Ich on my blue tang

Ok, So I have a 110 gal tank with 1 blue tang, 2 oc clowns, 1 yellow tang, 1 platinum sifter goby.

The blue tang has ich (little white spots on body, constantly rubbing himself on the rocks, not really eating)

I have only had this fish for about two weeks... the tank is about 4 months old.

What do I do?

Forgive me I am a beginner at this, your posts will be greatly appreciated.

 

Try to enhance the diet with garlic or selcon or equiv. Add as much marine algae to the diet as you can, nori sheets and such.

The parasite is already present in the tank so try to provide the best possible water conditions and reduce any stress to the fish you can.

You can treat the fish in a QT but it may become re-infected once re-introduced to the system.

Good luck.

 

A blue tang is one of only a few fish that should be QT'd for treatment ONLY as a last resort. They are stressed easily, and are very susceptible to ich. Try to leave it in the main tank if possible. Chasing it around with a net and introducing it to a new environment could stress it enough to tip the odds against you.

Coralline is right, try to enhance it's diet and get it to eat.

 

did you resolve this issue?
I am having ich problems with 4 y/o tang and the LFS sold me some herbtana sh** that did absolutely nothing!!! cost me $20 and dori is still suffering!!! really don't want to lose her

 

Sorry to hear your news. First you need to make sure it is Marine Ich. If it is Marine Ich all your fish in the tank have it by now. You need to cure all your fish, or the parasite will come back. On top of that your tank needs to go fallow for 6 weeks. According to Edward Noga Marine Ich can come back after 3 months.

There are 3 things that fully cure Marine Ich: Hyposalinity, Copper, Fish transfer from tank to tank.

Remove all your fish to the hospital tank and perform hyposalinity. Hyposalinity is the least stressful thing for your fish out of the 3 things that fully cure Marine Ich. Do not perform this in your DT as you will kill everything else.

Now here is some info for you: there are many different tangs and they are all susceptible to Marine Ich. There is also a gene of tangs called: Acanthurus. They are very susceptible to Marine Ich. These Acanthurus tangs have to (I repeat HAVE TO) be quarantined (along with required hyposalinity) when they are bought.

Copper will work, but it will lower the life time of the fish.

Btw, you may doubt me since I'm very new to fish, but I learn very quick.
There is a great book by Edward Noga: Fish Disease. I recommend it for you.

 

I have tried the above mentioned methods for curing my blue tang. I went down to my lfs and bought some vitamarine C and and soaked the food in it with the aid of garlic. " it appears to have worked my fish is eating much more and has no white marks on body.

I will keep you all posted as to my fishes health


Thank you all so much!!!

 

110gal,

Carlic may stimulate the appetite of the fish, but it will not cure the parasite. you may also see improvements in the fish only to have it relapse. this is due to the life cycle of the parasite.

Marine Ich/Cryptocaryon irritans - A Discussion of this Parasite and the Treatment Options Available, Part II by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com
Garlic: What has been Studied Versus What has been Claimed by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com

 

with all due respect to all who suggest moving the fish to a QT there are some factors to consider b4 doing so:
1- what is the size of QT u have and what fish are you moving in there. 2 tangs in a 110g and they can have clashes, what about moving them in a 40g (or sometimes less)and 1 of them is already stressed by ich.
2- what is the condition of your fish, if it is not eating, stressing it by moving it to QT will not help, you have to make it eat b4 thinking of moving it. (and here comes the role of garlic)
3- hiposalinity is a great way to cure from ich and you will see improvement on the fish in couple of days but lots of factors come in play and you have to consider. doing hiposalinity for a 110g tank is painful and lots of work especially if you have live rock and live sand. lots of organisms that lives on rocks and in the sand will die due to low salinity and cause a spike in amonia and only treatable by constant water changes.
imho, what you have to do first is make the blue tang eat and get stronger and then if you want to get rid of ich 1ce and for all you have to move your fishes into couple of QTs that are bare bottom and with only some pvc pipes for hiding spaces and then do hiposalinity for about 6 weeks.
this is my $.02

 

Just wanted to add that the use of Formalin has been over looked here. While not as commonly used and should never be used on a fish with open wounds it is one of the proven effective ways to treat a fish in QT. As with all treatments the user should research all options and determine what best suits their situation.

Marine Ich/Cryptocaryon irritans - A Discussion of this Parasite and the Treatment Options Available, Part I by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com

IchArtMar

 

Garlic added to food really works IMO...

E