ich

[deuce2002]

well i picked up a purple tang the other day had him in a QT but he started to get white spots on him ive have since moved it to a tank i bought for copper dosing was hoping i never had to to this so it is going to be my first time,all the years ive been in this hobby believe it or not i never had a fish get ich till now.What im asking is i have the copper levels at about 0.25 ppm which is what it says it should be at have heater and small PH in tank,I will be feeding pellet and meaty foods a couple times a day soaked with marine vit-c and amino's and garlic extreme,how often should i do W/C and after WC's how much copper should i re add copper i bought a copper test kit to test water.Also if i forgot anything plz let me know.RJ oh also temp is going to be around 80-81 degrees.

any advise would be appreciated

[wooden_reefer]

Did you cycle the medium in QT before you get the tang?

If you have never had ich before after many years in the hobby I may not be able to convince you that you have to treat to eradicate ich by at least eight weeks.

Have you ever put the tang in some other place before putting it in QT? May I say the DT?? If you have put it in DT for a day or two, all you fish in DT may be infested. You may have an ich outbreak in the offing.

If you had not cycled the QT before getting your tang, you have walked into an unnecessary ordeal.

You change water so that ammonia is very low. 50% every day may be a good guess.

In QT, it is almost never meaningful to change just 20% of the water.

And, all uneaten food and poop can decay at a rapid rate not linear with time, unlike excretion from fish. Bacterial growth and ammonification is not linear with time. You have to remove any solid wastes, not allow it to decay in the water.

You may also try Amquel or Prime. I have never used Amquel for longer than about ten days.

If you had put the tang in DT, I would get ready, prepare for the worst now. Cycle a lot of medium now in case you do have an ich outbreak. If you wait for ten fish to show ich and only act then, you can't cycle soon enough or change water fast enough.

Good luck.

[deuce2002]

nope tang went into QT never in the DT,now i have it in a tank i bought just for copper or treating i would never put a new fish right into my DT also what do you mean by letting the medium cycle?

[deuce2002]

oh and also thx for the advise about WC so you think 50% not 20% ok thats fine but why everyday?

[Gwynhidwy]

It sounds like you have a good treatment plan. As Wooden Reefer pointed out, just make sure to keep a very close eye on the ammonia level in the tank. Cycled medium refers to allowing the filter that you are using to grow the bacteria that would turn ammonia into nitrite and nitrate, both of which are less toxic than ammonia. Ammonia is very toxic to fish and is the most common cause of death in quarantine in my opinion.

Large, daily water changes may be necessary to keep the ammonia from building up and killing your fish. I use an ammonia alert badge in my hospital tanks, but if you don't have one of those I would test the water in the tank twice a day.

[deuce2002]

im using water from my DT to do the WC in the hospital tank and also adding a little fresh SW with it

[wooden_reefer]

nope tang went into QT never in the DT,now i have it in a tank i bought just for copper or treating i would never put a new fish right into my DT also what do you mean by letting the medium cycle?

Cycling in the wet-dry way using bacteria seed and waste takes only about three weeks. Do it in a separte container. Very simple process.

I think it is hard to convince you, but if your put this fish into DT after only, say, ten days, of treatment, after all signs of ich seem to have disappeared, you also take a lot of risk.

It takes eight weeks in warm water of active treatment, for fish not just observation, to have a very high probability of eradicating ich.

Buying fish before cycling the filter medium for QT creates a lot of ordeal. But if you start your cycle now, it would likely be just three weeks of WC/Amquel etc. After then, your cycle will be done and you can use that medium in QT

[deuce2002]

cool thx for the advice