Tricky Ichy Tang

[The Perfect Pet]

hey all,

Just looking for a few ideas on what to do about my Powder blue tang. I've had him for aout 4 weeks now and since the 4th day he has had ich. He eats like a pig and no one else in the tank shows any signgs of catching it. I tried several times to catch the little bugger to Quarantine him, but he knows the rockwork in my 125G way to well. He seem to get a little worse every time I try to catch him so I finally gave up. I have tried
Greenex(Aquatronics) which usually works very well
Metronyzenol - Which I have also used on some stubborn fish and had good results with
both of these have done nothing on this tricky ichy tang.
I am now treating the food with Kent Garlic Extract hoping he will slowly come out of it.
Really it's his own fault he needs to go up to every fish in the tank and show off.
he even chases a Niger Trigger that is twice his size.

Any suggestions besides the obvius (copper-yuk,no way or a fresh water dip-yeah you can come over and spend a week trying to catch him) would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!:eek1:

[mrbast74]

Wow, thats a tough one if you don't wanna remove him. I would definately keep up with the garlic. Is he pacey or stressed in any way. You say he goes after your trigger? Maybe the trigger is a stressor. Could you remove him for a time? The fact that none of your other inhabitants are infected leads me to believe he is being stressed by something. I feel if you remove the stress, you remove the ich. (not really but a stressed fish succumbs much more easily than a well adjusted one, which you probably already know.).

Those powder blues are notorious for this.

Good luck.

Hopefully someone else can add to this.

[FMarini]

Hi:
First up BPT are notorius for being ich magnets, they stress easily and are a constant threat for ich. Suposedly they are a reef face fish and need high current/water movement, and like large open areas.
That being said if it has ich and the ich isn't getting better, then the fish is under a constant state of stress (which might be ich induced). So as far as th eich goes, you really have 3 chices
a)-don't treat it and hope it goes away
b)-treat it
c)-ignore it
Personally you can try a) first, and feed the fish w/ a nutritious mix of foods which will bolster the fishes immune system. Garlic enriched foods come to mind (do a search for garlic), also heavy on the NORi no lettece or iceburg.

For me the sure fire way to eliminate ich is to treat the fish, and you have two choices none of which are safe for invertebrates. For your own knowledge FW dips are not going to do it. Copper-based meds and hyposalinity are time tested proven reliable methods. Its your call whether you want to catch the fish, and treat him. feel free to do a search for hypo(there is a thread going on in the reef discussion forum on hyposalinity" called I'm scared to do hyposalinity.....read this
good luck w/ your descision
frank