Suggest a course of action please!

[goldeneyeretrie]

I know the Ich questions get old, BUT....

Due to a QT tank accident, I added two new fish to my display w/o proper time in QT.

As you might expect, my Purple Tang now has a few spots on it. He is VERY mildly affected but I would like to take the steps to best handle this.

I am considering the following options:

1) Leaving him alone to fight it on his own.

2) FW dipping and returning to display.

3) Setting up new QT and treating him there, I suppose with
Hyposalinity.

I am also open to any other ideas you may have.

The tang has been with me many years and is fat and healthy and eating very well. He has only a few spots and is not exhibiting any other symptoms. He will be easy to catch, as I routinely feed my fish in a clear fish container. He will go straight in every time.

I cant help but think that he will recover on his own, but I also know he will be far more likely to respond to a treatment now, while he is still in otherwise excellent health.

I have had no new additions ( so no Ich) for many years so I am (thankfully) a bit rusty on the handling of this situation. I do however remember losing a whole tank to ich when I was first starting in the hobby. An experience I hope to avoid repeating.

Thanks for your input.

[Rondelet]

Goldeneye...

If you have any other fish you in display tank - you have to assume that they are potential carriers. So, treating the tang in isolation will give you a false sense of security. If you're going to remove one fish to Q and treat, you really need to remove all of them and let you tank remain fish-less for about 8+ weeks.

FW Dipping will only make the situation worse as it will stress the fish, thereby suppressing its immune system, and will have no effect on the parasite. This is because all treatment chemicals (in this case FW) only affect the off-host free swimming infective stages of the parasite.

If it were me, however, I would leave the fish alone and see how it goes. SW ich seems to be one of those bugs that is everywhere and, I suspect, present in most system. People just don't see it until the parasite population explodes (for whatever reason) and a clinically observable disease outbreak ensues. My view is that given good water quality, nutrition, and a (relatively) stress free environment, most fish will develop a level of immunity to the parasite and basically beat it back. I'm also a big a fan of cleaner shrimp as part of a natural way to co-exist with SW ich. My system has been running for 2 years and I know SW ich is present in it (as I've seen the odd, isolated white spot from time to time), but I have yet to loose a fish to the parasite.

If you're uncomfortable with the thought of having SW ich around, then you best course of action is to set up the new Q system and treat all your fish. However, this also means that anything you put in your tank should be 1) quarantined for 6 weeks for non-fish additions; and 2) quarantine and treated for fish additions. One of the grand assumptions of quarantine is that you can hold your fish for "X" amount of weeks and if you don't see any signs of disease you can safely move the fish to your main display. However, in the absence of treating them (in this case for ich), there is a very high probability that they are asymptomatic carriers and you are essentially introducing a parasite (albeit very clandestinely) into your system. Having said that, I'm a big fan of quarantine and keep my quarantine tank running all the time. Further while I quarantine all new additions, I don't treat them prophylactically. This is because treatment chemicals, whether your choose copper or hyposalinity, are very hard on fish. Quarantine in this fashion will significantly reduce the chance of introducing a nasty pathogen to your system - but won't eliminate it. As with all treatments, you have to weigh the risks against the benefits.

Hope this helps.

[goldeneyeretrie]

Rondelet,

Thanks for the reply.

I agree that fish will become resistant to Ich. This is why I thought treating only the affected fish in QT would be reasonable. The other fish, to this point, have not had visable symptoms. They possibly have some increased resistance relative to the tang. To erradicate Ich from the system entirely would require QT of all the fish and a fallow display, but if you feel Ich is always present, is there need to do that? That would be very stressfull to all the fishes and might lower their resistance?

As I mentioned, I am still considering leaving the fish alone, at least for now. I think the few dots are the only symptoms he is presenting. I am a bit paranoid now, so I am constantly thinking he is hyperactive or irritable but I dont think that is the case. He is behaving normally and eating freely as usuall. His color, behaviour and attitude seem normal.

Should I decide to leave him alone, is there anything I can do to help him become better able to recover? I am now adding an extra midweek water change ( I change every weekend now) to compensate for the increase in feeding I am offering. He is getting a wide variety of foods and will eat ANYTHING I offer. Nori, Mysis, Form 1 and 2, etc etc etc. Typical tang, he is a pig! He even ate a plastic bead several months ago.(Oops)

BTW, my water parameters are the same as they have been kept at for years. I test weekly and have now added a midweek test along with the added water change. Amm, trite, trate, Phos are all undetectable. Alk 4.5meg, cal 450, pH 8.2 daytime, temp 80degrees, S.G 1.025. mg 1300.

Thanks for the advice and I am looking forward to more.

GER

[Rondelet]

Ger,

Treating the Tang in isolation and then placing back with the other fish just becomes a circular proposition if the other fish are carriers. My Hippo Tang, which I got when it was a tiny one and half inches (at best) sported a few ich spots a few days after I put it in my main display. It's very nerve wracking, but if you provide a good (read stress free) environment then the fish should hold their own. I've had the Tang for going on two years now and ich has never been an issue. One thing to be careful about is mistaking little bits of sand and debris for ich. Tangs that wedge themselves into rocks at night are notorious for looking a little "dusty" in the morning.

Two additional things you could try if you want to hedge your bets. The first is to get some Frozen Formula two with 2% garlic. I can't say with any certainty that garlic added to the feed has any impact on the parasite, but a lot of people swear by it. Who knows, maybe its effect is indirect by providing a type of immunostimulant? Even if there is no clinical effect, fish just love the stuff! The second thing you can do is get a cleaner shrimp. These little guys are great investments. Not only will they groom your fish (which is a really neat behaviour to watch), but also do double duty cleaning up uneaten food that is missed by your fish! Unlike garlic, I really do believe that the grooming behaviour of cleaning shrimp has a net positive effect in the management of ich.

Hope this helps.

[goldeneyeretrie]

Rondelet,

I have several cleaner shrimp that all love to clean. I will feed the form II with garlic. I have wondered if I should.

Yes, I am fairly certain it is Ich. I have had this fish for about 8 years, I know what he looks like in the morning!

Thanks again for the ideas, they are helpful.

GER