ich on purple tang

[jrhein]

I have had this purple tang for almost a year and recently moved him into a larger tank and have noticed that he has been stressed. He has now formed ich. What is the BEST way to treat the fish if I do not have a QT tank?

[Reef69]

Honestly IMO, nothing kills ich but hyposalinity and copper. I would suggest you buy a 10 gal. tank, $10-$15 bucks, a cheap filter, maybe a small whisper or a liberty, lower the salinity in the 10 gal. to 1.014 or so..and treat with copper, thats what i would do, I am by no means a certified fish doctor, this is based on my own experiences. Good luck, I know ich can be a pain.

[Tim Marvin]

Soak some flake food with garlic juice and feed that for a few weeks. The ich will be gone.

[Yano]

how long should you soak the food?

[jrhein]

And do I buy the garlic in the bottle and use the juice or do they make just garlic juice? I think I just found some. They said they sell it at HEB.



Thanks

[DeletedAccount]

And a cleaner shrimp or a neon goby will help to keep it from becoming a problem again...

[Reef69]

If that was the case, i would buy garlic xtreme instead of looking for some at HEB, It will take a WHILE for the ich to be gone with garlic, depending how severe the case is, good luck.

[DeletedAccount]

Ich is one of those things that will crop up from time to time when fish are stressed. Nothing is going to get rid of it 100% in your tank. The garkic is suppose to boost the immune system some, but, more importantly, it illicits a feeding response. If the fish stays well fed it can fight off the illness better. Many fish die of things like ich because they stop eating and their immune systems cannot fight off the parasite. The cleaner critters help to get it under control, too. I would go invest in a few cleaner shrimp or neon gobies.

Also, try to figure out what is causing the stress within the new system. If it is another fish, try rearranging the rockwork a little. This may help to reduce aggression.

Good luck!

[jrhein]

O.K. I have my QT tank set up, with nothing but a filter on it. Do I need to put anything else in there? And how long do I need to leave the purple tang in the tank to get rid of its ich?

[Reef69]

well IMO, DONT put a substrate in it, you can put a piece of PVC so the fish can feel protected inside of it..remove the carbon from the filter if you are going to use copper. Everytime you feed, soak the food on garlic, make sure the temperature is steady and doesnt fluctuate alot..the only time my regal got ich, it took 3 weeks to completely clear, have him there for at least two and see how he does, and in the mean time check what might have caused it, if it was a fish he has a rivalry with take measures..This is on my own expreiences, hope it helps..and also, dont put any shrimp in the QT tank if you are to use copper..Good luck

[GaryP]

I put a clay flower pot in my so that the fish could have a place to hide.

Also buy a copper test kit to make sure your level is where it needs to be. Since you are running a bare bones filtration system, weekly water changes are a necessity.

Another thing I did was keep 1-2 mollies in the tank just to keep the biologicals in the bio-wheel going between times I had fish in the QT. Mollies are brackish water fish and do well in a hyposalinity tank.

Gary

[jrhein]

Thats weird. I saw salt water mollies for the first time today. Thanks for all the information.