Blood Red Fire Shrimp Attack blue tang

[Samwilliam]

Gotcha. Are you treating the ich?

I've searched but haven't found a solution yet

 

[littlefoxx]

@vetteguy53081 @Jay Hemdal @MnFish1

They will be able to help with suggestions for treating the ich

 

[Samwilliam]

My biggest fear is losing my gem tang , it won’t to eat and do Weird things

@vetteguy53081 @Jay Hemdal @MnFish1

They will be able to help with suggestions for treating the ich

 

[littlefoxx]

My biggest fear is losing my gem tang , it won’t to eat and do Weird things

If it has ich it needs to be treated to make it. The fish medics can advise you further

 

[Acanthurus12]

My biggest fear is losing my gem tang , it won’t to eat and do Weird thin

I have kept many tangs over the years. I highly recommend quarantining them to fatten them up and give them some rest before introduction into the main system. This also helps reduce the parasite load they might have picked up along the way to your LFS. A UV sterilizer in the quarantine system can help as parasites like ich go through life stages that develop off the fish. I usually leave my tangs in quarantine for at least a month, usually a bit longer. The shrimp is picking off dead skin particles and maybe parasites. Not a big deal unless it is bothering the fish by doing it constantly. Hippo tangs are funny sometimes. The like to lay on their sides. I had one for 6 years who I would think was dead on the sand bed, but would pop up perfectly healthy and happy as soon as I threw some frozen mysis in the tank. Never really got use to that fish scaring me like that even after all those years! LOL! I gave him to a friend when I moved and as far as I know he’s still alive. I don’t think he continued the behavior in the new tank though and began hanging out in a rock crevice instead of right on the sand bed.

 

[WheatToast]

My biggest fear is losing my gem tang , it won’t to eat and do Weird things

That abnormal behavior is known as flashing, basically the fish's way of itching itself. This can be an indicator of disease.

 

[Samwilliam]

That abnormal behavior is known as flashing, basically the fish's way of itching itself. This can be an indicator of disease.

It has large white spot on the right side and I did fresh water dipped for 3 minutes I hope that helps

 

[KrisReef]

I've searched but haven't found a solution yet

A properly sized UV sterilizer would help lower the pest loads on the tangs. With time it might solve the problem. The med folks will tell you to set up a quarantine tank (or tanks) to treat these fishes with copper and to let the DT go fallow until the pest dies out without a host to feed upon.

 

[Samwilliam]

A properly sized UV sterilizer would help lower the pest loads on the tangs. With time it might solve the problem. The med folks will tell you to set up a quarantine tank (or tanks) to treat these fishes with copper and to let the DT go fallow until the pest dies out without a host to feed upon.

I keep UV on already 24/7

 

[KrisReef]

I keep UV on already 24/7

Hopefully that will be enough. Is it properly sized and is the flow low enough to get a good kill rate for marine parasites?

 

[Samwilliam]

Hopefully that will be enough. Is it properly sized and is the flow low enough to get a good kill rate for marine parasites?

Actually I think it’s small one for my 75g I bought from Amazon 5 watt water pump

 

[KrisReef]

Actually I think it’s small one for my 75g I bought from Amazon 5 watt water pump

Yea, a 15 watt UV running at 250gph would provide minimal support, with a 25 watt unit being what I would recommend, running 400 gph though it 24/7 to get after Ich.

Still, 5 is better than zero.

 

[TCseh]

Actually I think it’s small one for my 75g I bought from Amazon 5 watt water pump

I don't have uv on my tank. I did research though and on my 80gal the recommended uv was around 15 wat.

I checked your profile and it seems like you have only been keeping a tank for a month or two. It seems like you ended up making a mistake and got your fish sick soon after startup. If you don't have quarantine ready to go now, there is high risk of death. I wouldn't get discouraged too much though. You could do all the research in the world before you get your first tank and this still happen. It even happened to me just a couple of months after my first tank startup. All my fish died in a day due to brook.

My only advice isn't really related to your problem. Since you're new to the hobby, I would highly recommend looking into a method called reef moonshiners or anything similar. Also there are alot of people who you can find who will quarantine fish for you. This does have pros and cons but still a good option. Dm me if you would like to know any people who could quarantine and to find more communities who could help with your problems.

 

[TCseh]

Btw uv only kills free swimming ich. None that is in the sand or on your rock.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Fire shrimp will often act as a cleaner and unless tang is weak, it is likely just that, Cant tell much from pic/ picture angle and the dot can be a grain of sand. Ich will move and increase in number If ich.
As for UV, the wattage is very low and also UV does not erase ich as often believed but will help with control of new cells and tomonts suspended and that can pass in the water column of unit- Not what is pre-existing

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I think we need to take a step back here and look at the "bigger picture".

While Blood red shrimp are part time cleaners, and tangs will posture for cleaner shrimp, I've never seen a shrimp clean a tang while it was laying on the bottom of the tank. If I saw the picture out of that context, I would say that the tang is moribund (dying) and the shrimp is trying to scavenge it. Now - if the tang gets back up and swims away, then that of course is not the problem.

The gem tang is scratching due to parasites, and it not eating is a serious symptom - even if it has ich, it should still be eating. In the very short video, I saw a lot of fish in that tank.

As others have said, the blue Linckia star is not likely to survive more than a month or maybe two.

At this point - can you list all the inhabitants of the tank, the tank size and the water quality values?

Jay

 

[MnFish1]

I've searched but haven't found a solution yet

Generally speaking you should remove all of the fish - including the healthy ones - and treat with copper safe per the protocol sticky at the top of the fish disease treatment and diagnosis. Thread, you may want to treat with prazipro following this. Your tank will need to be 'fishless' for 60-76 days depending on the protocol you choose. Because you have invertebrates etc, hyposalinity in your display tank will not be useful, and many of the medications used in display are not very efficacious.

you can also pursue an ich management solution.

Did you, btw, quarantine any of the fish before putting them in the DT? BTW - are you sure the fish has Ich? I do see a spot on the tail - but the pictures don't show much.

 

[Samwilliam]

I think we need to take a step back here and look at the "bigger picture".

While Blood red shrimp are part time cleaners, and tangs will posture for cleaner shrimp, I've never seen a shrimp clean a tang while it was laying on the bottom of the tank. If I saw the picture out of that context, I would say that the tang is moribund (dying) and the shrimp is trying to scavenge it. Now - if the tang gets back up and swims away, then that of course is not the problem.

The gem tang is scratching due to parasites, and it not eating is a serious symptom - even if it has ich, it should still be eating. In the very short video, I saw a lot of fish in that tank.

As others have said, the blue Linckia star is not likely to survive more than a month or maybe two.

At this point - can you list all the inhabitants of the tank, the tank size and the water quality values?

Jay

4 clown
1 Pajama cardinalfish
1 Coral beauty
1 wrasse cleaner
powder blue
Brown tang
Blue tang
Chocolate tang
Scopas tang
Recently added yellow and gem last Wednesday
75 gallon
Salinity is 1025
temperature 79
Ammonia 0
nitrate 20
Phosphate 0.03
Gem tang refuses to eat since first day tell now almost 6days other fish looks fine except blue tang

 

[TCseh]

Holy crap that is alot of fish. Are you sure you don't have a 750gal?

Well first off u less they are all pea size the stress level is probably crazy high. I'm not a fish doctor so that's all I had to say.

 

[TCseh]

May we have a picture of the tank? I would just like to see if somehow you mistyped the gallon amount.