Ichy Situation

[sweetrav18]

I can only imagine the amount of threads posted on this subject! I noticed today that my flame angel and clown tang have ich. I purchased a product from the LFS called "Herbal ICH ATTACK" by Kordon. The web link is www.novalek.com I was wondering if this is a good remedy or not. I have read by the 5-installment article and the one pager about hyposalinity, but I am unsure if I can accurately measure it given my equipment. I could use any other suggestions or home remedies that have worked for others. This is my first saltwater tank and it si very discouraging given all the precaution I have taken. Thanks for any help.

[Reefland]

I seriously doubt that the product you purchased will be an effective way of treating your fish. The only effective ways are hyposalinity and medicating the fish in a Q-tank and leaving the display tank void of fish for 6 weeks.

The other possible treatment that people have used with varied success is to feed the fish garlic extract, or very fine chopped up garlic. The garlic supposedly increased the fish immune system and helps them fight off the parasite.

[Ninong]

It is a pity that you purchased a Clown Tang (Acanthurus lineatus) for your little 55-gal tank. This is one of the most aggressive of all the surgeonfish and it requires a VERY large aquarium with strong water movement. It is also one of the larger species, reaching a natural maximum length of about 15". (P.S. -- It's gets aggressive as it matures.)

I wouldn't recommend one for anything less than a 375-gal tank and even then the aquarist should be prepared for fireworks.

It would be better to research prospective animals before purchasing them so that you don't end up with very large, very aggressive surgeonfish that are not good choices for your size tank. The same applies to the flame scallop and nudibranch that you asked about in another thread. If you had asked those questions first, you probably wouldn't have purchased them.

[samsreef]

When I first put my purple tang in my tank it had ich, I imagine because of the stress of moving in.

I have treated tangs before with crused garlic cloves and its worked well, and it worked well that time as well. But it doesn't go away over night, it took about a week before it was completely gone & I think it was helped by my cleaner shrimp.

Just crush the carlic and put it in the tank, it doesn't matter if its in quite big chunks because the fish will eat it. It's not bad for anything in the tank at all.

[MarinePig]

When I first put my purple tang in my tank it had ich, I imagine because of the stress of moving in.

I have treated tangs before with crused garlic cloves and its worked well, and it worked well that time as well. But it doesn't go away over night, it took about a week before it was completely gone & I think it was helped by my cleaner shrimp.

Just crush the carlic and put it in the tank, it doesn't matter if its in quite big chunks because the fish will eat it. It's not bad for anything in the tank at all.

I had a similiar problem with ick with my Blue Tang (Dorie). Now it wasn't overnight but the combo of garlic and a cleaner shrimp has helped the tang a lot. She is better, eating, and growing like it's cool.

[samsreef]

I had a similiar problem with ick with my Blue Tang (Dorie).

My Dads Hippo (regal) tang has the same name! What a coincidence LOL

Im glad your tang is better now, we've had the same problem whenever we have purchased a tang accept the yellow one, they must adapt better.

[Dive_Master]

I second some of the comments. I tried pretty much every medicine outthere.

The only thing that worked for me is Copper (not good for reef tanks) and
Garlic (Kent extract in this case) and Cleaner shrimp.

Soak your flakes in garlic for few minutes (Formula 2 is excellent, since it already contains some garlic) and add to your tank.

It should clear up within few days.

[Brett A Ross]

I did the garlic thing on a CB and also installed a UV filter. not sure what did the trick but have not had a reoccurrence in several weeks. I now feed garlic once and a while although I'm not sure if its for the fish or my peace of mind. I have not been at this that long but believe water quality, a low fish load and the correct livestock goes a long way to reducing stress and in turn ick. I have always ask the opinions of more experienced hobbyist ( that includes almost everyone ) on appropriate species for my set up. I use this board and RC exclusively for this. Its nice to speak with someone with no monetary influences clouding their advise

[patandreba]

I sometimes think that with Tangs Ich is an ever present problem. The best luck I have had is to spend about 3 or 4 hours acclimating them and copper. Make sure you use a test kit to make sure you are keeping a high enough dose. With too low a dose, you just end up with a copper resistant infestation, and then about you can do is a freshwater bath, and shut down your main tank for a while. The only probelms I have ever had with saltwater ich had been brought on by tangs. Kind of like black mollies in freshwater I guess. Good luck to you, hopefully It works out better for you than it has me in the past.

[SurfStone]

try using a product called garlic guard and the use zoecon it is a vitamin supplement for marine fish soak your fish food in this for abou 1 hour before use. and keep water quality high this should help fight off infection. the thing ich though is it is contagious and spreads really easy using the dip method usually only cures the fish and not the tank so this is where having more than one q-tank is very helpful place infected fish in one and un-infected in another take out all inverts if possble and leave tank empty of most of the life for 5-6 weeks longer is better. ich will die off without a host after awhile. uv and ozone help out alot too.