Sick tang?

[mmkeeper]

My Achilles tangs seems not to be hinself. I just noticed very small white spots on him. He has several of them. Could this be ich? How do I treat it without a QT?

 

[Domboski]

That sounds like ich. You may want to try cleaner shrimp first. They do a great job removing the ich. Your Tang will enjoy a grooming session. I recommend getting a UV light added to your system. I never have a problem with parasites. They can be expensive but worth every penny. Aquanetics offers many options.

 

[mmkeeper]

I have a uv light. It might be time to clean the quartz tube. cleaner shrimp sound like they might work, but right now he is staying high in the tank and in the water flow.

 

[Domboski]

They are making it tough for him to breathe. You may want to try a quick fresh water dip. BE CAREFUL! Make sure the PH level and Temp are the same as your marine aquarium and no chlorine. Leave him in the freshwater for 5 mins. That will clear the ich off. If there is a pet store open near you, try to buy the cleaners tonight (I say cleaner (S) because they work better as a pair). I would definately go with the dip first. That will give him temporary relief. I think Petco is open until 8 or 9. They usually have cleaners in stock.

Let me know how things turn out.

 

[mmkeeper]

The freshwater dip seems to have helped him. He still has the white spots, but he is swimming all over the tank. Almost normal. Will try to find cleaner shrimp tomorrow.

 

[Domboski]

Good to hear! The cleaner shrimp should help. You may want to change the UV bulb too. Makes sure the Tang is eating. As long as the Tang maintains its strength it can fight off the ich. When the ich matures and releases into the water the UV light should finish them off.

 

[NaH2O]

mmkeeper - here is a good series on Cryptocaryon irritans by Terry Bartelme:

News from the Warfront with Cryptocaryon irritans - Part One of Five
News from the Warfront with Cryptocaryon irritans - Part Two of Five
News from the Warfront with Cryptocaryon irritans - Part Three of Five
News from the Warfront with Cryptocaryon irritans - Part Four of Five
News from the Warfront with Cryptocaryon irritans - Part Five of Five

UV will only kill the parasite if it happens to make it through the unit. Here is a quote (or two ) from Terry Bartelme. The first thread has some good information:

Sorry, but cleaner fish and shrimp are far from reliable cures for ich. People that carefully quarantine all fish for 3+ weeks PRIOR to placing them into their reef rarely have ich outbreaks in their reef tanks. Are you quarantining all fish before they go into your display for 3+ weeks? You may have some luck with feeding the fish garlic, but I find it to be a better prevantative than a cure. You might get by with feeding the fish garlic soaked foods and using a powerful UV light. However, in all probability you will not get rid of the ich completely that way. It will usually raise it's ugly head again when the fish are stressed. If you want to eliminate the parasite from your system then you are going to have to remove all the fish to another tank for treatment. The best treatments that actually eliminate the pest are hyposalinity, copper, or the transfer (or Hyposaline-Transfer) method. The display should then be left fishless 30 days to 6 weeks to allow the parasite to starve for lack of a host. You will thank yourself later if you educate yourself now about ich.

From the thread Feeding New Australian Tank Raised Hippo Tang - a good read.

It is unliely that you will cure ich with a UV or cleaner shrimp.

From this thread: blue tang dead, concerns for other fish???

 

[Domboski]

Any update on how the fish is doing?

 

[mmkeeper]

He is still alive, still not eating. I now have all my fish in a quarntine tank and will start lowering the salinity tomorrow.

 

[Domboski]

Sorry to hear that. We will keep our fingers crossed.

 

[mmkeeper]

I have decided to break the ich cycle by 45 days in quantine and hyposalinity. and no fish in the reef. We will see.

 

[NaH2O]

Sounds like a plan! What species of fish are going in QT, and what size QT do you have? Be sure to monitor pH during QT, along with other parameters, and check your salinity often. You don't want it creeping up on you and take the fish out of hyposalinity environment. Do you have a refractometer to assure you have reached proper hyposalinity conditions?

 

[mmkeeper]

Got the refractometer. I have 1 achillies tang, 1 white goby, 1 oc clown, 2 skunk clowns, and 1 maranderin dragonette. Fighting ammonia right now. Water changes and lowering salinity. Do I need to be concerned about Ca or just pH,salinity,alk and the nitrogens?

 

[steve-s]

just pH,salinity,alk and the nitrogens?

These are the only concern. Be sure you buffer your RO water to reduce the impact of the diluting chemistry. As far as the nitrogens, Polyfilters, Puragen and/or PARA pads. Carbon will also help to some degree.

Cheers
Steve

 

[mmkeeper]

When you the polyfilter do you put it in your filter or just in the tank?

 

[steve-s]

Best place is in some type of powerfilter (HOB/Canister). Passive placement doesn't work very well.

Cheers
Steve

 

[NaH2O]

Steve - I have a question about the mandarin getting QT in hyposalinity. If a mandarin is only eating live foods, and you can't cross contaminate by trying to feed pods from the display....then is it best to hatch your own brine or something like that? I thought of oceanpods, but they likely wouldn't survive the hyposalinity treatment. Any thoughts on this, or how to QT a mandarin that isn't eating prepared foods?

mmkeeper - did you put in some PVC or other objects (you can clean later) for the fish to hide in? When I QTed, I put in some PVC and also a couple of clean coffee mugs. The fish liked to hide in the mugs the best. Keep us updated!

 

[mmkeeper]

Everyone is still alive. The tang is acting more normal, still not eating.

 

[steve-s]

Steve - I have a question about the mandarin getting QT in hyposalinity. If a mandarin is only eating live foods, and you can't cross contaminate by trying to feed pods from the display....then is it best to hatch your own brine or something like that? I thought of oceanpods, but they likely wouldn't survive the hyposalinity treatment. Any thoughts on this, or how to QT a mandarin that isn't eating prepared foods?

Ideally you want to QT an incomming mandarine that does not necessarily need treatment, not one that needed to be transfered from the main for treatment. If new, it's just a matter of advance preparation and having a "seeded" QT for it ahead of time. Then as the populations of pods deplete, you also train the mandarine towards alternate food types. This is made much easier by the lack of competition. Pods can still be transfered from the main or refugia as long as the "vessel" used is cleaned and air dried before the next transfer.

There are some other tips here...
Care and Feeding Tips for Mandarin Fish

If treating an infested mandarine, you still need a seperate QT just for it. Any food competition will severely hamper your efforts in regards to alternate food training. From my own observations, competition and water flow are the two main deterents to "learning" new feeding habits. Artemia/nauplii are good starters and will still live a short time in the reduced salinity as will pods. If a seperate unconnected tank is set up soley for the purpose of rearing pods and not seeded from the infected source that will also help as a supplimental source. A feeding station can also be derived so the mandarine has easy access. If the food is right under it's nose, it will generally accept something. It's just a matter of careful persistance. More commonly it's not that the food is dead, rather it's lack of insterest or inability to feed is the food is too large, food size is very important. I find a good meaty food for this is frozen baby brine or Hikari mysis, both being quite small. Certain sinking pellets can work as well but you really need to watch water quality as the mandarine will not feed until they are soft/dissolving.

As always, remove uneaten foods and waste after each feeding attempt. If water quality degrades, it will curtail the feeding response completely.

Cheers
Steve

 

[mmkeeper]

Ok, I got my salinity down to 1.010, is this ok or do I need to hit 1.009?