Jestersix

Powder Blue Tang has Ich!!

To get enough UV you'd have to vastly oversize the unit, then get a GIANT chiller to counter the major heat the unit puts off ;)

Best UV hands down are the newer HO models of which weren't on the street IIRC when OG was in business... http://www.emperoraquatics.com/commhomluv.php . Sion @ Deep Sea Depot used one of those at his facility and I was rather impressed. FWIW he didn't use it for ich control.
 
GreshamH said:
To get enough UV you'd have to vastly oversize the unit, then get a GIANT chiller to counter the major heat the unit puts off ;)

Best UV hands down are the newer HO models of which weren't on the street IIRC when OG was in business... http://www.emperoraquatics.com/commhomluv.php . Sion @ Deep Sea Depot used one of those at his facility and I was rather impressed. FWIW he didn't use it for ich control.
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Lets just say I won't be installing one of those bad boys any time soon :) I love this site btw. I ask for nori recommendations and I get a link to industrial size UV sterilizers ;)

Back to the nori - it just tastes too salty and yummy to not have any sort of additives it seems. I'm still on hold as far as feeding more to my tang.
 
I think any nori will be fine. I buy the cheapest at the asian grocery store. My tangs and heni can go through a pack in 2 weeks. I also have it on 3 feeding clips. They devour it. :)
 
My Blue Tang show signs of ich when I don't leave algae in there for it to graze. I've also found that buying the GARLIC fortified algae helps better then just regular algae.

Hope that helps.
 
Nearly every single hobbyost UV is not strong enough to kill ich in any stage, even vastly oversized. I'm surprised you recommend it for ich :([/quote]

do you mean it won't kill what goes through the light even at a proper flow rate, or that it won't completely solve the problem? Thanks!
 
Good news. My tang no longer has the white spots and just minor bumps from the ich outbreak as of today. He's definitely getting better. I think the nori I fed him previously might have been a major cause as to why his immune system broke down and left him susceptible to ich. Now that I look back, I think the nori sheets I gave him were slightly sweetened with a soy sauce terriyaki flavor. I'm also not sure what chemical additives may have gone into the product. I haven't fed the tang nori ever since I first noticed the ich and he's recovering well.

I went to Whole Foods today and picked up some organic nori and it definitely doesn't taste as sweet as the variety I picked up at the asian market. Below is a picture of the nori package. Does anyone have experience using this type of nori from Whole Foods? Thanks.

securedownload-1.jpg
 
coral reefer said:
do you mean it won't kill what goes through the light even at a proper flow rate, or that it won't completely solve the problem? Thanks!
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I mean marine Ich is too large to be effected by most UV's available and to get enough UV you'd have to vastly oversize it, enough so your UV would heat your water to the point of needing a chiller. It's great for other things, just not Ich.

UV_exposures.gif


Read this: http://www.aquaticeco.com/pages/full_width/133/Ultraviolet-Sterilizers
 
I did not realize the UV's inability to kill the free swimming life stage. But the tanks I run them on are very happy. I assume that all new tangs will come down with ich in the first week. With an ample well fortified food supply and good water quality most pull through.
 
Interesting read, thank! I always thought with a slow flow rate through a big uv would zap the ich during free swimming stage too, but apparently you just need a BIG ASS uv light ...interesting to hear about this.
 
May be that the fish is fighting off the ich due to the better diet.

The actinics won't get rid of ich. It's still in your tank and can show up on the fish when something stresses them.

Keep an eye on the Tang. It's normal for them to start looking better when the ich progresses through the normal life cycle.

This fools a lot of people. Then the ich shows up on the fish even worse than before.
 
Since I'm not sure if the ich was induced by feeding an improper diet to my tang, I'm now doing the tried and true by feeding Formula Two. This is great because my Lawnmower Blenny loves the pellets as well.

My Tang is now almost back to complete health and his color has come back to a rich powder blue color. There are still tiny little marks from the white spots, but hardly noticeable. Maybe the ich has been erradicated from my tank because I run actinic T5s over my tank? Although, this would be extremely counterintuitive to what Gresham is stating. I just know my PBT looks better and I'm happy :)
 
Mr. Ugly said:
May be that the fish is fighting off the ich due to the better diet.

The actinics won't get rid of ich. It's still in your tank and can show up on the fish when something stresses them.

Keep an eye on the Tang. It's normal for them to start looking better when the ich progresses through the normal life cycle.

This fools a lot of people. Then the ich shows up on the fish even worse than before.
Click to expand...

I don't even think my PBT had such rich color prior to the ich outbreak. However, I was only feeding frozen mysis mainly and then that horrid flavored nori... Even before the ich, the PBT looked a little faded, so I think the Formula 1 & 2 is really providing a better rounded diet and coloring up the fish nicely. Amazingly, this is true to the advertisement of color enhancing food!! I wish there was a more economical source I knew of as these little pellets are kinda pricey, considering how much I'm going thru.
 
Unfortunately, Mike it ain't a cheap hobby ;)
But if you want the fish to look like the ones in the pictures from your books you need to feed the fish...a lot. And as I said to you in our conversation, if you do feed the fish it will get better!
 
Mr. Ugly said:
May be that the fish is fighting off the ich due to the better diet.

The actinics won't get rid of ich. It's still in your tank and can show up on the fish when something stresses them.

Keep an eye on the Tang. It's normal for them to start looking better when the ich progresses through the normal life cycle.

This fools a lot of people. Then the ich shows up on the fish even worse than before.
Click to expand...

Looks like the ich spots seem to be coming back a bit today.. I also noticed my PBT swimming around erratically towards the end of my light cycle or sunset lighting period. He's acting really twitchy and flaring his dorsal fin a lot. I had no problems feeding him quite a bit so I don't see any loss of apetite, just the erratic swimming behavior.

Is this a normal progression of ich or should I be concerned that it's getting worse?
 
Normal progression and it can get worse. The parasite is propagating in your tank. You get a geometric progression with each generation.

Best is to run your tank fishless for 6-8 weeks, while you put your fish in hypo quarantine.

I don't have the links but if you search the forums here for "ich" and "hypo", you can find references that others and I have posted regarding ich and its treatment.
 
I just realized the new moonlights I put in the other night were really stressing the tang out. All the other fish don't seem to notice the moonlights much, but the PBT doesn't calm down unless the tank is completely dark at night. Now that the moonlights are off, the tang has seemed to calm down and the spots are going away again.
 
Mike I fear your getting caught in a typical reefer thing to do. Just because you change one factor doesn't equate to the being the real issue, or has any real effect at all. Your posts are very indicative of this. One day bad..change something, next day improving. To me this all looks like the natural ebb and flow of the parasite. I hope to be wrong and tomorrow it won't rear it's ugly head even harder.

That being said, too much light at night does disturb them but you'd be very surprised at just how much light the real moon casts on the tropical reef. It can get very bright.
 
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