Royal Blue Tang has Ich...Help !!!!

[jacksback]

Just introduced to 75 gallon tank.  appears to be swimming  and eating well but developed ich over night.....  help Please!!!

[FocusFin]

Just introduced to 75 gallon tank.  appears to be swimming  and eating well but developed ich over night.....  help Please!!!

Post some more info please. What/who else is in your tank, do you have rock/hiding places, did your quarantine?

Sometimes ich will appear from stress and go away on it's own but if you can catch him you might be better off to remove into a hospital tank and rid him of it through hyposalinity.

One of many articles on the treatment - http://atj.net.au/marineaquaria/hyposalinity.html

If it spreads to your other fish you may have to quarantine all of them and allow the disease to die off in your main tank over 6 to 8 weeks.

[Hookup]

If your FOWLR you can use some copper based meds...

Otherwise, you'll have to look at QT'ing the fish (good luck, a fish that size for 6 weeks needs a very large QT 40gal breeder size would be min), or/and if your lucky you can use hyposalinity on your main tank, but again, what's in it?

The best thing, IMO, is to do nothing.  Feed premium foods, faunamarin health is a good food for sure, if the tang stops eating, try enriching with garlic to enduce the feeding response.   Keep your tank water the best quality you can... loads of water changes, etc... and your fish should develop their own immunity to the ICK.

100% sure your fish had ICK when it came in... it's impossible for the signs to show up the day after if it was not already "icked".

Now your tank has ICK for sure...  So you can try to get rid of the ICK from your entire system... Let it go fallow for 8 weeks, (no hosts (Fish))... or hyposalinity the entire system.. again, other critters do not tolorate hyposalinity and you have to be PERFECT here.. 1.009 - 1.010 for 6 week straight, never swaying.. you'll NEED a refractometer to even have a chance... drop down to 1.008 and fish get internal organ issues and die... go over 1.010 and you might not kill the ICK...

IMO there is no way to avoid ICK so live with it... my fish all have had it, they all got over it, and they show no signs of it at all anymore... I've lost one tang to ICK, which I got in a pre-sick state and it didn't pull thru... Every other fish that I have lost was due to either carpet-surfing or sliding rock work... or the one fish who swam into the elegance coral... but that's another story...

ICK is no big deal, just keep your food quality high, keep your water excellent, and let the fish take care of themselves... (again, i'm assuming you've not over-stocked or put incompatable fish together... etc..)

[FocusFin]

Okay...let's backup a bit:

• Don't treat your tank with copper even if it is a FOWLR because you may want to go reef in the future and treating it with copper may render it useless for that purpose. Also, if you try to sell it you'll reduce it's value to a reef enthusiast.
  
• We don't know what size the fish is yet so a "40 gallon breeder" may not be necessary. If the fish is still a juvenile then many other standard size tanks (20 long, 29 gallon etc..) may be fine for 6 weeks. A rubbermaid container with a powerhead can serve the purpose in a pinch. If the fish is not competing with anyone else then his need for room is diminished.
• If you can, get the fish out of the main tank. Just because he shows signs of ick doesn't necessarily mean all other fish will develop it. Perhaps treating the fish as they show signs may be more prudent, rather than stressing your whole tank, just be sure not to reintroduce any fish until you're certain the main tank is showing no signs of it.
• A refractometer is invaluable in this hobby so be sure to get one especially if you're treating with hyposalinity. You can get a used one for $25.00, calibrate it and you'll be fine, just be sure to read and reread on hypo before you do it so you don't make any mistakes. If you're not comfortable with hypo then medicate instead, but do it in your QT.

[lost_at_sea]

• A refractometer is invaluable in this hobby so be sure to get one especially if you're treating with hyposalinity. You can get a used one for $25.00, calibrate it and you'll be fine, just be sure to read and reread on hypo before you do it so you don't make any mistakes. If you're not comfortable with hypo then medicate instead, but do it in your QT.

Question: if the DT is empty save live rock and CUC etc... all fish are out and in QT... the Ich will die off after 6-8 weeks without fish correct? do you still need to hypo the DT or can you not just let it sit dormant while the Ich goes through it's life cycle?

Thanks!

[Hookup]

Yes, the DT will go fallow if there are no hosts... (FISH)

As for your fish not having ICK, well that's so close to impossible it's not reasonable to conclude that you do not have ICK.   Is it possible that you do not have it on all fish.. yes, it's possible.  But treating with that in mind could easily get you into problems again if one of the others has ick...

You pulled them all anyhow, so you're good.

Again, I cannot stress this enough; to keep your system ICK FREE requires un-godly attention to QT'ing.  Everything you put in your tank could hold ICK (In one of the stages, I forget which)...  Therefore everything you ever put into your tank, Rocks, Corals, Fish, Snails, Crabs, etc, etc, etc, will need to be QT'd for 6-8 weeks...  I do not know about the rest of you, but to me that is not possible.  It basically requires that you purchase a second-setup that you maintain whenever you are adding new stuff...

Think about adding a sand-sifting starfish to your system... how do you QT something for 6-8 weeks that requires a mature healthy sand-bed to live?  You'd have to take sand from your display tank, put it into your QT, then run your QT for 6-8 weeks before moving the star and sand back... what about algae grazers, or copod eaters like mandrins, etc??? 

Is it possible, yes... Good luck!

[FocusFin]

You pulled them all anyhow, so you're good

I think you are confused, the OP has never followed up from his original post so all we know at this point is that he has a 76 gallon tank with a tang that appears to have ick.

[Hookup]

you are right... somehow in reading I got confused...

[jacksback]

Tang is feeding/swimming well. Seems totally healthy except for thr ICH. The tank holds 1 yellow tang, 2 clowns, 2 blue damsels and 1 royal tang. Water conditions are good.

[jacksback]

 Up date on my Blue tang
Fairly young tang, eating seaweed and garlic enriched flakes...
I have two bubble tip amenomes, 1 cleaner shrimp, two clowns, one blue damsel, 1 yellow tang. No Coral and Unfortunately no QT tank....
After 6 days she seems to be doing well/eating well with no visual signs of Ich....

I am thinking that this was brought on by the stress of being introduced to the new tank?
Is there anything I should be doing to prevent the return of ICh ?

[FocusFin]

  Feed premium foods, faunamarin health is a good food for sure, if the tang stops eating, try enriching with garlic to enduce the feeding response.   Keep your tank water the best quality you can... loads of water changes, etc... and your fish should develop their own immunity to the ICK.

ICK is no big deal, just keep your food quality high, keep your water excellent, and let the fish take care of themselves... (again, i'm assuming you've not over-stocked or put incompatable fish together... etc..)

And quarantine, quarantine, quarantine


Great news by the way.

[Hookup]

ICK has a life cycle, you might not be out of the woods yet... You might be, i'm not a doctor, I just play one on the internet (haha)...

Anyhow, given your not treating ICK to kill it, I'd say you're just seeing a recession of the cysts from the body...   They fall off and the cycle continues....

Another thing, it's been commonly observed that the cysts are more prominent early in the morning and late in the evening... dunno why that is... but if you looked at a fish at night, and thought OMG it's covered, then looked at the same fish a few days later but at lunch time, you might see a completely different looking fish but the disease could be at the same place basically... (I think i said that a bit messed up but you probably get what i mean).

Glad to hear things are going well... it certainly sounds like you're going to win this battle!!