Yellow Tang - ICH

[evil Nick]

Well it happened, my yellow tang finally got it off my clown goby I guess. The goby passed last week in QT and I thought my tang was safe enough but I Noticed the white spots on his fin late last night.
Getting him into a QT would be near impossible as he is faster than light and ducks into rocks even when I go to feed him.
I havent tested the water yet since I found this really late and am at work right now so Ill get those readings later but I wanted a head start in asking at least. Does ANYONE know of any reef safe ich meds.

I know Prazi Pro and paraguard were plant safe in my FW tanks and worked with great success but I havent found much for reef except garlic and QT, and when I look up yellow tanks with ich almost everyone says they can never get their tangs into a QT.

I found this.

Chem-Marin Stop Parasites
Ich and External Parasite Treatments: Chem-Marin Stop Parasites at Foster & Smith Aquatics


Does anyone have any exp with it? I have a UV sterilizer on my FW tank I Can move over for a while with some work but Im wondering if its worth it. I am hitting the LFS today for supplies so I will try to find something and maybe give the garlic a try but I have NEVER had luck getting fish to eat anything with garlic in it, they simply spit it out and there seems to be enough stuff in the tank for the tang to munch without my food for him to make his own choices.

Thanks

Its a 29 gallon (the TANG is VERY juvie and I will swap him when hes to big) running a 65gallon rated skimmer.

Speaking of skimmers, Ive wondered since ICH is a free floating parasite, do they get skimmed out? I mean if the skimmer can do tiny particles of detritus wouldnt it grab the parasites as well? Im wondering if putting my own skimmer in conjunction with my new one to double skim a while if it would help.

[melosu58]

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

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

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

[evil Nick]

Ive actually read all that in the past. I now do have a QT setup for emergencies but even then Ive also read you would have to QT a fish for MONTHS, not just a single parasitic life cycle to near eradicate the ich. I will more than likely start doing it anyway and medicating during the QT. The issue I always see with QT'ing a fish is you are stressing it with the moves so even if it has one little parasite that survived on it you are making it suseptable.

Oddly the white dots I saw last night are gone (stopped home at lunch). So maybe they were either sand, which I Doubt, or the ich burst and things are about to get worse REALLY soon.
I Would pull him and QT him but catching him will be near impossible. If it was one of the 2 clowns that would be easy, those things are dumber than rocks and literally ram my arm when Im feeding the corals, but this guy is sharp, too sharp honestly.

[Sniperhank]

There simply aren't any reef safe ich meds. The only current 'cures' are copper based medications or hyposalinity. Neither can be used in the display tank.

[Mebbid]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

There simply aren't any reef safe ich meds. The only current 'cures' are copper based medications or hyposalinity. Neither can be used in the display tank.

+1 Agreed

[evil Nick]

alright guys, got it. Its just you read around and see products like kick ich and so forth that state reef safe. I read reviews and they all seem decent but you never know if its sellers making the reviews and such. The tang seems okay now, Im watching him close but I also found some fish "traps" I read online I could try if this becomes a problem. I know for a fact I will NOT be able to catch this fish.

Now with that stated, my QT is only a 5 gallon. I figured I could throw a rock and some cheato in there but I still think 5 gallons for an extended period is going to stress the fish anyway. Is it plausible to keep a juvie tang in a 5 gallon QT for a couple weeks if meds are being used. Mostly just paraguard and prazi. I prefer to keep clear of copper based stuff. Then again unless Im treating all 4 fish I could put him back after medicating and he catches it right away again.

Think its better off to just monitor for now and as a last resort medicate all 4? Again that would be 4 guys in a 5 gallon unless I can get something bigger and a place to even keep it.

[Sniperhank]

You could treat in the 5 if it's only the one fish, but it'd require close monitoring for water changes if the parameters move.
You could also try freshwater dips if you could catch the bugger.
I guess at this point, if this was my system, I'd do big water changes and monitor the system. There is a reason the fish is stressed enough to get ill. Only options are almost always parameters or bullying.

[evil Nick]

def dont think its bullying. If anything hes the biggest fish and pushes the others around during feeding. If anything hes stressed about losing his spot to the cleaner shrimp. Youd think they would get along but the cleaner took his rock hole and he will NOT go near him.

I do a pretty sizable water change each week with RODI water and res sea salt. My salinity is always spot on and I cant see much doing major changes. I just upgraded my skimmer so I dont know if that stressed him. My yellow clown I think was being bullied and stressed a bit which is why he caved to the ich. Ive noticed since he is gone tho my fire goby is out much more. I didnt think they would bother each other being diff species but who knows.
Ill be doing my water change tonight of about 8 gallons in my 29 (mostly displaced with rock) so thats pretty large. Havent seen anything on him since so fingers crossed.

[Brookster123]

You're making changes on this system frequently? I hate to be to the one... you said it yourself, tang moves it.. think it's best in such a small tank?? Probably stressing it a bit, prone to ich and all.. may want to rethink the tank, I've followed your posts, seems as though you're indecisive at best as to the permanent fixture that will home these fish?? Wise man once told me.. "with sw, you can/need to make all the changes necessary to benefit the system early on, once it reaches a certain point every change, small or large could be a problem.

[Sniperhank]

I'd bank on the lack of swimming space. I didn't pick up on the size of the system. It has been theorized that the long distance swimming that many tangs do at speed assists them with keeping parasites off of them.

[evil Nick]

Well I may have to look at rehoming it early then.
To bad is a nice looking fish and it doesn't seem there are alot of smaller fish that are very attractive easily available. He has been pretty fine as of now and I did plan to re-home him eventually anyway.
Have any replacement suggestions

[evil Nick]

Originally Posted by Brookster123

You're making changes on this system frequently? I hate to be to the one... you said it yourself, tang moves it.. think it's best in such a small tank?? Probably stressing it a bit, prone to ich and all.. may want to rethink the tank, I've followed your posts, seems as though you're indecisive at best as to the permanent fixture that will home these fish?? Wise man once told me.. "with sw, you can/need to make all the changes necessary to benefit the system early on, once it reaches a certain point every change, small or large could be a problem.

Not many changes, I just upgraded the skimmer. No different than removing it and cleaning it really. I was just in debate lately on switching to a bio cube for space purposes but bailed, I just think they're cool looking