need good advise

[nola reef]

ihave been told that tangs should be in 75gal. minimum but i have 3 in a 60gal. i recently added a powder blue tang, and a couple of days ago it started getting ich what should i do? all other fish are fine. i have been useing ich attack to try to get rid of it. thinkin bout bringing the powder blue back and just sticking with my yellow and sailfin. just lookin for a lil help

 

[melosu58]

Ok this is going to be a two part answer. 1) Those ick medications dont work. You`ll need to QT your fish and treat with hyposalinity. Here are some good articles to read

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

ATJ's Marine Aquarium Site - Reference - Hyposalinity Treatment

2) the second part is that you need to get rid of two of the tangs. three tangs in a 60 gallon tank was a very bad idea. Tangs are very suseptable to ich and three of them crowded together in a 60 just complicated things. Now they`ll have to spend 60 days in a QT to be treated with hypo and the main fishless for the same amount of time. I hope things work out

 

[nola reef]

thanks for tha advise. does it matter which one i take out? i would like to keep either my sailfin or yellow. i have a 30g tank set up with only inverts and a green spotted goby should i put my other fish in that tank?

 

[catmel]

Yellow is going to be your better choice for a ' smaller ' tank

 

[nola reef]

sweet now next prob. can i kill the fish if i chase them too long or stress out my other fish in tryin to catch the powder blue

 

[AMDPhenomX4]

Wait til nightime and turn the daylight lights on at around 2AM when the fish are asleep, and grab the powder blue while hes knocked out from the light.

 

[Zer0]

Yeah, sorry if i sounded harsh before, i didnt mean it at all. And all the advice you just got is all extremely good advice. I would suggest doing some of the things said above, this way you AND the fish will live happy lives See what happens when you make your own thread!? Alot more people reply! Thats all i was trying to say.. sorry

Also, im kindof confused about one thing.. the 75G sump. Why wouldnt just make the 75G your main tank, this way you CAN have the tangs! And then just make the 60G your sump. idk, just wondering.

 

[catmel]

sweet now next prob. can i kill the fish if i chase them too long or stress out my other fish in tryin to catch the powder blue

You'll probably stress them out a great deal, but no worse than they are. They have little chance of surviving the ich with no treatment in crowded conditions in the main tank. Its best to try and get them out, put them in a QT ( seperate if possible) and treat them with hyposalinity or copper ( please reasearch whatever method you choose)

 

[nola reef]

no harm done Zer0. sorry my sump is only 30g. does it matter if i have a moonlight on the tank? should i turn it off as well or does it make a diff. man these things are very fast. i can catch the sailfin no prob but the pbt keeps hiding behind my rocks aaaaarrrggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Zer0]

Oh ok, i thought you said you had a 75G sump.

Anyways, yeah tangs are extremely good swimmers, hence the bigger tanks they need. Im pretty sure the moonlights wont affect it. As soon as those main lights go out, they will start to calm down. Although, if they dont.. then theres really no harm in shutting off the monlights to see if that works right?

 

[nola reef]

no harm Zer0. my sump is only 30g sorrybout that. even if my other fish dont have ich do i still ned to qt them

 

[Zer0]

The other fish? No. If they dont have ich, then theres no need. Its only for the fish that DO have ich.

 

[nola reef]

so when they calm down go in for the kill?would u recommend i take them all out? the tangs

 

[Zer0]

Yep, when they calm down is when it would cause least stress on them, and you for that matter.. hehe

 

[nola reef]

ok caught pbt at about midnight, transfered him to 30g to start medicating. so far none of the other fish have ich. when i woke up this mornin turned on all tank lights pbt looked a little less stressed. my yellow and sailfin have started swimming around more since i removed the pb. i did a little measuring on my tank last night and i think it maybe either 75g or 90g. its about 4ft long 2-3ft wide and about 30 to 36in deep. thank everyone for the advise hope to talk to yall soon

 

[Innovator]

Ummmm going by the base measurements you gave you would have a 150g...better double check those numbers since that is a vast difference from 75g or 90g.

You need to qt all the fish since the main tank must now remain fallow if ich is present. I can't imagine 3 tangs sharing a 30g qt unless very small so you may have to purchase another. I would return 2 of the tangs if possible. Hyposalinity should last around 30 days if done properly.

 

[InfernoST]

no harm Zer0. my sump is only 30g sorrybout that. even if my other fish dont have ich do i still ned to qt them

Yes you do, the ich is still present in your tank and is searching for a host which is your next fish. I'm going thru it now, I set up a 20 gal QT and spent 3 hrs getting the fish out of my 120 last night and into the QT, the only problem was I had to remove 150lbs of rock to do it. Your fish may not show signs of ich now but they will and when they do it's not nice, those moving salt spots took out my Caribbean Blue in no time, it looked like bubbles to me and I couldn't tell the difference, when I did spot it, it was too late. The DT tank is going to remain empty for 4 to 6 weeks to allow the ich life cycle to expire and the fish are now going thru Hypo for probably up to 8 weeks if need be. My mistake was not having a QT, now I do and from now on everything will go through QT.
Do yourself a favor and setup a QT and take care of it now. Do take caution, only the fish (and live rock with no invertebrates) can go thru HYPO with the exception of sharks and Rays. The decision is yours, I hope everything works out for you and good luck.