Ick on m new Kole Tang!! :((( HELP!

[wt*jayjay]

i got my new kole tang about a week ago from optimum. now that hes not hiding anymore im pretty sure hes got ick. i didnt notice it when i got him but theres a chance he may have already had it i guess. anyway hes got a good size white dot on his right fin and then a few small ones on the same side of his body. im assuming its ick just from what ive looked up. in the year or so that ive been doing fresh water and all ive never come accross it so its new to me. hes still verry active and acts like nothings wronge. ive also kept a close eye on my other fish and they dont look like they have it.

so my question is whats the best way to treat him?? first off i guess i should say i dont have qt or hospital tank so thats out of the question for me.. this is also a reef tank and ive read that some meds that kill ich are verry harmful to corals and other inverts..

so whats the best way to do this???

 

[corigan]

Tangs are ick machines, very common for a newly acclimated tang to get ick. I always just fed them foods dipped in garlic/selcon and nori that was soaked in a garlic/selcon dip. This always got rid of it for me. There are many ways to battle ick though.

 

[home office reef]

Good luck. I had a similar situation and Ich wiped out all my fishes eventually. I was advised to use Metro and Focus with garlic. If your tang does not get to stressed out hopefully the parasites will not get out of control. Maybe adding a cleaner or fire shrimp may help somewhat. Good luck!

 

[corigan]

Some will add Metronidazole to the food to help as well.

Matt

 

[rbredding]

yeah.. I went from 7 to 1 inhabitant due to a breakout... (it even killed two clowns)... it wasn't a good week...

 

[jennm]

Feed him up with garlic, Metronidazole & Focus.

Quarantine is the best prevention...

Jenn

 

[nukieuk]

Make sure you feed the tang well thats pretty much all you can do without having a QT setup in place. Marine Ich is still being debated as to what it is, how to cure it etc. If you do search on the boards you will find several articles on marine ick.

I have had ich with tangs 3 times hence my new setup has two QT tanks.

I was successful twice in saving the fish however my powder blue did not survive.

The best thing you can do moving forwards is setup a QT. Hold off on adding any new fish for a while too as if you do have true marine ick its a parasite that will go through cycles living in your water column and infecting any new fish you add.

My view once ick is in your tank your pretty much stuck with it unless you leave the tank without fish for 3-6 months.

 

[william1]

I would use the garlic as well but do some light off time, a little more than normal so the fish can rest some more so there immune system can go to town on the ich and good luck Ive seen good results with these methods.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

I wouldnt expect the garlic or metronidazole to cure ich. Sure its possible</em>, but if youre looking to absoutely treat the disease, you'll need to take more drastic steps. Including a qt tank, and haveing your display fishless for a while.

 

[william1]

jmaneyapanda;447298 wrote: i wouldnt expect the garlic or metronidazole to cure ich. Sure its possible</em>, but if youre looking to absoutely treat the disease, you'll need to take more drastic steps. Including a qt tank, and haveing your display fishless for a while.

+1

 

[home office reef]

What you could do is take all your fish and move them into a QT in a hyposalinity environment for 2 months and keep your DT fishless for 2 months. Then going forward always put new fishes in the QT in a hyposalinity environment for 3 weeks.

I am letting my DT sit fallow for two months.

 

[wt*jayjay]

Ok wow thanks for all the help guys! Right now im actually in the process of setting up a 20L with 20L sump frag tank. Ive thrown around the idea of using it as my QT as well. That is if there's no way that corals can get the same stuff that fish do. Although then I couldn't have a 6-line in the tank for clean up because he could more than likely catch what ever my QT fish have. Hmmm its looking like a QT tank is a verry good idea. Maybe just a 10gallon with a good sized canaster filter I have? Just need to find room for it all now .

 

[wt*jayjay]

well i got a small bottle of Microbe-Lift/Herbtana tonight. Looks like theres enough to treat my tank for at least 5 days or so. Ill keep you guys updated on how good it works or not. And anyones thats used it before please chime in!

im also going to try and cut back my lighting a little and try some of the food you guys have mentioned as well. he already eats like a pig though .

 

[pamelahaley]

I think purchasing fish from Optimum is a must QT situation... I bought one fish there.