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Yellow Eye Tang

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Dec 5, 2002
Messages
212
Location
Springfield, MO
Hey, ive got a reef / Fish aquarium ive had going for quite some time now. My fish and Inverts have been doing very well. Two weeks ago i bought a yellow eyed tang and he has been doing my tank very good here. I just got home from work and noticed that he has the dreaded specles of ICK on him. Im really worried that he will spread it to the others and was wondering one thing. Should i remove him and treat him alone with antibiotics or should i remove my inverts and treat the main tank? Hes been there for only two weeks and i see no sign of it on any of the other fish. Please, if ya know the best way to cure this let me know. Im willing to do whatever ti takes. The tang has been stressed since i got him and im hoping he is the only one to recieve it. Thank you very much ill be anxiously awaiting some replies. --- Llegolis
 
I have to ask "why was the tang stressed?"

You say its been stressed since teh beginning.

I am a strong avocate of garlic treatment for ich. This is a totally safe treatment for your inverts. Just soak the food you feed the tang in garlic oil for 20-30min before you feed.

What are you feeding your tang?


Never treat the main tank if at all possible.

Unless you have some form of fish trap catching the fish could be more stressful on the fish.
 
Thanks for the reply :D Ive been feeding nothing but brine shrimp since the day i started the tank. It seems the tang has been overly excited since i got him. He's always eaten very well, but sometimes points vertical and shakes in the current. Even now, as i look at him, he eats algae, but is very sporadic and once again, overly excited about it. His movements are very quick and most of the time he rushes back and forth (almost like trying to shed himself of the ICK). I hadent heard of the garlic treatment and it sounds like a great idea. Just wondering, is it then ok to feed all the fish the garlic treatment being as their feasting on the same meal? Or should i isolate the tang to do this. Thanks again for the feedback and i look forward to hearing from ya... --- Llegolis
 
Well I know of a few methods to cure saltwater Ich, Long durations in quinine are often, but not always, successful. Long durations in copper sulfate are more reliable but have to be administered over a considerable period. Once the Ich is gone by looking at the fish continue with the treatment for at least 5 days.

I'd try the garlic method first, copper is very tough to manage, you have to know how much to put in without killing the fish.

Just my 2 cents.
 
I have a Powder Blue Tang that gets Ich at the drop of the hat.
I put a dropper full of Kents Garlic-Extra in my tank (75 gal.)
This starts to get rid of the ich in 24 hrs. then keep daily dosing for as long as Ich is present. Then I put a dropper full weekly. This is okay for the other fish even if they don't have Ich. Just remember Garlic is not a medication only a helps to minimize Ich but it does remove it from my fish. As FishFreek said you can soak the food in it also, My tang won't touch the food soaked in it, But I may be putting to much on the food.
Good luck. Also if possible limit movement around your tank and try to find out what is stressing your tang.
 
wolverine121 said:
Long durations in copper sulfate are more reliable but have to be administered over a considerable period. Once the Ich is gone by looking at the fish continue with the treatment for at least 5 days.

I'd try the garlic method first, copper is very tough to manage, you have to know how much to put in without killing the fish.

Just my 2 cents.

To add to this NEVER add copper to your main tank. If you do you can say goodbye to ever having inverts in your tank as copper is deadly to them. IF you treat with copper make sure you do it in a quarinteen tank independant of the main tanks water supply.
 
What are your current water parameters. Include temp and Salinity please.

I would leave the Tang be and do nothing. If you want to add Garlic to the food I don't see how it can harm anything. I'm not a believer in it's properties, but that's just me :)

Your feeding routine could be improved. I suggest you find some frozen Mysis shrimp and feed the tang heavily for a few days. Tangs are a highly active fish and need a lot of calories. The Hufa's in the Mysis Shrimp will help a lot.
 
Thanks fishfreek, I forgot to add that you need a hospital tank. Nice catch, you are right, everything else you can say bye bye to if you do it in a main tank. Thanks for catching my flaw.
 
In my inexpert opinion, I would say the tang wants more greenery. Try feeding it the dry seaweed that is available at the LFS. If it is getting excited at a little algae, it will be ecstatic over the seaweed. It is most likely what it wants to be eating.
If it gets what it wants to eat, it won't be so stressed.
 
Wow, thanks everyone....

Ok, im going to try to answer the questions that ive been asked in the above posts. The specs on the tank are this : Temperature is a constant 78 degrees. And my salinity is right between 1.021 and 1.022. I originally got the tang because my rocks had a VERY slight coating here and there of hair algae. The Rocks were bought all new and none of them were live except one that i bought covered in coralline, so really the hair algae growth is not that much. I assumed the tang would be able to clean it fairly quickly. He is still working it and WOW he does a great job. Looking at him this morning really has my stomach aching. He is happily moving about the tank eating but then he rushes back and forth suddenly like hes itching badly. During the day its much harder to see the ich on him but at night when my blues kick on alone, they show up much better. Im starting a 10 gallon salt tank behind me just in case i needed to isolate him. He never touches brine shrimp (wich is all i feed) but he eats algae better then my lawnmower blenny! Anyways i went out last night and got a cleaner shrimp in hopes they might snuggle, but no sign of it yet. (after about 18 hours) Like fishfreek said my tank is filled with growths including different varieties of colerpa plants. Grape and the typical seaweed looking kind so catching him is gonna be next to impossible. I WILL do it though if it is my only option. I Thanks for the help everyone i look forward to hearing back again. Oh, one more thing, that kent's ich stuff that was mentioned ; will it harm my sea anemone or my star polyps?
 
Water perameters.....

Forgot to mention im using Kent's Hi-S Maxxima R/o water in this tank with sea clone 100 skimmer, Skilter Filter, and Regent 60 gallon powerhead. ---- Llegolis
 
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