Blue Tang sick

[Kimber]

Help I purchased my first blue tang and when it got to my house it was belly up in the bag. Still slightly moving I floated the bag added water ect..... finally released it. It floated up, then down then back up and stuck to the skimmer gate. I was so upset!!!!! I left it , went to bed and when I came down the next morning the light was on and there it was swimming around. Its made friends with my Yellow Tang and they eat and swim around together. Although now the blue tang has white spots and a slight cloudy film on it. The fish store recommended MELAFIX all natural fish remedy. It says to remove carbon filter and turn off protein skimmer, carbon was gone in the beginning and I have urned off skimmer. It says that it is safe for reef aquariums containing invertebrates, corals , anemones ect... which I have. Although my LT Anemone is not looking to happy and my blue tang still has white spots and film. Do I continue? Oh I should mention I have a 34 gallon plug and play Red Sea Max.
Any advice would be of great help! I am so new to alll this.

 

[melosu58]

Do not use melafix for ick. It will not work. Read these links. You`ll need to QT and treat.

An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure: A Quarantine Tank for Everything by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com

Marine Ich/Cryptocaryon irritans - A Discussion of this Parasite and the Treatment Options Available, Part I by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com

Marine Ich/Cryptocaryon irritans - A Discussion of this Parasite and the Treatment Options Available, Part II by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com

CRYPTOCARYON IRRITANS

 

[roka64]

With a 34G tank, neither tang will be happy....Sorry to be the bearer of bad news....

 

[Kimber]

With a 34G tank, neither tang will be happy....Sorry to be the bearer of bad news....

I totally understand where you are coming from although I am hoping to upgrade tank size in a year and a bit. Both Tang are extremely small. I am just worried about the blue one that has spots. He/She is looking better. I was told to try a fresh water dip and I tried it. Fingers crossed its looking better eating and racing around the tank

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

You have two surefire options for treating ich, and both require that you don't treat in the main tank if you have inverts. Copper based medications or hyposalinity treatment are the only two things that will really get rid of ich. Melafix/Pimafix *may* have some antibacterial/antifungal properties, but you're dealing with a parasite, and any of the herbal remedies will do nothing but drag things out longer and waste you money. Fresh water dips will only stress out your fish, and do nothing to the parasite.

Read up on ich - it's a nasty little bugger. It will come in waves and will seem like it disappears for a while. That's the normal life cycle of the thing. When it disappears, it's just going through a reproduction cycle after which it will come back even stronger and with more parasites.

 

[melosu58]

I posted in your other thread about the parasite. IMO FW dips do no good at all plus they stress an already stressed out fish even more. I`ve never seen it do anything but kill the fish. Maybe other have had good luck with it but not me. If it was me I would just go ahead and treat your fish for ick and avoid all the quick fixes. JMO

I see where I already posted them at the beginning of this thread. Did you read them? BTW I`m moving this thread to the sick fish forum.

 

[Kimber]

Sorry i have not read it yet. I am still learning my way around this site.

 

[Kimber]

Just an update. Blue Tang looks like it pulled through whatever it had!!! Spots are gone as well as the white film. He/She looks great!!!! If it was the one dose of Melafix, PWC or the FW Dip???? Thanks for all you help :>

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Well I hope it wasn't ich, and truly IS gone, but...

...Read up on ich - it's a nasty little bugger. It will come in waves and will seem like it disappears for a while. That's the normal life cycle of the thing.

 

[Kimber]

I will defiantly read up on it thanks so much