aaahhh ich!!!

[Just_Greg]

what the higher temp thing has to do with it is that it does indeed accelerate the life cycle of the parasite, but it's really something that is used on a fallow (fishless) tank.  i'm with Lanny, don't EVER subject your fish to that kind of temp on purpose.

I've read freshwater ich tips are to turn the tank waters up and supposedly that will kill em.

first of all, Cryptocarion irritans is NOT the same organism as Icthysporidium hoferi, but even then, i wouldn't crank a FW tank w/fish up that high either.  the name "ich" for crypto is simply because the parasite LOOKS like FW ich, and that's where the similarity ends.

[lilposeidon]

my blue tang seems to be improving i know its early but she seems less irritated i got her on red seaweed , garlic soaked pellets and Hikari brand daphnia does all this sound all right or am'I going overboard i'm doing the best i can with my knowledge to treat this beautiful little fish and i do not want her to suffer anymore. Is there anything else i can do for her to improve her well being ? any helpful tips are greatly appreciated

[lilposeidon]

ok i spoke too soon i went back in there to check on her and she was laying on her side with numerous white dots on her holy frick this is sooooo frustrating i'm starting to think the best thing to do is pull all that crushed coral out of the bottom and the live rock toss a couple of pieces of PVC pipe in there and keep treating her for the next month
i'm in need of reef therapy someone help lol

[Bergy]

the crushed coral will hold and or keep the parasites and or just plain kepe the detritus, and ultimately in a qt/ or rather a ht, hospital tank, you want it clean so you can treate the tank... and not worry about whatever else is in the tank... (if rock or cc is in the tank and yuou treated with chemical then the rock would hold thechemical, so next fish will be treated with the same chemical)

you can pull the rock out now or later, it dont matter...

I would treate teh tank with copper...basically you are nuking the tank... it will be a hospital tank forever...

look for ich treatements that have cooper based medicnes.... and follow the directions...

or follow greg's lead...

[lilposeidon]

alright my blue tang is up and down but she is eatting and active she gets the visible white spots and then they dissappear and comeback every so often fair enough i'am moving to a new house this week so in the move i will bad her up and take the water from my hospital tank and store 50% of it in a rubbermaid after doing so i will empty out all substrate including the live rock. and then acclimate her back into it once i have it set up again with nothing in it except a few pieces of grey PVC. and treat her for 2 to 3 months this will give my time to set up my new 55 gallon tank and cycle it so when she is good and healthy i can put her into that. my biggest fear is settin up the new 55 gal and having her contract the ich again then my whole new tank is buggered.

[Bergy]

getting into the routine of qt is a difficult process, and it will only be as good as your weekest link...

if you qt/ht your tang for this long, it would be a shame to just contaminate your new dt and therefore end up putting the tang back into an ich envoronement...

unfortunately the biggest issue with qt, is timing, and purchasing new fish/critter... the qt clock will stop and start over with the addition  of the last fish added to the qt tank...

so, if you qt your tang for several month, then add one fish to that same qt water, then you might have introduced some parasites... and will have to wait long enuf for those parasites to cycle thru and die off...

you would need a new qt tank for each fish if bought/acquired at different times...

[psykokid]

i feel you, my blue tang was doing great, i was bringing up the salinity to put her back into the DT and ich showed back up. I said screw it and just started dosing rid ich directly to the HT.. I hate to do it but just hypo didint do the trick..

[lilposeidon]

something that really pissed me off today i was talking to a fellow that know my LFS guy really well and he was telling me that a row of top tanks got ich and that there were a few tangs up there well guess where i got my tang from yup the top row of tanks heres the kicker though my LFS guy told me there was nothing wrong with the blue tang and that i stressed her out and now i find out the bugger had ich all along that's really disappointing

[Bergy]

most lfs have thier tanks plumbed together...  and if they have ich in one tank, it is in all thier tanks...and chances are, like discussed before, ich is everywhere... there is really no way to get rid of it...

the best chance of 'getting it' before it becomes problematic is direct from a wholesaler as most o fthose places use coppper in thier acclimation systems..., but they really dont do a real long/thorogh ich treatment...

also, some fish are way more prone to certain deseases/issues, and tang, especially blue / hippo  are VERY prone... and unless you have an ich free system, (read above), then chances are your tang will get ich also... depending on tank conditions/tank mates/diet, etc....


the only tihng i would be pissed at the lfs for is for not discussing this inforally with yoyu to let you understand and know ...