's to say that it won't get ick after it has been in my qt? I have heard that a lot of it has to do with stress. would he be less stessed after being in the qt? what is the reccomended salinity of the qt? thanks for all your help.
 

lefty

Active Member
First off, all fish should be quarantined before being put in your tank. In the event that a fish comes down with ich, there is a good chance that the other fish in your tank will get it as well. If your fish don't seem to be getting it, then you at least know that the ich is present in your tank. Ich cannot survive without a fish host, so allowing your tank to go fallow for a month would give it time to die off.
When fish are stressed, their immune systems weaken, thus giving the ich its opportunity. To reduce the overall stress in a tank, you want to make sure all of your fish are compatible with one another (no aggressive behavior). You also want your water to be of very good quality and consisting of the proper parameters. Make sure all of your fish have plenty of places to hide and space to call their own.
The fish would be less stressed without the ich. And if something in your display were causing the stress, it's a good chance that putting him in the QT would in fact make him less stressed (there are occasions where moving an extremely stressed fish is the last thing you want to do unless death is imminent). The salinity of the QT, if you are not performing hypo and are treating the fish in some other way, should be a few points lower than the standard (34-35ppt or 1.026 SG). This is another stress reducer. If you don't feel comfortable lowering the salinity for reasons other than hypo, it isn't a necessary component.
Hope this helps! :)
-lefty
 

fishdude14

New Member
Once a day mix a little garlic in with the food. If you do frozen shrimp or something like that add garlic when you defrost the frozen food, let the garlic soak in very well. Another thing you can try is filling up a 10 gallon tank with fresh water, don't forget de-chlor, and put your infected fish in there for about 10 minutes. Keep a good eye on it. If that doesn't work set up a hospital. I have a Blue Carribean Tang that had it so i put in fresh water for 10 minutes and put it back about a week later it got it back so i did it again. I also had a Coral Beautey but i cleard that up with the Garlic.
 
Top