Powder Blue tang mistake? HELP!!!

[farnorth]

I posted this in the reef section as well, but I really want some help so hopefully this guy will be ok.
I had been watching a powder blue at my lfs for a week, he looked in perfect health, eating well, 5 inches and they priced him at $39 because they got him instead of a powder brown they ordered and sold for the same price.
I have a 10 quarintine tank, but I thought it would stress him more to put him in the 10, so I acclimated him for 2 hours, freshwater dipped him for 3 minutes then put him in my 90 gal reef.... 12 hours later he has ick
I am wondering what everyones opinion is for my best shot with this guy. I am planning on going to the store right now and getting a cleaner shrimp and a UV filter for my reef. I have already put nori in the tank, tried frozen brine, formula 1 and formula 2... but he is not eating, so I was also going to go get live shrimp.
I am afraid at this point if I try to catch him I will stress him out more and by putting him in the 10 gal. I have 4 clowns that are not bothering him at all, a blue damsel and 2 gobys that are not bothering him either....
I have ALWAYS wanted a powder blue and I bought him because I thought I was ready for the challenge, but now I am STRESSED because I want him to do well.
PLEASE HELP with any suggestions!
Thanks

 

[mygatt]

I would suggest taking him out and putting him in the QT. ICH will spread like the plague and considering you have a reef tank you cannot do much in there to combat ich. I have a hippo tang right now with ich - I have him in a 10 gallon QT, he is only about 1.5 inches long, so he is still pretty small, but he is doing alot better there then in my display tank with all my other fish. I can control what he eats, the salinity, and the medicine he receives. You have options in the QT, not in the main tank. Hopefully soemone else has something better for you, but in my opinion, I would take him out, no matter the stress level.

 

[farnorth]

Thanks for the info mygatt. I know I may regret this... but I am going to treat them all in my reef tank. I went to three of my LFS stores after I posted this, spoke to all of them and have been reading every post I can find here and elsewhere. I found Reef Safe "No Ick", which one LFS uses on all fish that come in to her store with ick and she uses it on the tanks with some inverts in as well. So I am going to put that in my main tank, keep the lights mostly off to avoid stress, raise the temp to 82 degrees to increase the cycle of the ick and I am going to slowly lower the salinity in the main tank to 1.019 to hopefully make all of the parasites rupture. I am hoping that I will only have to leave the salinity low for 2 weeks, if it works I will only have to use the no ick for about 2 weeks as well. I only have a seabay anenome, and a few mushrooms, so I think they will be able to take the salinity.
I am afraid that I will not be able to kill of all the ick otherwise, because I can't fit all of my fish into one 10 gallon quarantine. What I have learned is to NEVER EVER introduce a fish again without quarantining them first!

 

[seannmelly]

First of all, you definately need to put him back into the qt and perform hypo. If you leave him in your display, he will eventually succumb to the ich. Tangs especially the Acanthurus species are prone to ich. Good luck.

 

[sepulatian]

A 5" Tang in a 10 gallon tank is not a good combination. Can you get a larger qt. You can seed it with an aquarium sponge in your display for a few days. The fact that ich is in your display means that, unfortunately, all of your fish are now at risk. No reef safe med is going to rid your tank of ich. It will help keep it off of your fish, but enough will still be able to host to ensure that you will be buying "No Ich" for the rest of your tanks life. Set up a larger qt and perform hyposalinity.

 

[farnorth]

MAN... I HATE ICK!!!
Ok... so should I get a 20 gallon qt for my Tang and get a simple (hopefully cheap) filter that I can just put some calurpa and bio balls from my sump into and then do hyposalinity with daily water changes?
Right now on my 10 gallon qt I have a heater and a filter that has the combo of bio balls from my sump and calurpa. I guess I will put all of my other fish in the 10.
Is this enough filtration and air for the qt tanks?
Thanks for your help everyone!

 

[emeralcrab]

How much ich does it have on it? I have a hippo in my 150 and everytime I change something or add a QT'd fish she gets a couple of spots. After a couple days they are gone and she is fine. I run a UV, feed garlic soaked food and add vit's. to the food also. So far none of the other fish have gotten any ich.
This 150 was fish less for over 6 weeks, plus every fish has been QT'd before entering the system. So go figure.
I even QT any new LR I put in for over 6 weeks.
So I guess depending on how much is on the fish, I would run a UV feed Garlic soaked food and watch very carefully. I feel that it stresses them out so much to get caught again and put in a small tank is almost more stress on them and could cause more problems. Just in the future QT all new fish and you wont have a problem.
And if it has a lot of ich and you have other fish, I would take out lr and hypo the main tank. Just my 2 cents. Sometimes its easier to take out the lr and put it in a rubbermate tube with a power head and a light,heater, then it is to stress out your fish so bad trying to catch them and then put them in a little tank.
Good luck with what ever route you take.

 

[farnorth]

Thanks again for all of the advice. EmarlCrab, that is a lot of good info to know and that is one of the things I have read over and over is that the ick can always come back no matter how much QT and precations are taken. It has quite a lot of spots on it. I think I am going to watch it VERY closely over the next day and then if the ick gets worse or does not begin to clear up at all, then I will QT him and all of my fish.
Is there any reason why I can't perform the hypo on my main tank? What I have seen is that all of the live rock and sand should be able to take it just fine? I can just pull out my anenome and mushrooms and put them in the other tank. Maybe I am wrong...

 

[bill109]

hows about a rubbermaid?

 

[emeralcrab]

If it was me, I would hypo main tank. If you have someplace else to put your anemone and mushrooms, any invert.'s and I would take out most of your lr also. Then do hypo in main tank, I feel that it is less stress then placing all fish in small QT. You should really only have to do his once if after all is said and done, you then make sure you QT any and all new things entering your DT.
I QT corals for awhile, all new LR I QT for 6 weeks. Plants I really really rinse them good in new salt water. And most of all just make sure your water parameters are excellant.
I have used a large plastic tube, lights set on them, use water from DT, heater, I always have a power head in DT tanks to be able to move over to QT if needed, they have sponges on them to help move the good bacteria over as well. But with no fish in with lr you usually don't have as much trouble. I still do water changes in LR container also, just like one of my aquariums.
Then just make sure you follow hypo to the letter, check water every day for ammonia and nitrite and trates.
Do you have a UV now? I know a lot of people think they are a waste of money, but I know they help in my tanks, if not just to keep the water crystal clear from algae.
Good luck.

 

[farnorth]

EmaralCrab thanks again for your suggestion, I think that is what I am going to do. I think I will use a big rubbermaid garbage can I have that I only use for saltwater changes and put all of my liverock in there with a heater and a light on it (does it really need a light). Then I will move my mushrooms and my anenome (and the small rocks) over to the 10 gal qt tank I have. Again all I have on the quarantine tank is a real cheap filter that I put calurpa in and a few bio balls and of course a heater (is that enough to maintain proper filtration for the 6 weeks this will take?)
Also should I pull out my live sand? Wont this all die as well with the hypo?
I have already got my water to 1.020 in the main tank, but I do not have a refractometer. I also can not find the post anywhere on here that everyone keeps saying to read and follow to the T. Can someone post a link here for me. I have looked in the FAQS sections, etc.
Any other suggestions or thoughts before I go through with this would be appreciated! Thanks again.

 

[emeralcrab]

I would put some of LS in your QT tank with some LR and your DT water, you will loose some of the critters in your LS, but if it were me I would leave it in, it will always become LS again in the future once you put your LR back in. If you have a lot maybe take some out and put in with LR to seed the sand left in your DT after you have done the hypo. Make sure your fish have places to hide and feel safe. PVC pipe, etc.
The only accurate way to do the hypo is with a refractormeter. Seriously they are well worth the money. My swing arm and the floaty type was way off.
Have you went down to the archives thread on the main thread page and looked for the How to do Hypo?
I will try and find it for you.

 

[emeralcrab]

If you look on the very first thread in this Disease and Treatment Forum you will find the FAQ for treatment. I copy'd and pasted this on the Hypo. But the next one was about the refractometer.
(Hypo:
NOTE: This procedure can not be performed in an environment containing live rock, live sand or inverts [including crabs, snails, corals, etc.] If you have a strictly Fish-Only setup, then the treatment can be done within the display, otherwise, you will need to treat infected fish in a quarantine/hospital tank.
You will need: Refractometer or a glass hydrometer calibrated to tank temperatures, pH buffers, a tank or quarantine area for the infected fish that is adequately filtered.
Hyposalinity is a procedure involving lowering the salinity from normal tank levels to 14 ppt (1.009 Specific Gravity) over the course of 48 hours. This is done by doing a series of small water changes using fresh dechlorinated water. During the procedure, pH must be closely monitored as pH tends to drop as water become less saline. Fish are maintained in hyposaline conditions for three weeks after all symptoms are gone. Again, accurate measuring is essential, and the standard swing arm hydrometers are not going to work. A refractometer or large glass lab grade hydrometer calibrated to tank temperatures is needed. Once the fish have been asymptotic for three weeks, the salinity is then raised back to display tank levels over the course of a week. Fish can not tolerate rapid increases in salinity. Leave the fish in quarantine at display tank levels for another week.
Your display will now have been fishless for at least four weeks, sufficient time to allow the parasite’s life cycle to be interrupted. ****** is an obligate parasite that requires a fish host. No fish=No host=No parasite. Ich is a fish-only parasite, it will not affect inverts.
Continue to monitor pH daily during the process and be prepared with buffers to address any pH problems. Also keep the water clean through proper filtration.)
You will need to check your water parameters everyday, amm, trites trates and watch PH very carefully. When I hypo'd my QT I never had a drop in the PH but I know some people do.
Good Luck, Read in the FAQ forum, and ask questions...

 

[farnorth]

I can't tell you how much I appreciate this message board and the help. I hope all of this saves my powder blue, he is beautiful and i have sure learned alot within the last few days. None of my other fish are showing signs of ick still.
I am buying a refractometer online today, an extra pump and heater that will be here in 3 days. I am going to pull my rock and a good bunch of my sand out and begin to slowly lower the salt level maybe to 1.015 untill I get my refractometer to make sure it is still at a safe level. I don't have an extra light for my liverock, so I think I will just switch my light between the liverock at night and the qt tank with the inverts during the day.
I am going to leave a few pieces of live rock with no noticeable life on them in the tank for the fish to hide around, then these too should come back I assume when I put all of the live rock and sand back in, in 6 weeks.
In hindsight (which is 20/20 right

) I got this tank from a friend and he told me that a fish had gotten ick in it about a year ago. Knowing what I know about ich now I should have done hypo when I first got the tank... I guess I still live and learn. But man living and learning in this hobby can be EXPENSIVE!!!

 

[emeralcrab]

Yip, expensive and time consuming......but well worth it. I LOVE my tanks. Even have one beside my bed to watch at night..... :jumping:
Did you find the thread on hypo and disease's?

 

[farnorth]

I love my tank as well and thought I had a more extensive knowledge then I did, I am glad I am reading up sooner then later.
Yes I did finally find the post will all of the info. Thanks again Emeralcrab, hopefully you have helped me save everything. My Tang already has considerably less ich today, but is still hanging out in the dark under some big live rock. Maybe the No Ich I put in the tank is at least helping for now untill I get my stuff in a few days to do they hypo!

 

[farnorth]

will the refractometer be of use when I am not doing hypo as well? I guess just for a more acurate read everytime I am checking the salinity?

 

[emeralcrab]

Oh my yes, I use mine all of the time. When mixing my salt for water changes, to check salinity in all the tank (do I need to add rodi only or a little more water with salt) it is one of the most valuable pieces of equipment to have IMO. I use is probably 2 to 3 times a week.

 

[cantbstopd]

i have a powder blue and it gets ick now and then. you need to do the cleaner shrimp thing, the uv light is good, but to clear it up give it lots of those dry seaweed sheets and use garlic drops and selcon.....works everytime for me

. good luck

 

[lazypinoy]

yeah i also have the same problem agen. i had 55 b4 and treated ich with a 9 watt uv and it cleared ich on all my fish in about a week (along feeding it with garlic soaked foods.) well now i upgraded and placed a a powder blue tang about the same size as urs and its the only fish right now covered in ich in my 125 reef. so for now im feeding garlic soaked foods now and about to put a 18 watt uv, buy more garlic, new life spectra formula food, and maybe a cleaner chrimp. i dont even have a QT! ahh the only thing that bugs me now is b4 i had the uv submerged inside the mt but now i have a overflow and im wondering if the ich will even go into the sump into the uv....if only there was a product out their that was reef safe and actutally works...
so yeah im doing what u said pretty much. a new uv and a cleaner shrimp. hope urs survives.