Sailfin Tang with Ich

McFish

Goby
M.A.S.C Club Member
#1
Hi All,

This morning I noticed that My Sailfin Tang broke out with Ich after doing a water change last night. I've turned up the tank temp a bit to help speed up the life cycle, I've soaked the food in garlic and lowered the light brightness and colors to a more relaxing blue.

Nitrate is at about 30
Nitrate - 0
Ammonia - 0

Still working on keeping the Nitrates down, its been a constant battle....

Any other suggestions I can do to help with the Ich other than copper? Is Dr. G's antibiotic food helpful? I read that on a few older threads from 2016...if it does, does anyone have any Vendor recommendations that sell it for the Northglenn / North Denver / Boulder area?

Thanks for the help!

Gabe
 

McFish

Goby
M.A.S.C Club Member
#2
Hi All,

This morning I noticed that My Sailfin Tang broke out with Ich after doing a water change last night. I've turned up the tank temp a bit to help speed up the life cycle, I've soaked the food in garlic and lowered the light brightness and colors to a more relaxing blue.

Nitrate is at about 30
Nitrate - 0
Ammonia - 0

Still working on keeping the Nitrates down, its been a constant battle....

Any other suggestions I can do to help with the Ich other than copper? Is Dr. G's antibiotic food helpful? I read that on a few older threads from 2016...if it does, does anyone have any Vendor recommendations that sell it for the Northglenn / North Denver / Boulder area?

Thanks for the help!

Gabe

Sorry,

Nitrate is 30
Nitrite is 0
 

Andrew_bram

Tiger Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#3
Aquatic art used to carry it and the caviar not sure if they still do. I think they are more prone to eating the caviar. It was always hit or miss with the regular frozen. If it's ich and your not going to remove the fish to qt you want the one with chloroquine in it. Hope this helps

Sent from my MHA-L29 using Tapatalk
 

Dr.DiSilicate

Great White Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#4
Dr.g’s is helpful. Lots of food and good flow in your tank helps too.

Uv sterilizer can help as well. How long have you had the fish?

Can you catch him? If you can you have some more options...
 

McFish

Goby
M.A.S.C Club Member
#5
I cant catch him. I've had him 3 weeks and he was fine until this morning, haven't made it home from work yet. I'll call around and hopefully some of the local stores have some. I'll also look at buying a UV Sterilizer if the store has them, I really hate losing fish. Hopefully its improved.

Andrew thanks for the recommendation on Aquatic Art, looks like they are a bit too far and wont make it before they close!
 

zombie

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#6
Only permanent solution is to catch ALL of your fish. Anything else is temporary and rolling the dice on losing the entire tank. That's why you should always quarantine even if it's just a 4-6 week observation period with no meds. The only way to truly rid the tank is to run it fallow for 72 days and treat all tank inhabitants with chloroquine phosphate or copper (whatever they tolerate best as an aggregate) in a separate tank.

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Dr.DiSilicate

Great White Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#8
75% of tangs are going to get ick when introduced to a new situation. Three weeks seems to be when the appearances show. Yea QT is a great solution to watching fish and being able to treat or medicate if needed. Since that doesn’t seem to be an option here, and would stress all the fish out..?, i’d Keep feeding quality foods. Feed a little extra, the garlic will help the fish want to eat but not help with the parasites. Get the medicated food ASAP. I always feed it for a few days with new fish.
 

McFish

Goby
M.A.S.C Club Member
#9
Both Boulder shops were out of medicated food, the white spots are gone, but obviously the parasites aren’t.

Thanks for the help! I’ll get that medicated food hopefully tomorrow
 

zombie

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#10
Just keep a close eye on it. Most tanks have some ich in it and its rarely a death sentence since the immune system of most fish can keep it in check at manageable levels. Just be prepared to have something set up in a matter of days in the event that it gets out of control and QT your fish in the future. You don't want to be in the scenario I was in where I didn't QT a mandarin because everybody said their slime coat protected them and crashed my entire tank in two days from velvet.

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McFish

Goby
M.A.S.C Club Member
#11
Yeah, I'm always a bit too trusting and need to start QTing. I've got a few extra 10-20 gallon tanks from walmart, does anyone have any threads or posts they would recommend about setting up a QT with those types of tanks? I'm guessing its easiest to just pull water from my display when getting a new fish instead of keeping the tank running when empty?

Thanks for the help!
 

SynDen

Administrator
Staff member
M.A.S.C Club Member
M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
M.A.S.C President
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#12
Ya QT is a must imo, especially for tangs, anthias and any bottom/sand dwellers as they are always high in parasites, both internal and external, but really everything should go through QT, even corals, as the risk of introducing unwanted pest is very high, and could potentially cost you a ton of money
This is pretty much my guide for QT
https://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/quarantining-marine-fish-made-simple
Simple and easy. You can get more involved with other medications, and antibiotics, but this simple methods will take care of most ailments or parasites.
 

Andrew_bram

Tiger Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#13
Did you find your food in stock. If not I have about a week's worth that I could give you if you're willing to drive to Loveland

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ReefCheif

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
Platinum Sponsor
#14
Diatamatious filter can filter out free swimming ich. This in combination with a raised temp of 79-80 can usually successfully combat and erradicate ich. The raised temp interferes with the reproductive cycle keeping them free swimming allowing the filter to pull them out. Problem is finding the filter amd the powder that goes in it. Maybe one of the super old school reefers still has a diatamatious filter.

I recently introduced a purple tang into my display, was in QT with meds and antibiotics and eating very werl, within days of adding he spotted up. I simply raised my temp to 80 and started feeding nori and mysis soaked in selcon and vitachem. Within about 2 weeks it had cleared up, didnt loose a single fish, just got high NO3 from the accessive feeding.
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#15
Magnum 350, HOT Magnum or any other canister with a micron filter will work with diatomaceous earth. Be careful not to breath the diatoms - they are like a trillon tiny razorblades in your lungs. Diatoms are a seldom used treatment nowadays, but they are very effective. The stuff makes carbon look foolish for polishing water.
 
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