Tang with ich

[JeffGil]

We just got this beautiful powder brown tang today and he looked great when we got him, but after about 30 minutes of acclimatization, he started showing signs of ich

He's going into the QT tank now with hyposalinity to try and treat it, but from what I've heard tangs pretty much sprout ich if you look at them the wrong way. This is our second attempt at a tang, the first one we ordered online and it showed up 99% dead, but this one looked healthy as a horse two hours ago.

If the stress of moving from the store to here causes it to break out in ich, will the ich reappear when we move it from the QT tank to the display tank later (assuming the hyposalinity works)? None of the fish in our display tank show any signs of ich and water parameters are still perfect in there.

 

[Holygral]

Please keep in mind that if it is indeed Ick, you will have to treat all your fish and leave your tank fish less for 6-8 weeks to let Ick cycle and die off. If not you will re-introduce your Tang to it upon his return to the main.

 

[NaH2O]

Holygral is right. If your display has other fish in it, then they will all need to go through the hyposalinity process, too. Otherwise, when the tang is re-introduced it will be reinfected. Here's some homework..... and your homework includes reading the other links in the thread (i.e. Marine Ich - Myths and Facts, A Quarantine Procedure, etc.)

A Hyposalinity Treatment Process

 

[JeffGil]

We never introduced it to the display tank so we're OK there I think. It went straight to the QT and then we noticed it had developed ich. He'll be in the QT with hyposalinity for at least 4-6 weeks I suppose.

I'm just wondering if everyone has issues with tangs or if we're just not supposed to have one in our tank or something...we seem to have bad tang karma :-(

 

[leebca]

Acanthurus sp. Tangs are well know for getting Marine Ich and Marine Velvet very easily. The fish you have had Marine Ich at the LFS, undoubtedly. It isn't stress that brings it on.

Please read through this post:Marine Ich - Myths and Facts so you can get a perspective.

As far as treatment goes -- I recommend any Acanthurus sp. Tang be treated with copper upon acquisition. They harbor Marine Ich and Marine Velvet so often that this prophylactic treatment for these Tangs is necessary, in my opinion.

Follow guidelines for treatment closely, no matter what you choose for treatment. AFTER treatment, be sure to hold the fish in quarantine an additional 4 weeks to verify it has been cured. Assume nothing.

These are the recommendations for treatment:
A Fish Hyposalinity Treatment
and
Copper Medications - Good, Bad, and Ugly

In short, your aquarium isn't optimum for such a Tang. They need about a 6 foot long aquarium when they are over 2" long. In the wild they will swim up to 25 miles a day along the reef. . .they need tank length.

If your display tank inhabitants haven't been through quarantine to verify they are Marine Ich free, then the parasite could be waiting there for the next fish victim to enter. So even after this Tang is deemed Marine Ich-free, if it goes into a system with Marine Ich, it will likely display the symptom(s) of infection.

If you take the time with the fish in quarantine to train it what prepared foods to eat, it will stand a much better chance for acclimating to captive life in the display tank.

More quarantine info:
A Quarantine Procedure

Good luck!

 

[JeffGil]

Thanks Lee, I've been reading those posts and learning a lot about marine ich. I also read that you shouldn't use copper treatments in hyposalinity conditions right? Should we slowly bring the salinity back up to normal levels, use the copper treatment, and then go back to hypo or just stick to the hypo treatment we're currently using?

Thanks!

 

[leebca]

IF you will be using Cupramine and the proper copper test kit, I would raise the salinity up slowly and begin the copper treatment. Copper kills Marine Ich and other parasites. There will be no need to perform the hyposalinity treatment at all if you use this copper medication.

IF you plan on using a different copper medication, then stick with the hyposalinity. Hyposalinity will only handle the Marine Ich, but as indicated in the post, it is harder to control water quality in a hyposaline solution, and it will take a lot of your attention to control it.

I don't recommend using copper along with a hyposaline solution. It doesn't make much sense since each treats Marine Ich, but copper treats more. Also, if the pH of the hypo solution drops, which it tends to do during this treatment, the copper can become lethal to this fish, and this fish has some extra sensitivity to copper.