New here and need help with my sick purple tang

T

The Fishy One

New Member
So I have a purple tang that I'd bought a couple months ago. About a week ago I noticed white spots that on him and started treating with cupramine as soon as I could. I pulled him from the display along with my other fish and put them in QT. Unfiltered so I've been doing 75% water changes every night. Last night he was awful. I'm talking swimming upside, running into things, and lost all color in his fins. Figured he was going to die honestly. I'd just got my RO system and did a 50% water change hoping it'd help out. Today he's got his color and is swimming fine, but his eye is really cloudy and it doesn't seem like the ick is really going away. Any suggestions would help. Thank you! I'm uploading pictures. One is in my display (excuse the algae) the other 2 are at this moment.
 

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T

The Fishy One

New Member
DaveK said:
It sounds like your doing the right things. It can take a couple of weeks for the spots to go away. Treatment time for the disease is typically 8 weeks, with 10 weeks being better.

Here is a link to a post that contains links to just about everything you need to know about the treatment of SW ich. - http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forum/...st-advice-on-ich-cryptocaryon-irritans.84013/
Click to expand...
Thank you for the info! What do you think the loss of color and him not swimming right was about?
 
Uncle99

Uncle99

Well-Known Member
My understanding of the disease ICH ( or white spot) is that it's life cycle is 48 -72 hours and you can speed this up by increasing temp to 81-82 while medicating. Bad stuff, tied to stress! Spreads quickly so you have done the right thing.
I have not been successful in treating, fish died in less than 1 week. This was 20 years ago, I never had it again after reliving the stress I had started in my tank with tangs. As we all know, tangs require big water and are not social, some mixes can be very territorial and hassle others. Great in large tanks.
Loss of color bad
Not swimming worse
Purple tangs are quite territorial and very hard to keep on a long term basis. Same with the powder blues. Unless your an expert in tangs, don't last long.
 
D

DaveK

Well-Known Member
Uncle99 said:
My understanding of the disease ICH ( or white spot) is that it's life cycle is 48 -72 hours and you can speed this up by increasing temp to 81-82 while medicating. ....
Click to expand...

This would apply to the FW disease. The SW disease, Cryptocaryon irritans, is completely different. It's life cycle is typically 1 to 2 weeks but can be as long as 11 weeks. See this article (offsite) - http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fa164

As for tangs, they are not too difficult to keep, but you do need to meet their requirements. Typically this is about a 125 gal tank with good quality water/ Even if the fish is small this is the tanks size you should be using. Some tangs need even larger tanks. Diet is also important. They require a lot of algae in their diet. See this thread - http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forum/index.php?threads/so-you-want-a-tang.566/
 
Uncle99

Uncle99

Well-Known Member
Interesting Dave, I did not know that, thanks for the thread, that will help if I ever run into that stuff again. Hope not. Yup, I agree with your tang tank size ( or bigger) and depends on the number stocked, Crap, that's probably why my fish died. Man, that cross over from FW to SW can be a big gap but I guess that's the fun
 
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