Yellow tang with ich

[Boboe77]

I have a yellow tang with with a few spots on his pectoral fins. I've tried to catch him but he gets extremely scared when I put a net and trap in. I don't think there is any way to get him out so now I'm giving him as Much food as he wants and I've included garlic soaked mysis shrimp and flake food. I'm going to try and get some macro feast from reef nutrition because my tang won't touch nori sheets. Any tips?

 

[NanaReefer]

Is this a fish only tank or reef? Your doing great already. Keep stress down and feed well. If healthy he just may be able to fend it off. Are there other fish in the tank?

 

[Boboe77]

It's a 38 gallon reef tank with a chromis and royal grama. I'm giving him as much food as he will eat, my nitrates might come up but I'll just do a Waterchange.

 

[jedimasterben]

Marine Ich - Myths and Facts

 

[CivicDemon]

Just feed them really good and give him nori soacked in selcon. Make sure you water quality is as good as it can be and be patient. I just introduced a sailfin and atlantic blue tang into my system about a month ago. I know my system has ich in it because my other fish has it a wile back and I did nothing but feed and wait for them to get over it. Well after introducing the new fish all my tnags got a couple little spots including then new guys I feed them a bit of missis in the morning then Nori a couple hours later 2 clips both equaled out to about half a sheet then at night right before lights out I would feed other foods I had, they are over the ich not and doing pretty good. other than the atlantic blue still picking on the sailfin a bit but there starting to get along better.

 

[Boboe77]

Ok I'll start introducing more kinds of algae to the tank!

 

[Boboe77]

Well it got worse! I got a Quarantine tank set up and now I gatta just try as hard as I can to catch him. He has around ten spots on his fins.

 

[Marshall O]

FWIW 10 spots is nothing that requires immediate action. It is when they are covered that there is no question you need to catch the fish and treat ASAP. Not saying you still shouldn't try to catch it to treat it, but just don't think that the fish only has a few hours to live.

 

[Boboe77]

Oh ok great! Well I'll get him anyway, what kinds of treatments do you recommend?

 

[Marshall O]

Easiest is likely copper (Cupramine). If you have never done hypo, and your HT is on the smaller size, I would not recommend it. There are some other medicines as well, but none that I have any experience with. Quinine Sulfate comes to mind, but I know that can kill off the bacteria in the tank (so you would need to do daily water changes likely to deal with ammonia), where as Cupramine has little affect on the bacteria.

 

[CivicDemon]

If.the.yellow tang is.not.your onky fish its pointless to.pull him out and treat. Ich is.now.in your system and if he is still stressed out when you put him.back in the dt he will get it again. If you are going to querentien then you must do all your fish and keep the tank with out fish for atleast 2 months. I would do 3 months. Treat the current fish by slowly bringing down the salinity in the quarentien tank to .01 i think it is. For hypo salinity treatment then keep them at that for 2 months and then bring it back up to regular in a couple weeks. Slowly is best. After your at regular salinity level keep tje fish there for another week or two to make sure there cured. Then it should be safe to put them back in jje dt. Make sure to acclimate. Also remmember if you dont get your fish from a place that treats there fish any new.fish you get must be treated also. 1 month hyposalinity then slowly back up just like your current fish. Trust me if i had space and could catch my fish i would treat them all and do it. Eapecially now that i know what i know. I would have done it from the beggining. Good luck man.

 

[Marshall O]

If.the.yellow tang is.not.your onky fish its pointless to.pull him out and treat. Ich is.now.in your system and if he is still stressed out when you put him.back in the dt he will get it again. If you are going to querentien then you must do all your fish and keep the tank with out fish for atleast 2 months. I would do 3 months. Treat the current fish by slowly bringing down the salinity in the quarentien tank to .01 i think it is. For hypo salinity treatment then keep them at that for 2 months and then bring it back up to regular in a couple weeks. Slowly is best. After your at regular salinity level keep tje fish there for another week or two to make sure there cured. Then it should be safe to put them back in jje dt. Make sure to acclimate. Also remmember if you dont get your fish from a place that treats there fish any new.fish you get must be treated also. 1 month hyposalinity then slowly back up just like your current fish. Trust me if i had space and could catch my fish i would treat them all and do it. Eapecially now that i know what i know. I would have done it from the beggining. Good luck man.

Couple of comments. First, for hypo to be effective, you need to maintain 1.008. This can be tough to do in a smaller tank. Second, having Ich in your DT is not the end of the world. If you keep the fish well fed with a VARIED diet, maintain high water quality, and keep stress to a minimum, it is almost never an issue. You can have a fish or two show a few spots every now and then and that is fine. The issue as mentioned is when they are covered.

 

[Boboe77]

I have lost a lot of fish in the past and I've tried hypo and I've tried just keeping them In the DT and they diddent work for me, I think I'm going to try and put the yellow tang in the QT and use cupramine. Has anyone used cupramine?

 

[Boboe77]

Maby its better to medicate it before it gets worse.

 

[Marshall O]

I am using Cupramine as we speak. Only use in a bare bottom tank with no live rock. Best if you have a sponge filter that has been running in your DT to seed the HT. Do not run carbon or UV (but you can run a protein skimmer). Follow the directions on the bottle, but basically you slowly increase the dose to 0.5PPM and hold it there for a month. After the month, use Cuprasorb or carbon to get rid of the copper. Monitor for another 4-8 weeks to make sure all signs of Ich are gone (this is the ideal way anyways).

Make sure you have a quality test kit, either Seachem (who makes Cupramine) or Salifert. I use the Seachem kit.

 

[jedimasterben]

chloroquine phosphate is actually now readily available, and cheaply, too. Run at 40mg/L if 'normal' quarantine, and bump it to 60-70mg/L for treatment. Keep at that strength for the entire QT length, at least 28 days.

Aquarium Dry Goods for SaleKM Associates Intl

Aquarium Fish: Chloroquine: A "New" Drug for Treating Fish Diseases ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

 

[Marshall O]

chloroquine phosphate is actually now readily available, and cheaply, too. Run at 40mg/L if 'normal' quarantine, and bump it to 60-70mg/L for treatment. Keep at that strength for the entire QT length, at least 28 days.

Aquarium Dry Goods for SaleKM Associates Intl

Aquarium Fish: Chloroquine: A "New" Drug for Treating Fish Diseases ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

I have never treated with it, but this was scare me a bit (taken from the referenced article):

[h=2]Contraindications[/h]At doses typically used to treat fish diseases, chloroquine is also toxic to many invertebrates, algae and bacteria. Seriously high ammonia levels ( > 1 mg/l NH₃) are sometimes seen a few days to a week after dosing an aquarium with chloroquine. It is unknown why this is seen in some aquariums but not others. One hypothesis is that the chloroquine has a direct antibiotic effect on the nitrifying bacteria. Another idea is that the chloroquine kills so much microscopic life in the aquarium that the beneficial bacteria are overwhelmed, and an ammonia spike develops. Most likely, it is a combination of both of these factors causing this issue. Always monitor the ammonia levels in aquariums during treatment with chloroquine. Freshwater aquariums should also be monitored for subsequent rise in nitrite levels as well.

 

[Boboe77]

Ok great I'll put him in the QT and dose Cupramine a little less than the recommended dose and slowly raise it the the correct dose. Now the hardest part, catching him. I'm getting the Cupramine tomorrow and I will dose it! Hope all goes well!

 

[Boboe77]

Well I got my yellow tang! My QT is all set up but I can't put the tang in tonight because the QT water is too cold. I put a heater inside so the water will heat up and be the right temp for him.

 

[CivicDemon]

Couple of comments. First, for hypo to be effective, you need to maintain 1.008. This can be tough to do in a smaller tank. Second, having Ich in your DT is not the end of the world. If you keep the fish well fed with a VARIED diet, maintain high water quality, and keep stress to a minimum, it is almost never an issue. You can have a fish or two show a few spots every now and then and that is fine. The issue as mentioned is when they are covered.

Yeah on the hypo I was not sure where it had to be that's why I said I think, and as far as having ich in the tank I know its not that end that's what I had explained before because I do have ich in my system and my fish are fine now, but when they do stress out they do show signs, that's what I was trying to explain that the stress is the main factor if he keeps it stress free and great water quality he should get better, But I would say being as his tank is so small that's provably one of the main stress factors for a tang.