Question about ick

[symon]

I have an achilles tang showing signs of ick, 1st thing in the morning the spots are gone and he is fine, as the day progresses i see the spots are back and he is acting itchy! Been almost a week now, eating just fine! Water is almost perfect, added a diamond gobie 2 weeks ago and he is wrecking havok with my sand! Nitrates are .50
I do not have a QT tank going! I have corals in the tank and am worried about shutting down the lights to control the ick, so i am going to hypo the tank, 5 gal water changes every other day to drop salinity , How far should i go and how much can i cut back lighting without hurting corals
60 Gal tank
P.H.8.2
SALT1.026
NITRATE5
ALK3.0 mel/l
CALCIUM450
260 watt pc combo- 8 hours
2x 400 watt MH- 3-4 hours and day cycled( heat issues)
Fish
Achilles tang
mated Perc clowns
diamond gobie
royal gramma
2 eng gobbies
scooter blenny
Inverts
50ish nassuaris snails
some mexican turbos
Cleaner shrimp
corals
Shrooms
2 types of GSP's
Kenya tree
Pulsing Xenia
Trumpet coral
Zoos
Working on a larger tank , so no flaming about the tang!

 

[nm reef]

Personally I wouldn't hypo the display......much of your beneficial micro infauna can be lost and the treatment may cause more problems that it solves. Minor cases of ich can be treated with garlic suppliments and if that doesn't work then I'd suggest removal of the fish so it can be treated in isolation. I know you'd prefer not to hear negative comments about your selection and display size but that itself may be part of the problem. Tangs in general can be very suceptable to parasite problems and those problems are often associated with stress related issues. there may not be much you can do to eliminate the problem as long as the fish is not provided adaquate living conditions. As long as it is placed in a small system there is a potential for continued problems....its just the nature of the selected species and the conditions provided. I'd urge you to consider removal of the fish and either treat it seperately or return it until you have better accomodations.

 

[symon]

Your right i knew that was coming! LOL and your right, that the accomadations might be just whats causing the whole thing! I will need to much time to setup and cycle a qt , or even a new larger tank! Considering taking him away!
Thanks!

 

[btuff]

Are you sure it is Ick? My Tang had what I thought was Ick, but it was lyphcyctosis-- like little warts. I got rid of it by adding Garlic Guard to his frozen food to boost his immune system. It was gone in a week.

 

[joe 09]

tangs are prone to ich.i keep my salt at 1.018 to help keep it down.i added a blue hippo to my tank after q.and it got ich.somebody on the net said if the fish is the only one with ich.do nothing and it will heal it self.that is what happened and the best advice a got.