Ich and my tang

[Heliux]

I have a White Cheeked Powder Brown Tang that is a wonderful friend. He has gotten to the point where he will eat out of my hand with the longnose hawkfish in my tank. But everyday he either is on the edge of getting ich or white velvet... I feel like even if i look at him wrong he will get a sickness... I had him in isolation with Nox Ich running to get rid of it. It went away for a couple days but then it hit him again... Seems like he gets over it quickly but then it hits again... Havent had any problems with my hawkfish thank goodness. Please help with any ideas, i am saving for a UV sterilizer because i was told that will help alot, but im tight on budget. Id keep him in isolation but my isolation tank is 12 gallons and a tang doesnt stay happy for to long in one of those.

Please help me out with some tips, i dont want to lose my buddy or see him irritated...

Thanks in advance,
-Heliux

Water Parameters
Temp:77.2F
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:5
Phosphates:0
SG:1.024
Calcium:400
dKh:14(yes i know a little high but just dosed with Marine Buffer)
PH:8.2

[BigJay]

thats tangs for you. Wish I could help more but its an unfortunate part of tangs in the aquarium.

[myerst22]

Hello. Well let me first say that seeing how much you care about your fish like I do, everything should be fine. I have had my Z. Rostratum Black Tang for over 7 months and he always has a spot or two of ich every once and a while. None of the other ten or so fish ever show signs of the parasite.

If you have had the fish for some time, 2-3 months or more and the fish has a spot of ich every once and a while I wouldn't worry about it at all. Make sure water is pristine, keep your nitrates as low as possible. Limit temperature swings. Feed him with a high nutritional food. I personally make my own gel based food with garlic, selcon and a sma;; amount of E.M. gel. I also soak algae sheets in Garlic, Selcon, and E.M. and then hang to dry and then feed. That way none of the nutrients from soaking are lost when added to the tank. So it comes down to this. Great nutrition, pristine water, limited stress, and strong flow which gives high oxygen levels.

How big is the tank and do you have pics of your tang? Hope this helps, Tim

[Heliux]

Ya... any medication i can use in my main show tank that can help prevent it, without hurting my other stuff? Kordon Organic crap? anyone used that before?

Thanks,
Heliux

[JWarren]

Dip him in Ro/Di water, unsalted, but at the same temp as your tank water. This will break open the spores. If Ick returns you may want to consider treating the tank with a hypo salinity treatment as the little Ick critters will live in the tank for a while until they get a chance to feed again, then you get a recurrence.

Some folks use the hypo salinity treatment and some don't. I don't and just re-dip if needed. The parasite eventually dies out.

[myerst22]

After looking at your post again. Your 55 gallon may be too small for your tang. Powder browns are very active swimmers that live in high surge areas. Being very active swimmers than need a ton of food. I would recommend removing your tang if you can part with him and go with something else. If you want a tang try a Kole, and even that tang will feel cramped in a 55. Also I am not familiar with NOX ich treatment, what exactly is in the medication? Pics would help a lot. Regards, Tim

[myerst22]

He is dealing with a reef so Hypo is out of the question. If the tang is getting an occasional spot every once and a while I wouldn't do anything but do as I said above. Tim

[Heliux]

Originally Posted by myerst22

Hello. Well let me first say that seeing how much you care about your fish like I do, everything should be fine. I have had my Z. Rostratum Black Tang for over 7 months and he always has a spot or two of ich every once and a while. None of the other ten or so fish ever show signs of the parasite.

If you have had the fish for some time, 2-3 months or more and the fish has a spot of ich every once and a while I wouldn't worry about it at all. Make sure water is pristine, keep your nitrates as low as possible. Limit temperature swings. Feed him with a high nutritional food. I personally make my own gel based food with garlic, selcon and a sma;; amount of E.M. gel. I also soak algae sheets in Garlic, Selcon, and E.M. and then hang to dry and then feed. That way none of the nutrients from soaking are lost when added to the tank. So it comes down to this. Great nutrition, pristine water, limited stress, and strong flow which gives high oxygen levels.

How big is the tank and do you have pics of your tang? Hope this helps, Tim

Ya i do, he is my best friend practically(hope that isnt to weird). But ive had him for a month or so. He was at my LFS for some time because he is such an aggressive individual that he even killed a decent sized clown trigger. He gets along great with my Hawkfish for some reason, and they had him for over two months before i was able to get him. Its a 55g Reef, parents wont let me have any bigger till i move out. I feed him julians algae sheets two times a day, and 3 times a day of mysis shrimp because he and my hawkfish both love it. Ill try to get some pictures resized so that the upload program wont yell at me for it being to big.

Thanks,
Heliux

[Heliux]

Originally Posted by myerst22

After looking at your post again. Your 55 gallon may be too small for your tang. Powder browns are very active swimmers that live in high surge areas. Being very active swimmers than need a ton of food. I would recommend removing your tang if you can part with him and go with something else. If you want a tang try a Kole, and even that tang will feel cramped in a 55. Also I am not familiar with NOX ich treatment, what exactly is in the medication? Pics would help a lot. Regards, Tim

Ya, My LFS said it would be pushing it but he sticks in one of my powerheads paths and swims through it, seems to make him happy. I will part with him if i have to but im trying all i can to not loose my buddy. I did do the Dip back before i Isolated him and it worked but then it came back...

Thanks,
Heliux

[Heliux]

Will get pics of the tank, tang, Nox Ich, and some.

[Heliux]

ImageShack - Hosting :: p1000321oi3.jpg





tang would never get close enough so i got a picture of him surfing the powerhead, and just swimming. My hawkfish in one, and a couple corals... kinda random i know but ill try to get a snapshot of the ich/sores on my tang when i get the cannon back.

[Heliux]

Here are the other 4, hope it works correctly this time.

[Heliux]

I'd like to say that my tang is doing alot better after taking many peoples advice. I soaked his seaweed in garlic guard by seachem, then baked it in the over for 20 hours to get it dry and hard again. I see no signs of ich, or velvet on his body. Hopefully this will be the silver bullet to the never ending disease that keeps plaguing my little buddies life.

Ill keep you guys updated

Lix

[lcstorc]

Wow. Talk about mis-information.
Here is a thread that goes into detail about the parasite and the only way to get rid of it. (Yes it can be done.) I will post some of the most important bits here.
ICH is a parasite. All tanks and fish do not have ich. The parasite has a 6-8 week life cycle. The ony way to truly get rid of it is to remove all fish hosts for 6-8 weeks while treating the fish with copper or hypo in QT during that time period. Ich does not go away and come back. There is only one part of the life cycle that is visible and even that you can only see when it has infected the skin. Fish can develop a partial immunity over time but any new or stressed fish is extremely vunerable. UV only removes the free floating parasites that go through the UV not anywhere near all of them.
Here is the thread I was referring to with lots more details an information but that is the very short version.
Marine Ich - Myths and Facts
There are also several other stickies in the fish disease forum that are very detailed about ways to treat the fish.

I have moved this thread to the disease forum.

[Heliux]

Thank you that link really did help. and by help i mean ALOT.