ich?

MrVociferous · #1 07/17/2007, 05:23 PM

I just looked at my blue tang today and noticed two tiny white specks on one side and just one on the other side. They are about the size of a grain of salt. I'd take a picture and post it, but I don't have a camera that can focus that well. I know tangs are susceptible to ich and that's why I've kept an eye on him. However, I've never had a fish with ich before, so I don't really know what it looks like. Do you think this is in fact ich? Or could it be something else?

If it's ich, do I take the tang out and put him into a QT tank? What kind of treatment seems to work best for ich? I would say these spots are no more than a couple of days old... And lastly, I have a pair of percs and a 6-line wrasse in with the tang. They all appear to be fine. Do I need to do anything with them? Or are they cool?

papagimp · #2 07/17/2007, 05:27 PM

Could be Ich, could be a grain of sand stuck on the fish. I always scream Ich when I see any white spots on my fish, better safe than sorry. If it is ich, than yes you'll want to pull that fish and get him QTed pronto. Since you have other fish in the tank, they too would need to be removed for QT purposes. For clowns and possibly the wrasse i would go with a hyposalinity treatment, but I'm not sure how that would go over with the Tang. Same with copper based medications, not sure how the Tang would react. Best to wait for a more knowledgable answer from somebody who's Tang has actually contracted the parasite. Mine never has.

oct2274 · #3 07/17/2007, 05:28 PM

if you even suspect ich on a hippo you need to start hyposalinity treatment right away. go to the fish disease area on reef central for help. hypo is your best option for hippos

The Jawfish · #4 07/17/2007, 05:29 PM

ich can live in a tank with fish forever you may just never see it if you take all of the fish out and QT for 3-4 weeks i believe it dies.
hyposalinity and high temps (1.010 and 85* respectivly) kills the bug or speeds up their live cycle.
there are a buch od commercial ich removers on the market many of which work, just ask around the LFS for a good brand.

oct2274 · #5 07/17/2007, 05:44 PM

hippo tangs don't take to well to medicines, go with hypo

kau_cinta_ku · #6 07/17/2007, 06:13 PM

i agree go with the hypo metheod for tangs, as copper will do internal damage. feeding foods soaked in garlic will help while in treatment. and you need a refractometer do do hypo. bring the sg. down to 1.009 (not 1.010 they can still survive) and hold it there for 4 weeks. then bring it up slowly over the course of a week to your normal sg. you must treat all fish in your main tank also or the ich will stay in the main tank. leave the main tank fishless for i would say 6 weeks to kill off all the other ich.

BTW there has been no scientific studies that have shown that any of the merical cures work. the only methods that have been known to work are copper and hypo and i tend to stay away from copper as it can have effects if not done properly

Grins · #7 07/17/2007, 07:06 PM

I agree with everyone else, hypo or copper for all the fish and let the main tank go fallow.

MrVociferous · #8 07/17/2007, 11:44 PM

Thanks for the advice everyone. Looks like I get to go fishing and try and catch some fish.

Stupid sick fish...

Sk8r · #9 07/17/2007, 11:50 PM

If you have to, lower the water level rapidly and snatch fish, then rehydrate fast. Always works.

Grins · #10 07/18/2007, 12:07 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by MrVociferous
Thanks for the advice everyone. Looks like I get to go fishing and try and catch some fish.

Stupid sick fish...

Aww the fish isn't stupid. Well maybe it is. But the ich was introduced somewhere along the way and was allowed to get into your display. I'm guilty of it too. My new mantra is "I will never ever not QT again, I will never ever not QT again, I will...."

The Jawfish · #11 07/18/2007, 01:23 AM

what kind of fish are in the 60 other than the tang?
clowns are fairly easy to catch, and you may want to adopt a two net technique or set some traps to try and catch the other fish.

jeffnsa · #12 07/18/2007, 07:18 AM

catching the fish, changing its enviroment, droping the salinity can be more detremental to the fish than ick can be. just make sure the the water parameters are good and feed it a lot, make sure to feed the tang live macro along with nori for grazing all day long. this won't cure the fish but increase its' immunity making it much less susceptable to disease.

DONSRENEE · #13 07/18/2007, 09:33 AM

Do you have a cleaner Shrimp? The best one for the job is Lysmata grabhami. That has worked for me and the tangs love being cleaned. I believe this is the more natural and less traumatic way to take care of ich.
Just my humble opinion. Good luck.
Renee

ChunksInClemson · #14 07/18/2007, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by The Jawfish
ich can live in a tank with fish forever you may just never see it if you take all of the fish out and QT for 3-4 weeks i believe it dies.
hyposalinity and high temps (1.010 and 85* respectivly) kills the bug or speeds up their live cycle.
there are a buch od commercial ich removers on the market many of which work, just ask around the LFS for a good brand.

1.010 is really low and high temps will make the ich spread faster. I'm thinking the hypo treatments are more like 1.015 or so. Keep your temp around 74 and don't do this fast. Make sure there are no big temp and salinity swings. This will just stress the fish out more making the ich spread more easily.

kevin2000 · #15 07/18/2007, 07:27 PM

If one fish has ich then the tanks infected and you should assume all fish have ich. Qt and treat all fish using either hypo or copper. Keeping the show tank without fish for about 5 weeks will kill of the ich in the show tank (ich need fish to perpetuate their cycle)

Somehow "ich" threads continue to dominate RC and somehow prior QT seems to elude new aquarist ... perhaps they are related?