Another Ich Question - to move or not to move

[badfish]

Well, as some have you may have been following, i think my yellow tang may have the ich. He has been in my tank for almost two weeks, and at first he was flashing. i havent seen him flash for over a week, one day he has spots, the next day he doesnt. Currently he has a spot or two. All my fish seem healthy, all eating and acting normally. Do you think its safe to say he has the Ich? Should i move him to QT now? No other fish has a spot, or ever had a spot? Should i move them? Or should i wait to see if they get a spot, and if one gets a spot move them all?

TIA

- Jeff

[badfish]

i moved the tang over today, i left the other fish for now, and if i see any spots i will move them too. The tang doesnt look to happy in his new home. He seems to be chilling under the heater, but he does look healthy, maybe just getting used to his new surroundings.

[badfish]

Does this sound like the right thing to do? Or should i move all?

[badfish]

Does this sound like the right thing to do? Or should i move all?

If the tang has crypt, all the fish in the main tank will be potential carriers. Personally I would have waited on moving the tang since the pathobiology so far is not really conforming to a parasite. As you've pointed out and could be very true, might just be something trapped in the slime coat.

For now at least I would leave the tang in the QT and observe since it's already been moved. If it comes down with full blown crypt, tansfer the remaining fish and treat them all. If it doesn't, I would just leave it there a few weeks to be on the safe side.

Be sure to monitor the QT specs daily and feed veggie matter regularly. The tang will also benefit from a few good hiding places. PVC elbows work great.

Cheers
Steve

[badfish]

Thanks Steve, i was just worried, and didnt want to wait too long if he did have it. It could very much be something in the slime coating. I will do what you said. Do you think i should treat with copper. Obviously there is no sand in QT, so if he still has spots it will be ick. I do have PVC elbows in the QT tank. He just seems to be hanging out below the heater. I plan on monitoring levels everyday, and will probably do a water change every day, probably around 1 gallon to keep my levels in check. I hope i didnt do the wrong thing.

Originally Posted by badfish

Do you think i should treat with copper.

Not unless the tang exhibits signs of the parasite. If it does you will need to transfer the other fish first before you begin treatment. I do not support treating fish prophylactically "just in case".

What type of copper do you have?

I hope i didnt do the wrong thing.

Not really no, hindsight being what it is I'm sure the QT will be used more frequently now

Cheers
Steve

[cardinal]

imo...QT ing ick is unneeded stress !!
leave them in main tank...and moniter...
i think ick is taken too seriously by hobbyists !!
dont panic...
get into a routine of doing this......
get a little piece of garlic and crush it with the BACK of the knife (so the juice stays on the knife)..or buy oil !
run your finger along the knife(some garlic juice is now on finger) and massage it into your daily feed (i use mostly flake)
do this every other day..it takes 2 mins tops !!
this will NOT get rid of ICK..but wot this does is totally improve the health of your fish..so the fish now himself will attack the ick (in other words ..the ick will find it hard to attach itself)
I have had Fantastic results doing this !! and urge this treatment FIRST before any chemicals or QT stress to the fish !
it works for me anyways lol
good luck !

[badfish]

no cardinal, i heard of that also, and will pick up some of that garlic stuff. Steve, i have cupramine, but now i think i jumped the gun, i dont see any spots on him. maybe it was just sand in his slime coating. How long do you think i should leave him in QT before moving him back to main, couple of weeks. all fish in main are spotless. just checked my qt levels, ammonia - 0, ph - 8.2, nitrite - 0, nitrate 5. Thanks for all your help guys.

[AquaJoe]

Do to the nature of ich I would have treated the entire tank. Please read up a bit about ich's three stages of reproduction. There might be ich eggs in the sand if there ever was ich.... :|

Joe

Do not treat the main tank and do not rely on garlic. You've followed proven methodology so far, why go backwards. Treat the fish in a proper QT when/if necessary and be done with it, period. Hopefully you will continue to QT and this will never be an issue again.

Originally Posted by badfish

i dont see any spots on him. maybe it was just sand in his slime coating. How long do you think i should leave him in QT before moving him back to main, couple of weeks. all fish in main are spotless.

Excellent news so far. I would leave the tang there for at least another 3 weeks. The worst thing you could do now is jump the gun. Watch and wait, you'll be fine as long as you keep close tabs on the water parameters.

Cheers
Steve

[badfish]

im not actually treating the tang right now, just moved him to QT to monitor him more closely. ALso to see if those spots on him were actually sand that has gotten on him. By the looks of it now, it might have been just sand.

Cheers
Steve

[badfish]

Originally Posted by steve-s

Hopefully you will continue to QT and this will never be an issue again.

you got that for sure.