Blue Tang Progress

[Sherri]

Wow...what can happen overnight! My sm blue tang really had a lot of ick on him last night, but acting very normal & happy...eating well, and finding the cleaner shrimp everyonce and a while. This AM I get up and I barely see any ick at all and the cleaner shrimp is staying on him. Mind blowing and really cool at the same time. I am so use to freshwater. I stayed with the "cleaner shrimp" concept Troy...looks like it just may work. Josh...will do the garlic extract in his food which will even better the situation. And Dj...He is an awesome addition to a tank...ick & all! Just make him happy with his surroundings & have cleaner shrimp & garlic on hand! haha

And if he does outgrow my 100 gal...I'll donate him to SeaWorld! :-D

Hmmm...shrimp & garlic...sounds good for dinner tonight... :rotf:

Thanks again Josh, Troy & Chris for all your imput. It makes experiencing this that much better...

Sherri

[MikeP]

Sherri, glad he's doing well. My gobies are always cehcking out my hippo tang but I haven't seen any visible spots. He's very active unless I come up to the tank he hides in his little cave. He seems to like mysis I also leave nori sheets under my cleaning magnet a few times a week for him and the other critters to graze one. I still reccomend getting a neon goby if you can, the bioload is negligible and they can help out on cleaning.

[Tim Marvin]

I'm not so sure it is really ick that they break out with from time to time. It seems to clear almost overnight which doesn't seem possible if it was truely ick. I have great results with the garlic extract though.

[Sherri]

Yeah Tim...I kinda questioned if its ick or not too. It's like some days he has it & some he doesn't. As many yrs as I was in freshwater (african cichlids) I had that tendency to react the same. I fed him this AM with a drop of garlic extract and he ate it. He doesn't hid when I approach the tank...he's swimming along side the clowns.

I'm happy...he's happy and the shrimp is happy.

Funny what you learn on first hand experiences, huh?!

Thanks guys...

Sherri

[witecap4u]

My cleaner shrimp and fish seem to have nothing to do with each other. Do they work nocternally? I have never seen any spots on any of my fish, not even my clown tang, so maybe they just have no reason to stop by the cleaner....

Sounds like yours is doing his job though....cool...cs

[Troy Valentine]

Witecap4u-

My fish have virtually nothing to do with my cleaner shrimp either, accept once in a blue moon they will get a quick cleaning, like a car wash. However whenever I add a new fish or rock to the tank the shrimp jump on it, as if to sanitize it before it releases anything into my tank, that will harm my fish. Perhaps I personify these little shrimp to much, but I love having them in my tanks, and I have found them to be invaluable for maintaining parasites in the tank.

[witecap4u]

Cool, maybe mine are stopping by when im not around. All I ever see my cleaner do is sit on the prefilter for one of my powerheads, and pig out when I add any kind of fish food(flakes, live brine, algae sheet....) He will also come up and pick at your finger/hand/arm if you have it in the water...

cs

[djdubdub]

Thanks for the tip, Sherry...

I am leaning toward the blue tangs myself... I want to weigh my options and think really hard about what I'm going to get... I want to try to add a few fish at a time, so that there are no "territorial" problems... Hope my Damsels are ready for some tank-mates...

It's great to have so many people knowledgable on the ick subject... I know if (when) I do get more fish, 2 or 3 cleaner shrimp will also accompany my purchase...

Thanks again...DJ