Stupid Tangs and their ick

[diegonj]

Bought I Hippo tang few weeks ago and I notice when I got home he had ick so I put in in a Hospital Tank and I did a fresh water dip once a day for 4 days (each Dip 30 min long) *yeah ik what ur thinking 30 MIN!! yep... "30min ...most salt water fish will handle 1 hour" I made sure the water Temp. and PH matched...anyways by the 4th day he was all better... Yeah that was a common mistake a made I thought he was better so i put him back in my Main tank ...3 days later boom he was worst then b4 ... Didn't wanna do the dips again *takes too much time as u gotta check on the fish during the 30min and prepare the water etc...
So now I have him in my hospital Tank doing the copper treatment ... today morning I got a yellow tang "checked him for ick before I bought it" NO ICK AT ALL, HEALTHY FISH!! So I put him in my Display tank this morning, and today night I saw a feel spots on him! AH! Can it be that my display tank is still infected from the hippo tang with ick? Now I have both in a hospital tank with copper... Im gonna wait a month b4 i put them back but i'll still be scared that they will get ick again from my DT all my other fish in there are fine its just the tangs that seem to have the problem since tangs are very venerable to ick... so any tips? i cant put copper in my DT I have anemones..

 

[nicetry]

If you had the infected hippo tang in your main tank, it is now a "sick" tank. The only way to eliminate the parasite is to leave the tank w/o fish for 6 weeks.
Please read the FAQ's at the tp of this forum on ich and treatments, particularly hyposalinity, which is, IMO, a better choice for fish like tangs. What all do you have in the main tank?
Describe your quarantine tank in detail.

 

[diegonj]

55 Gallons
40 Pounds Live Sand
30 Pounds Live Rock
1 Carpet Anemone
1 Mushroom Coral
3 Blue Damsels
1 Domino Damsel
2 Clownfish
1 Coral Beauty Angel
1 Coral banded Shrimp

 

[beth]

FW dips do not cure ich. And while a fish may survive an hour in FW, it will come out highly stressed, and therefore less able to combat the infection you're attempting to rid.
There is no substitute for viable treatment in a quarantine tank.

 

[m0nk]

Well, for one thing, you're about maxed out on inhabitants as it is, plus you really need to know the implications of putting tangs in that size tank; especially the hippo. Hippo tangs get to be 12 inches long, which is 1/4 the length of that tank. That means it's going to get too big to really move around. The number of inhabitants, plus the lack of swimming room (tangs are open ocean swimmers) really plays a factor into the stress level on the fish. Not to mention that 3 damsels will certainly beat up on new additions. This amount of stress can bring on ich easily, since their immune system becomes compromised. The ich parasite is also now likely in your DT and should be dealt with.
Also, you might want to consider QT'ing your fish for 3-5 weeks prior to adding them to your DT. This allows any ich (or other disease) to show well before you can put them in the tank, infecting others.
My suggestion is that you take those tangs back to your LFS and trade them in on ONE fish that won't get to be so big and don't add any more fish after that.

 

[diegonj]

true the tank looks fine now but once the tangs are big ik I'll be in trouble but I have another 55 that I can setup I should have done that b4 I bought the tangs and put them in there but I figure they would be fine there while they are small

 

[renogaw]

since you put your hippo into the DT your other fish will need to be treated as well.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by renogaw
since you put your hippo into the DT your other fish will need to be treated as well.
I completely agree. Your display tank now has ich in it. Everytime you treat these tangs then put them back into the dispay tank you are putting them back into a tank filled with ich. What size is your quarantine tank? You will have to treat all of the fish and leave your system fallow to rid it of ich.

 

[integral9]

in my experience, small infections (just a few spots on one fish) can be treated in the DT with vitamized and garlicky foods. My Scopas is living proof of that and no other fish were infected durring the treatment. I just fed him green algea sheets ~2"x3" with 5 drops of garlic on them rubbed in. In addition, I fed frozen foods enriched with vitamins, amino acids and garlic. I should also mention I hadtwo skunk shrimp cleaners and a fire shrimp cleaner in there as well. They seemed to help a little bit provided the fish will allow them to clean, but they are not a cure.
However, that being said, I have lost an entire tank of fish to ich. However, I did not know what to look for then and started my treatment after 2 fish had succumbed to it. Which is waay too late to start what I would call 'food only' treatment.
imo, Ich is like a cancer, effective treatment requires early diagnoses. But don't give up hope. It sounds like your case is in the middle ground between early and too late. I'd feed your DT fish vitamized and garlicky frozen / fresh foods to boost their imune systems and QT your tangs, but feed them the same vitamized foods and perform a hypo salinity treatment. Keep a close eye on your DT fish, if they become infected, you may have to QT them as well.
Good luck.

 

[diegonj]

I have my tangs in a QT with copper... its only a 10 gallon Im gonna setup a 20 Gallon QT this weekend so hyposalinity right? So can I setup the 20 gallon with copper and hyposality? like do the 2 treatments at once or would that be too stressful?

 

[renogaw]

NO. tangs generally do not do well with copper. but since you've started it, keep going with the copper. i'd not suggest doing both copper and hypo, and NEVER use whatever tank you are using if you ever plan on putting inverts in it.

 

[diegonj]

update on tangs: They are doing fine eating good, in the morning I put a sheet of algae it was gone by the next lunch time which was Tang flakes then at night I feed them frozen brine shrimp.

 

[vanos]

Would any of you recommend adding fish to a DT even though the lfs uses copper in their tanks? I would believe that the copper would kill the ick.

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by Vanos
Would any of you recommend adding fish to a DT even though the lfs uses copper in their tanks? I would believe that the copper would kill the ick.
You don't want copper in your display tank at all otherwise you'd never again be able to keep inverts (that includes coral or anemones). You shouldn't really add fish right from your LFS into the display anyway, best practice is to always QT. That will give you the time you need to be sure it is eating, isn't already sick, and doesn't have injuries you didn't notice at the LFS.

 

[diegonj]

Yeah I'll never add a fish to my DP before I QT it, ever again...
I just setup a 20 gallon HT and another 10 gallon next to it ...
Took out all my fish and inverts from my DP, place all the fish in the 20 gallon and the anemone and coral in the 10 Gallon.
I put the tanks next to each other so I could put my 48" light on top of them so the anemones can have light...
Now my 55 gallon DP is half empty with live rocks, hermit crabs, snails and a coral banded shrimp ... Should I leave that tank alone for a few weeks and without light so that the ick can die?

 

[diegonj]

will the shrimp, crabs and snails be ok?

 

[diegonj]

<img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:y34qQDTJvHRogM:http://www.mtv.com/games/video_games/images/promoimages/d/dime/cute_cuddly_deadly/finny_the_fish_and_the_seve.jpg">

 

[integral9]

Ich only infects fish. Ichthyophthirius multifilis is the scientific name for the parasite. I'm a bit rusty on my Greek, but I think Ichthyo means fish. Corals and inverts (including snails, crabs, shrimp, etc) will not be infected. You can leave those critters in your DT along w/ your light. Also, hyposalinity will most likely kill your inverts and corals.

 

[m0nk]

Yeah, put all your inverts back in the DT; they won't survive hypo. The ich parasite is an invertebrate, and the hypo process that kills it will have the exact same affect on coral, snails, shrimp, clams, anemones, etc. You only need to QT the fish, perform hypo, and leave the DT in tact with your inverts, and ghost feed that. Leave it fish-less for 6 weeks, since the parasite can only attach to a fish. The life cycle of the parasite takes about 36 weeks in all, including any staggering to the life cycle.

 

[integral9]

m0nk m0nk,
I think you meant 3-6 weeks. 36 weeks is 9 months. That's a long time to leave you fishes in QT.