About a month ago I put 3 new tangs (purple,sailfin,qnd powder blue in my waterbox penn 6025. I already had a yellow tang. Well they fought at first. Now they seem better although the yellow tang and purple tang still are kinda fighting.
After the fighting stopped the 3 new fish I think had ich. Like week 2. Week 3 2 of the new tangs seemed to not have it. But the powder blue has something. And now it looks worse.
When I say maybe ich , is because I have seen bad cases of ich and marine velvet before. And while it is small to see I have generally seen it just looking at the tank. With these new tangs I can only tell if I’m right on the glass searching for it. All the fish are eating with the powder blue eating more each day but the least amount of the 3. I have a uv running as well. Idk if its tinfoil, just slowing it down so they suffer more , or actually helping. But the first day I thought I saw spots I thought if I don’t plug it in then I didn’t do everything I could.
So now I am at a point where I’m not sure what to do or if it’s ich. The powder blue is the only fish kinda acting strange , looking kinda white, def has something on the skin but is eating and kinda seeming ok.
Do I leave it be
Do I take out the powder blue and do a safety stop dip.
I have a 20 gal I can use for short term quarantine but not really interested in doing that.
Just take him out …
I know this pic doesn’t help. Or atleast I can’t see what I am seeing in the photo.
Thanks for any help,
Jon
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Hard to tell from the pictures. Tangs are certainly susceptible to ich, powder blues particularly.
You have two options, as I see it:
- Follow an ich management approach
- Eradicate the ich from your system to avoid future outbreaks
I personally prefer #2, but you mentioned you don’t want to go that route. The best article I’ve read on the pros and cons of the approaches is here: Ich eradication vs. Ich management | REEF2REEF Saltwater and Reef Aquarium Forum
Good luck!
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Thanks, for the info. Right now the plan has been clean water, UV, and feeding with vitamens added.
Now I’m not sure ich goes away like can be eradicated. I know I had marine velvet years ago and I have had ich outbreaks on flame angel and yellow tang which was cured just with what I am doing now or I was lucky. Anyway with velvet I lost everything and had a tank with just water and rock for 9 months. Now in q completely diff tank 2 years later I have it again. I think it is always there personally but everyone can debate that. I know if the temp swings or the fishes immune system is down they can and will get it. Like we catch the flu when it’s cold.
The reason I am hesitant to perform option 2 is more along the lines of no one really knows if ich can be removed from the system or not. So with all the effort and stress to the fish it just doesn’t seem like the option is worth it. Plus you have to keep fish out for 6 to 9 months.
We can all say it is in there now and so it will always be present. Any new fish will catch ich probably no matter what the outcome is with the powder blue. Even if I took him put I feel the problem exists qnd the other fish are at risk.
What is the risk for leaving him there to see if he makes it or not? I think that is my main question. Can it be worse. It has been 4 weeks exactly. If I wait another 4 weeks what should I expect. Dead pb. Live pb, everything is dead lol.
I think the risk of leaving him in and not treating him is that he could get worse if his immune system can’t get it under control. Certainly providing good
food and water quality is always helpful.
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There is a reef safe option to medicate directly in the tank using H2O2. It falls under management (likely not eliminate) but I’d consider it if you aren’t going to pull them out of the DT. It works especially well with UV. Also double check your UV flow rate, bulb life, and that the quarts sleeve is clean — which are necessary for it be effective.
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If it’s parasites.I have had great results with fowlr systems using garlic and slowly increasing water temp in system. I have no idea what that would do to a reef system. If the fish is eating and swimming, look into a fresh water dip It may be too much too soon syndrome where the battle for top position placed the powder blue in the bottom of the order and was targeted buy all the new comers. A quarantine tank isn’t just for disease, It’s also a good place for behavior issues. I have never medicated my quarantine tank. It’s just for natural treatments without stressing entire system. It’s a good place to target feed fortified foods with immune boosting additives.
Hope all is well.
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Google h2o2 dosing to fight velvet in reeftank.
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Humble.fish is the place to find expert advice on fish disease/parasites.
In this hobby the experts/masters know a decent amount about everything, but know exactly where to go for specific information. Humblefish would be a great resource for this kind of thing.
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