KidKat8807
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I've had my 300 gal running for a little over a year now, the inhabitants are a copperband butterfly, an emperror angel, a yellow tang, a hippo tang, dot dash butterfly, undulate triggerfish, ocealris clown fish, 5 assorted damsels, and most importantly a marbled bamboo cat shark. And now it would seem I've got ich! It all started with my hippo tang about a week ago, and it's still a pretty mild case(knock on wood) with only the hippo tang and the emperor angelfish being mostly affected. I'm pretty sure it's stress related as the triggerfish has been relentlessly hounding its tankmates. I've added more ornaments to offer more hiding places and treated with Mocrobe-lift artemiss(milafix essentially). After a few days I noticed the tang wasn't clearing up so I started a 5 day treatment with instant ocean life-guard( a new non-antibiotic agent supposedly effective against marine ich and oodinium). I'll be on day 5 tomorrow, hippo tang is still showing no improvement, the emperor angel(has a few spots on him now too) is scratching on rocks, so is the dot dash butterfly(no ich visible on the surface), and the copperband butterfly is beginning to as well. Of all of them I've been watching my copperband most carefully because they usually are the most susceptible to disease and parasites, and he also happens to have had a large chunk taken out of his tail fin prior to all this happening; however, I have to mention that out of all the fish he is showing almost no symptoms on the surface, no spots or excess slime, just itching every once in a while. I'm hesitant to treat with copper because I've heard it's nearly fatal to sharks. However if all else fails on day 7 after a 25% water change I will proceed with "quick cure", it's never failed me with my freshwater tanks, and almost always gotten rid of the ich(has killed a few fish though, which is what worries me). All in all it appears the damsels(though two of them missing some chunks out of them) the clownfish, and the yellow tang appear unaffected still. And to add one more crucial detail, all my fish are pretty tiny still, the biggest fish in the tank happens to be my copperband butterfly at roughly 5", and my marbled cat shark is only about 6" or so.
I guess what I'm really looking for here is a confirmation that I'm on a right course of action. And any other suggestion would be immensely welcomed. This is my first personal saltwater tank, however, I've worked as a manager for a big chain pet store for many years, so I pretty much know the ropes. Oh, and yes, I plan to expand to a bigger tank, I have a 1200 gal being custom made for me, ready in March.
I guess what I'm really looking for here is a confirmation that I'm on a right course of action. And any other suggestion would be immensely welcomed. This is my first personal saltwater tank, however, I've worked as a manager for a big chain pet store for many years, so I pretty much know the ropes. Oh, and yes, I plan to expand to a bigger tank, I have a 1200 gal being custom made for me, ready in March.