Ich?

[bigdman]

My clown tang seems to rub his face(yes only his face), not his gills and body along the sand bed. Except there are no signs of ich at all(spots, heavy breathing) None of the other fish seem affected although that could be due to the UV sterilizer. He's been doing it for weeks(4-5). I dont want to treat for something I dont know he has because I'd rather not stress everything in the tank out. I have a QT tank but I just set it up and needs time to cycle. He's eating algea sheets fine, actually he's ravenous. He also eats bits of krill.

He has no signs of anything else either. His scales, fins look perfect. The only thing I can come up with is maybe it's ich and the cleaner shrimp are eating it faster then I can see it develop. He does stop to get cleaned but the shrimp dont go after his gills like I've seen them do with fish with ich in a different tank I had. They seem to clean off his body more and his mouth.

I heard you can use garlic in the food help with ich and some other diseases/parasites. Does it need to be soaked overnight in the food? Should I put it directly into the tank everyday? Thanks

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Personally, I wouldn't do a thing. If there's no sign of ich, and the fish isn't acting stressed or sick, then I wouldn't do anything. Fish will flash sometimes for no reason... at least no reason that's apparent to us. My yellow clown goby "flashes" off my maze brain coral at times, and I've finally figured out that he's doing it to cause some flow over the surface of the coral that will kick food up for him to eat.

Regarding garlic, folks normally use garlic extract and add a couple drops to the food they're feeding (frozen or freeze dried). No need to soak overnight, and I wouldn't put it directly in the tank. You don't want to overdose it - too much can cause them to not eat. The theory is that the garlic increases the immune system of the fish.

 

[ezy33]

Garlic Extreme. Read the directions.

 

[melosu58]

I would do as kurt said and just observe him for now. I have 3 tangs in my tank and every once in a while they will flash. It must be a tang thing. As far as garlic it does not get rid of the parasite. It just causes the fish to eat thus raising his immune system. Here is an article on garlic.

Garlic: What has been Studied Versus What has been Claimed by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com

If you do find out you have the parasite let me know and I`ll send you some good links on treatment of it.

 

[bigdman]

Thanks guys, I'll keep you updated if anything else pops up.

 

[BucJason]

somtimes they just have an itch they need to scratch , just like humans.