[trick440]

I think my purple tang has ich. Any suggestions. I feed him formula 2 and mysis.

 

[eelman]

ICK

Go to reefcentral and look at reefkeeping, 8/03 & 10/03 for a good article on treating ick. If I were you, I would take the fish out and give a 30-45 minute formulin bath, then treat with hyposalinity for 3 weeks. I would also take out all the other fish and do the same with them. If you don't treat all the fish, you can not eliminate it. You also need to leave your tank fish free for at least 4 weeks. There is no fast and easy cure. You should assume any new fish you want to add to your tank has ick and treat it first before you add it to prevent any problems.

If you have any questions, send me your phone number and I will call you.

 

[dantj99]

Ick

TAKE IT OUT!!!! I just lost 2 clown fish, 2 fire fish, and a Royal Grama to Ick. I thought they would be fine to leave in and treat, big mistake. I lost almost all my fish except for one Fire Fish. I would do a Copper Medical tank, I heard that is the best. Don't treat it in the tank, take it out and then treat the tank as well with Invert and Coral Safe stuff like GreenX or KickIck. Good luck.

 

[trick440]

The tang is the only fish getting the ich. And if I feed him twice a day with formula 2, it goes away. I'm pretty lazy at feeding I only get around to it once every day or 2.

I'm pretty confident that if I get garlic from the LFS it could go away.. just hopefully garlic every day or 2 will be enough.

 

[drewmspt]

tangs

I am battling ich as of now myself, with three tangs all infected. I have been supplementing ich for the past week a couple of times a day. What is this formula 2 u refer to? The advice about removing the fish is the best. Only true way to get rid of the problem. There is a great 5 part article on ich at advancedaquarist.com. My fish don't seem to be getting better but I also have 2 tangs prone to ich and three in a tang which does promote stress. If you have a fish only tank then u might be able to use coppersulfate as well. Good luck

 

[sharkbait]

I have a tang that developed white spots (which I assumed were ich) on it's sides a couple of days after it was added. I used Probiotic with Mela-Fix and after a few days the spots were all gone. I continued to dose the Mela-Fix every day for 2 weeks followed by a water change and the fish has been clean for over 2 months now.

The only thing was that I had to shut off the skimmer during the treatment period due to the Mela-Fix causing some crazy bubbling action.

 

[JimmyTheJeweler]

Ahhh now I remember why I don't have any tangs.

 

[10K]

I purchased a UV sterilizer years ago. I have not seen ICH since!
I highly recommend running them on reef tanks where medicating is dangerous.

 

[ystmarroon]

You can take out the fish and treat it, but you may stress it more. Sterilizers work to keep other fish from getting sick, but doesn't cure sick ones.
Formula two may not be the best thing for tangs. Neither is mysis. They are both meat based foods and tangs are mostly herbivors. Try some nori or dried marine algae. I feed mine the purple algae and he stays happy and healthy. He also gets some flake with spirulina. If you want to feed him frozen, Emerald Entree by San Francisco Bay is best. It is filled with Spirulina algae. Better diet is the best fight against disease. It will keep the immune system up.

To avoid getting diseases in a tank, quarantining the fish is best, before it goes in the tank. That way you can watch it to make sure it doesn't develope and ailments.

 

[10K]

I beg to differ about a sterilizer curing sick fish. Ich for example has a free floating stage in its life cycle. During that time the sterilizer has an opportunity to kill most of the infection before it can reinfect the fish. From my experience, a sterilizer will cure a fish with an infestation of Ich. I purchased a sterilizer after my tangs became infected. Within a few days the number of spots declined until they where completely gone. I have now had those fish almost seven years without further problems. Keep in mind this is my experience. I hope you can have similar luck.

 

[ystmarroon]

The reason the sterilizer worked to help cure the fish is because it did exactly what you said. It got rid of water born illness. Allowing the fish to fight off further infection and get better. If a fish is infected badly enough though, this will not cure the fish only slow reinfestation.

But 10k is right a sterilizer will reduce the risk of fish dying from water born illness. I just wanted to provide the best solution, long term in my experience. And cover all bases.

 

[jimsflies]

Although I don't have any experience with a sterilizer, I plan to get one. I lost all but one of my fish to ick.

I noticed the ick would be there for a few days and gone for a couple days, then come back. Based on reading, ick has to leave from the fish to reproduce or complete part of its life cycle in the substrate. If you have a sterilizer running I would think it would have an impact on ick during this part of their life cycle...controlling them or perhaps breaking it entirely. I also plan to go with a bare bottom tank on the next setup...seems like that would also help minimize ick problems by eliminating their hide out. I'm not interested in losing my fish again.

 

[Dantj99Girl]

Sorry to hear about your loss. I lost all my fish as well. I didn't get any more fish for 2 weeks, and continued treating it with my GreenX to make sure there was no ick left. Good luck.

Dan

 

[jimsflies]

I just bought my first fish this weekend after the loss. I haven't had fish (other than the one) for about a month. Wouldn't you know it...it has ick. Thankfully, I put it in the quaranteen tank hopefully it will survive.