Need help!! with dying tang

[asd123]

My blue hippo tang that is in my 40 gallon reef tank has bad ich and needs treatment promptly. How do i treat it b/c i cant seem to capture it without destroying the reef?

[exacta123]

A BLUE HIPPO IN A 40 GAL. TANK first of all that tank is way to small for a tang. It probably has ICK because it is stressed!!! try to catch him and give him to someone that has a bigger tank

[ReefNutPA]

asd,

Unfortunately the only way to properly treat it is to remove it from the tank and treat it in a hospital tank.

Tom

[M. Python]

If it is eating and acting normal I wouldn’t worry. Just feed it seaweed selects and a high vitamin food to boost it’s immune system. Get cleaner shrimp, gobies or both. A 40 gallon isn’t too small for a very small hippo but you will need to upgrade later.

If it is a large fish I would take it back to the store for credit, they will treat it and get it healthy again. Hopefully they will sell it to a person with a larger tank.

[jasalmanza]

I'm on board with M. Python. My tang did the same thing for the first 3 weeks I had him. I'd also like to suggest garlic. I spread crushed garlic (mainly just the juice) on some nori. I also have a cleaner wrasse and he took care of everything. I'm sure I'll be chastized for even suggesting the wrasse, but he does his job and has not shown any signs of degradation. Good luck...patience is a virtue.....

[Andy O]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7411438#post7411438 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by M. Python
If it is eating and acting normal I wouldn’t worry. Just feed it seaweed selects and a high vitamin food to boost it’s immune system. Get cleaner shrimp, gobies or both. A 40 gallon isn’t too small for a very small hippo but you will need to upgrade later.


It appears that this may only be a quick fix and will not address the ultimate problem -- that ich lives in your system. Unless you take measures to erradicate your system of ich it can almost be guaranteed that this tang will off and on be dealing with ich. The cleaner shrimp, gobie, seaweed and high vitamin foods are just a patch. Commonly ich becomes active on a fish due to stress so you may want to explore possibilites -- stray current in the tank or as people previously mentioned, the small size of your tank.

Good luck.

[Danfish]

Not that I have the problem, but I'd like to know for just in case.

If you get ick in a reef tank, what is the best option for treatment.
Obviously the liquid treatments are out, due to copper.

Shrimps and such are kind of the only option as far as controll, no?

[Andy O]

Everyone has their own opinion of reef safe medications -- some will swear by them and others think that they are a joke.

As far as I am concerned the only true options for a reef are putting fish in a qt with copper or hypo. That leaves the main tank and I would probably leave it for about 6 weeks without any fish (hosts) during which time the ich in your system will die off.

There is no easy way to truly solve ich the right way although what I have mentioned above is not always an option. If you can't do this I would do what has been stated above -- garlic, vitamins supplements. You could even try running a UV.

[Danfish]

About the UV, I don't see it mentioned much.
When I was bent over by the LFS in Orlando one of the things he droped on me was a UV kit.

I've been running it for the last 3 weeks or so, naturaly no real change in my tank but I figgured prevenative measures can't hurt.

What its the general stance on UV sterilisers?
If its a total waste I'd like to remove it from my line so I can get back another 50-60gph of head pressure.

[Sk8r]

Re the sick tang who is the original topic here---there is one way to catch an uncatchable fish: get water safe tubs and a pump, and drain the water down to a few inches: dig a hole near the last in the corner where you would like the fish to gather, then net. It involves no chasing, is relatively fast, and nothing ordinary including corals will take harm from being out of the water for the 10 minutes it will take to drain down and put the water back. Qt and treat.

[Andy O]

UV is not a total waste and when it comes to ich I don't think that the it is vital. I am not an expert on the UV but I would consider it one of the lower treatments on teh totem pole when it comes to treating ich as it is really not a treatment.

I have it on my tank primarily to help with algae control but with a slow enough flow rate you can also kill parasites in the water -- unfortunately you are also killing the good when it runs through the UV.

Basically what I am trying to say is that I wouldn't go out and buy one specifically for this purpose but if you had one it couldn't hurt to try.

[M. Python]

UV don’t work because the flow is too fast and the parasite has to accidently pass through it. Also it can only go through it when it falls off the fish or after they rupture in that case there are hundreds of them swimming all over the place. If your fish are healthy these parasites will have a hard time attaching to them. They have a short life span in this stage of life without a host. If the few that get on a week fish are eaten this ends their life cycle, also minimizing the amount of parasites in your system. Even with qt copper and hypo, if one parasite makes it into your system, ich is in your tank, if you like it or not. So what do you do? Dismantle your tank, remove all your fish, every time and set up hospital tanks all over your living room? I doubt it. My tanks have had ich in them for over nine years and I never lost a fish to ich. My fish mostly my powder blue on occasion will have a speck or two, this don’t bother them and the neon gobies pick them off.

[impulse]

UV does NOT kill ich, only bacteria, and can only be contemplated for very well established systems as it can kill off some of the "good" bacteria. Also when catching tangs, do not use a net as their spurs can get entwined causing considerable stress. I don't use a net at all for any fish. I have replaced the net material with a cut up plastic fish bag with small holes punched in it, or choose to use a clear plastic or glass jar. If you don't have a quaratine tank try a fresh water dip. Plenty of info on this if you do a search, but the most important factor is to have the fresh water at the same temp and PH as your tank. You can then try him back in your tank, as tangs can develop an immunity to ich with the help of a cleaner shrimp or cleaner wrass. Watch him carefully tho, and if the ich returns you must then quaratine with copper treatment.

[IPowderBlueTang]

I have to agree with Andy O he is on thee right track. I had a powderbrown tang and keyhole Angel that had ich and the cleaner shrimp would always be cleaning the fish. They seem to get ich all the time.

Finally got fed up and took all the 8 inhabitants out, Quaratine them all with copper and left the main tank empty for 6 weeks to kill the remaing ich in the main tank. now no one in the main tank gets ich! Ich free display.

Now every fish get quaratine for 6 weeks with copper before it goes in my main tank.

[markandkristen]

theirs also a bag method as well used to catch fish.

kick ick is another option that works about 50 percent of the time according to polls on here. i would also raise the temp just a little if you can like 82-83. makes the cycle quicker.

[DgenR8]

[ich]