Fish With Ich HELP!!!

[Gena1985]

I've had my blue tang in my DT for about 2 months now and he now has ich pretty bad and I noticed it on other fish aswell... I've set up a Hospital tank for them with water from the DT, heater, carbon removed, and an air stone with some clay pots for them to hide in ( the PVC piping that I could find had all been treated so I got the pots from a pet shop)

I wanted to know cause I did read some where that you shouldn't use an air stone while treating is that true or false???

and I have a Ruby Cleaner Wrasse in there and wanted to know if cupramine will be safe to use with her cause I read somewhere else that thier ? Wrasse died... she is such a pretty fish and I don't want to kill her off....

all fish are still eating well feeding on garlic red algae and brine shrimp....

on the plus side of things when I pulled out my rock to get out the blue tang I found a purple and green mushroom yay..... I must be doing something right in this tank cause I haven't brought any corals yet

Oh and It's oko to let them settle into their new home over night before I start treatment right????

 

[Jmkb02]

How many fish do you have? Also how big is your DT?

 

[Gena1985]

6 Fish in a 240 LTR tank

 

[Jmkb02]

6 Fish in a 240 LTR tank

Well I hate to play the "tang police card" but that is probably one of the reasons it's happening. Tangs, all of them, need at least a 6 foot long (approx. 2 meters). If you don't have any corals, other than the freebies, have you thought of treating most or all of your tank? I haven't heard of using air stones in a positive or negative but I would assume more oxygen would boost their immune a bit to help. What are you planning to treat with? What other fish are in the tank??

 

[Gena1985]

no offense tang police lol... I had a Blue Tang for about 5 years before he died from a bubble in the swim bladder in a smaller tank then i have now... the tang i have now is about 1" long only a baby and he is happy in the tank now but if he out grows the tank i'll find him a new home....

i have a sleeping goby, ruby wrasse, demsels

i only want to add 3 more fish over a period of time and a few little corals...

i spend many hours watching my tank so I know how they act towards one another and the blue tang doesn't get bullied if anything he likes to go and find all the fish and get them out swimming with him.... he has a great personality

 

[Jmkb02]

Yeah hippos are pretty cool to watch, have you thought of buying a cleaner shrimp and/or cleaner fish? ESpecially with the hippo as this will prob be ongoing. They get ich pretty often for some reason

 

[Gena1985]

I'm going to treat them with seachem Cupramine but I'm going to the 1 drop per 4ltrs the first 48 hours and repeat every 2 days till I have the reading of .5 thought I'd take my time getting it to that dose cause I have never done it before and a weee bit scared LOL

 

[Beengirl]

Hope the treatment works!!! Let us know how it goes!! I've never had to treat ich (fingers crossed), and it scares the crap out of me!!! So I have no helpful advice, just encouragement!!!

 

[Jmkb02]

I'm going to treat them with seachem Cupramine but I'm going to the 1 drop per 4ltrs the first 48 hours and repeat every 2 days till I have the reading of .5 thought I'd take my time getting it to that dose cause I have never done it before and a weee bit scared LOL

Well I've never used it before, went with the shrimp and he pretty much keeps all my fish looking perdy. Good luck, hope it works out.

 

[Gena1985]

I have a Ruby Cleaner Wrasse my pet shop said it does a better job then the normal cleaner wrasse personally I think the common Cleaner Wrasse is better....

The Blue tang doesn't let him clean him I think it's because the wrasse is a bigger then him....

My other tang That I had he only got ich once and I fixed him up with a wrasse I figure it's the natural way of fighting this pest and tangs are wild so it's in their nature to go looking for a cleaner of some sort to help out....

he did try to get the peppermint shrimp to help him but they just ran away from him....

but now the fish are in the hospital tank the shrimp are coming out more rather then hiding out and eating from the bottom of the tank if im not hand feeding them...

I Would love nothing more then to get a cleaner shrimp for my tank but I can't afford $200 at this point just yet for 1 shrimp ( Sucks being an aussie in this hobby)

 

[Beengirl]

I have a Ruby Cleaner Wrasse my pet shop said it does a better job then the normal cleaner wrasse personally I think the common Cleaner Wrasse is better....

The Blue tang doesn't let him clean him I think it's because the wrasse is a bigger then him....

My other tang That I had he only got ich once and I fixed him up with a wrasse I figure it's the natural way of fighting this pest and tangs are wild so it's in their nature to go looking for a cleaner of some sort to help out....

he did try to get the peppermint shrimp to help him but they just ran away from him....

but now the fish are in the hospital tank the shrimp are coming out more rather then hiding out and eating from the bottom of the tank if im not hand feeding them...

I Would love nothing more then to get a cleaner shrimp for my tank but I can't afford $200 at this point just yet for 1 shrimp ( Sucks being an aussie in this hobby)

Holy cats!!!! $200 for a cleaner shrimp??!!! They're like $25 bucks here!!!! Australia is completely surrounded by saltwater!! Why on earth is a common SW life form so ungodly expensive there??!! That makes no sense!! They are ripping you off! I gotta go there and open a LFS!!

 

[Gena1985]

i think its because of where they come from and how easy it is to get them... also alot of our waters you cant get fish from cause they are protected funny thing is i live across the road from the beach but dont go swimming cause of huge fears of sharks.... where i live is one of the common breading grounds for great whites and you walk along the beach and see them in the waves lol so ill keep to fish tanks.... i have a diver friend that is going to catch me a moorish idol when i upgrade tanks again to the red sea 650 but need to save the dollars for it first and they arent cheap here either but it will be big enough for my tang lol.... id love to open a shop here cause my closest shop is an hour awau but ive made good friend with my lps and they order in anything i need

 

[Beengirl]

Yeah, I have a shark fear too. Whenever I go to the beach, don't go in more than thigh deep. I know, some can come up that shallow- don't remind me. Lol. I've heard that great whites kinda meet up there. That's gotta suck. And I heard its where people like to surf too. No way would I get in that water!!!!!

 

[Jmkb02]

So how they doing now?? Any updates?? Inprovment??

 

[Lt.]

I'd was about to suggest a gradual salt treatment, but.... I just realized which sub forum I'mreading! -P

 

[JustinKBreen]

Cleaner fish and shrimp are great but they won't stop ich. All the fish need to be treated in a hospital tank. If you treat the main tank it will kill any inverted now and in the future if you use a copper treatment. The copper will leach into the sand and rock

 

[Gena1985]

Sorry I Haven't replied for a couple of days between work and trying to keep the hospital tank stable its a full time job along with 3 kids....

My Blue Tang and Sleeping Goby were to far infected and died....

all other fish are responding to the treatment well.... I have the copper treatment sitting in-between .25 and .50 only because I'm not sure if the ruby wrasse is able to handle the treatment....

Also can I add more corals and inverts to the tank while it's sitting for the 2 months with no fish????

and I have had a algae bloom in the DT and was reading on the Seachem product SeaGel which has carbon and Phos Guard mixed together.... Would this help with the bloom.... to be honest I don't have a phosphate test kit been trying to get one for a couple of months but the LPS said they also are having trouble getting them in.... short supply

it's just I'm tired of my tank looking like it has brown fur everywhere...

So Anyone that has used this product and found it useful please tell me....

last test I had done the LPS said the water has a little phosphates in their but it was good to have a little was he right or giving bad advise???

oh and off topic has anyone started a tank from fresh sea water.... I've been asked to do this for a dive shop so they can catch a few fish from the big blue and put them in it.... and as payment they are going to get me a moorish idol and a few other expensive fish from the ocean and yes catch the chemical free... we must be nice to them.... and some may say that I shouldn't do it but the moorish idol they travel down to our waters over summer but don't travel north to warmer waters for winter so they die here so I guess I could say I'm saving one or 2.... think it will take a few go's (fishys) to get their doet right for them to live in captive

 

[Capncavey]

I am curious how you would be doing water changes with sea water? What I think would work is if you took a sea water sample and temperature check and work from there. Living in New England I would have to use a chiller.