Please tell me its not ich!

. [quote author=pdlman link=board=ASAP;num=1095992957;start=0#2 date=09/23/04 at 19:49:15]What are your water params? You say reef tank, but what kind of corals and inverts do you have, and how long has the tank been set up, and is one fish causing stress?? Why high nitrates, and phos? With a 120 you shouldnt be having problems-with such frequent water changes. ?? Do you have a fuge? [/quote]

Hi pdlman! Thanks for your reply.
My nitrates and phosphates are out of wack due to using the old sand bed when I bought the tank. I will have to remove the sand bed to straighten that out and will be doing so before too long. Nitrates before my water change was around 50 or a little less and phosphate at 2 . I did about a 35 gl water change yesterday and have not retested yet. Ph 8.0, alkalinity is usually around 11 although before changing the water yesterday it was 8. Ca around 500. Stays high I assume because of Oceanic. I never add anything to it. Salinity 1.023-4. Ammonia 0, nitrites just a little. No more than usual. My tank and friend are about 2 yrs old. I've had it since April.

I have button polyps, star polyps, devils hand, galaxia, leather, frogspawn, hammer, kenya tree, red open brain that will probably die, and open green brain, pearl bubble, and probably another one or two I can't think of.

I also have an anemone, a clam, a few snails, a couple of crabs and one gobie shrimp.

Yes I have a fuge. When I break down my tank to remove the old sand bed i will set up a new sump that is larger and will give me a larger fuge area for my cheato.

Yes, I have too many fish. About 20 with 2 tangs and a foxface. Everybody gets along great. They are all good buds! No one seems to act stressed. the hippo is happy go lucky. Everyone eats really well.

I took someones advice and bought some fresh garlic and minced it up and soaked it with the food. I also soaked the Nori in it. I'm not sure much of the garlic got eaten. They would get it in their mouths and then spit it back out. I didn't see any of them go for it. Maybe they have to aquire a taste for it. I may need to just much it up although it was chopped pretty fine.

I hope I answered all of your questions.

Cindy

 

"Dori" is a hippo tang/regal tang. I'm hoping that she won't be getting any larger. She's probably around 6 in. long. She's has such a sweet personality.

Thanks for your comments Jay, I think she is beautiful. She's so whimsical you can't help but laugh at her while she swims.

Hopefully the garlic will help.

Cindy

 

Hi JohnO!

I also used some LR from my LFS. I traded some coral that was growing wild for it. Could it have also come on the rock? I assume it was from the blenny, although the LFS owner argued with me about that.

I went out and bought a couple of rubbermaid tubs. One for the tangs and the other for the rest. I was told you shouldn't use copper meds on tangs so I'm keeping them seperate if I decided to take them out. I don't have enough powerheads. Will an air stone work ok. When I went to wal-mart for the garlic I went to their pet section and bought a air pump, hose and a stone. So you have to have a light over them or can I put the containers by the outside door?  Not much room in the house for the tubs especially for 6 weeks.

From what I've read so far it doesn't seem like anything else. I'll see how they look in the morning.

Cindy  

 

Cindy,

Please read the information here :

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/marineich.html

It gives a good description of Ich and its life cycle.

Assuming that Ich is the problem you should see the white spots grow bigger and then you will know it is really Ich and take the appropriate action.

I have NEVER heard that Tangs should be treated any differently than other fish as far a copper treatment is concerned so that is news to me.

I'm sure others will have a better understanding of the reasons than I do

I guess the point is if you don't treat the tangs then you will never be able to put them back into the main tank with the complete certainty that the Ich is gone so I really don't see the point of not treating them

Please let us all know what happens

John

 

Thanks for the site John I'll read it when I get a chance. Got to go to work. I think I've probably already read it though if I have I'm sure I could use a refresher.

I've heard from two different sources that you should not treat tangs with cooper because it is harmful to their delicate digestive tract and could lead to a bacterial infection. They were suggesting hyposalinity, higher temp and garlic.

I'll see if I can find the link again.

I haven't noticed the spots getting any larger. There are more of them but the same tiny size. She's not awake yet for me to take a look at her this morning. She loves her beauty sleep! ;D And a beauty she is to me.

Thanks JOhn, Cindy

Cindy

 

Hope these help Cindy!

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2003/mini1.htm

http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/fishdiseases/a/aa102797.htm

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/hyposalinity.html

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.htm

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-10/sp/feature/index.htm

http://www.reefs.org/library/article/h_cortes-jorge.html

 

I had ich on a few of my fish and all i did was add two cleaner shrimp and started treating the water with Kent Garlic. I t was gone in a few days, so i am not sure if i just got lucky or not but i used no medication. I got a Yellow Tang instead of a regal tang for i was warned they are more prone of getting ick. I also supplemnet my frozen brine shrimp with the Garlic about three times a week to keep there imune system up, fish love it "Scampi"

 

I forget about those alternatives Malachi. Thanks for mentioning it. Do you have a cleaner shrimp Beamer?

 

Hi Matt, I don't have any cleaners. I did have a couple when I bought the tank but they died. I don't know how but they did. Someone told me that they don't live very long, is that true?  Could it have been from my high nitrates. At least they are running a little lower now than in the beginning.

A couple of weeks ago my LFS had a couple of cleaner shrimp for $25 . a piece. Isn't that kind of steep? Anyway, I didn't buy them. If I buy them, that is if they still have them, will I need to QT them before I can use them? Also do I have to acclimate them?

Do the cleaner shrimp really help in killing the ick or do they just pick off a little of it? I've read so much pros and cons on everything for treatment that it just gets me all confused.

I minced up garlic last night and soaked their food in it. I was told that it was breaking the skin of the garlic that releases its beneficial properties and its better than using the extract. Someone suggested Kyolic garlic extract cap from the health food store. I'm going to try using it tonight. Maybe it won't smell as much and then work up toward the real garlic.  They kept spitting it out last night so I don't know how much they really benefitted.

Is it normal for a fish to have fewer spots in the morning than in the evening? This morning I thought wow- its almost gone on one side and fewer spots on the other.

Cindy

 

My personal suggestion is a freshwater dip followed by a hyposalinity treatment in a clean tank. Looks like our fellow reefers have given you plenty to read over. Good luck, your hippo is a beauty.