Reef nutrition

Aaargh! MY puirple tang in the display have ich.

sid700

Supporting Member
Sigh. I know what to do. I am just venting.

Is this hypo treatment still current - http://atj.net.au/marineaquaria/hyposalinity.html?

If there are other newer, easier (but effective) hypo practices, please let me know.

Also, if you have any tips, advice or lessons learned from removing several fishes from a reef tank and treating them, please let me know.
 
are you feeding her pe mysis with garlic guard yet?? that seems to be what has saved me 3x in the past.... have never lost a tang to ich yet using that method... i know there are ton of ways to cure ick but if you wanna keep her in the take pe mysis/krill soaked in garlic guard seems to be the best luck i have had
 
Bernie,
I had the same problem in my reef a while back ( over a year ago).
I used the Kent Garlic product mixed with food and the ich went away.
You might want to try that first.
 
+1 - Variety of foods soaked in garlic is a good idea :) Current diet is mysis soaked, nori soaked and Rod's and he seems to be a happy camper
 
+1 on the food's mentioned above. My purple tang (years ago) would have an outbreak of ich for a few days, then it would go away. This would happened twice in two years. Probably my fault in some regard, but I just kept feeding him and he was fine. I wouldn't panic just yet.
 
Yes fortify all frozen foods. Feed often ( 5-7 times a day ) small amounts. "Snacks all day" check the ingredients of the additives you're choosing. Watch out for phosphate concentration.
 
I did hypo, and quinine sulphate and my fish still have ich. I see the ich come and go on both my purple and blue hippo tang. Just feed the sucker with garlic and selcon/zoecon or PE mysis or Rods. Try to feed nori as often as you can. Good luck.
 
The garlic smell makes the fish want to eat it more than non-garlic food and it also helps boost the immune system.

I've heard the first part (more likely to eat) is subjective while the immune system is more objective.
 
Alright, I got Xtreme Garlic and soaked the food. My fishes ate, but they never had problems eating. The tomini tang has spots now too, and both purple and tomini tangs are skittish.

What should I look for in order to determine the fishes are fighting off the ich? No re-appearance of spots in 7-9 days? Does this mean I have to soak the food in garlic forever?

Thanks for all the advise. I just dread emptying my DT in order to catch my fishes. Not to mention my lack of skill in keepng hospital tank water consistent and clean.

I'll live with ich in the tank, as long as the fishes can stay healthy.
 
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27003
Here is some good reading on ich. For mr I had a tang who would eat and eat and would get worse when I pulled him out stressed him out way to much. :( later on in qt he died, the worst part is my pair of clowfish showed since and it was to late for them to :(.
 
Just keep on feeding them. Make sure to feed nori as often as you can. I have 3 clips for each of my tangs. Ich comes and goes. It's part of the life cycle. Build your fishes immune system to fight it.
 
Only thing that will "cure" ich is copper or hypo, everything else is a gimmick. Hypo is really really hard to make sure the salinity is low enough and to keep the QT tank stable. I have cured many fish I have purchased that came down with Ich in my QT system with Cupramine. I run Cupramine and Prazipro for all new fish I get for 2-3 weeks at a minimum. The only way to get rid of ich in your system is to get all the fish out, QT them with Cupramine and leave the tank fishless for 6-8 weeks. If you don't you will always have Ich in the system. Garlic may help keep the fish's immune system strong enough so they are not overwhelmed but they will still be infected. I saw someone say the best anology of ich is like Flees on a dog or cat. It may not kill your fish directly but will keep their immune system weaker than it should be and if anything stresses the fish (temp swing, alk swing, new fish, etc) the Ich will overrun the fish and you could lose everything. This is why you have to QT everything. Sorry not trying to be a downer but its the only way. Once I got ich in my system 5+ years ago I followed this and have never had a reoccurrence since. Good luck.
 
Thanks Chris. I welcome your input. I dread doing the hypo because of the time and labor involved, so it clouds the pro vs con arguments that goes through my head. It helps seeing it on paper (or the screen, in this case).
 
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