White spots on Powder Tang

[Ashish Patel]

The first year I got my hippo tang it would get white spots from time to time. I thought it was a gonna from the start.. However, you have to understand that Ich is natural disease that the fish can overcome aslong as they are healthy. Stressing them out and having poor water quality and diet will surely not help your case. In addition, removing them for QT is last resort depending on the condition. Get some garlic guard and mix it in well prepared frozen food with meats and veggies. I also found a UV filter key to helping minimize free floating parisites in the tank. UV is up for debate however from my experience its priceless.. My hippo tang is now 10 years old. good luck

 

[azreeftank]

Just about any fish can be kept in an Ich managed system as long as the water quality is great, the system is stable, and high quality food is used.

Some individual fish will never develop a natural immunity to Ich which seems to be the case with your Achilles. For the fish who do develop a natural immunity, all it takes is a heater failure and the fish can lose its immunity in a matter of hours. Even aggression issues can cause a fish to lose its immunity in a very short period of time. For anyone trying to maintain a system like this I would consider a UV system an essential piece of equipment. If properly sized with the correct flow, it will help keep parasite counts lower even if a fish isn't naturally immune and also help ride through any stability issues that can induce stress in a fish. It isn't going to be the end all/be all of any parasite problems but it is a great insurance policy.

Very well said!

 

[Humblefish]

Just got a 13gallon evo QT and bought premade water as well. Running it now with a heater.

Should I run 1day before adding copper and fish?

What kind of filtration/circulation will you have going in there? How many fish? Also, I would ditch the cover for increased gas exchange.

 

[Brooks Ross]

What kind of filtration/circulation will you have going in there? How many fish? Also, I would ditch the cover for increased gas exchange.

Comes with a pump , foam, biomax and carbon.

Likely fish are 2 clowns, 1 juvenile yellow tang, 1 damsel, 1 cardinal banggai and 1 gold goby

 

[Humblefish]

Comes with a pump , foam, biomax and carbon.

Likely fish are 2 clowns, 1 juvenile yellow tang, 1 damsel, 1 cardinal banggai and 1 gold goby

Pick up a bottle of live bacteria to seed the filters with: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ammonia-control-in-a-hospital-tank.296119/

You'll also need a Seachem ammonia alert badge and an air stone/small powerhead for additional circulation.

What brand of copper are you using? You'll need a compatible test kit: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/copper-test-kits.257924/

 

[Brooks Ross]

Pick up a bottle of live bacteria to seed the filters with: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ammonia-control-in-a-hospital-tank.296119/

You'll also need a Seachem ammonia alert badge and an air stone/small powerhead for additional circulation.

What brand of copper are you using? You'll need a compatible test kit: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/copper-test-kits.257924/

Was planning on using this

 

[melypr1985]

Was planning on using this

You'll need the API test kit then. I like coppersafe and use it at home and at the store.

 

[Brew12]

Was planning on using this

Good choice, that is what I prefer to use.

 

[4FordFamily]

I'm not sure I would say this is 100% true (if it's velvet then yes agree with you), is it advised to treat ick? absolutely. I have QT all my fish for 6-8 weeks with Prazi and copper and currently have 6 of the 14 fish in my tank being tangs- Achilles, Purple, yellow, Mimic, Blue Tang, Chevron to go along with a large Moorish Idol. All have gone thru QT and no tang has been added to my tank in over 3 years. My Achilles was the last one added and has constantly shown signs of ick for 3 years. He is the healthiest fish and definitely runs the show in the tank he's the boss. Ick management has worked for me, I don't advise it nor recommend but it's possible. Other than the blue tang no other fish has ever shown symptoms in the past 3 years. All fish are healthy and thriving. So in a effort to try and beat this after 3 years I decided about 3 months ago to incorporate a large UV and a cleaner wrasse to experiment with the Achilles ick. Not sure what did it but for the first time in 3 years the AT has zero signs of ick. For 2+ years he would get several ick spots and go for a week or so then clean for a few days then back with 15-20 spots and so on. This was non stop for 3 years. The last 6-8 weeks he has not shown any symptoms of ick. I'm positive the cleaner wrasse OR UV had a hand in helping. The cleaner wrasse pays a visit to him few times a day and he goes to town cleaning him, the Uv runs 24/7. It's actually quiet amusing and now the wrasse is the first fish to the large Nori station each day and pigs out with the tangs enjoying Nori and cleaning the fish.
So with that if I could take all my fish out again and treat/ go fallow then yes that's always my first advise but for me ick management was my only real option without tearing down my mixed reef. I have been fortunate in my 20+ years of keeping SW fish to never experience velvet. I keep a QT running full time now and IF you are able to take the fish out and treat I would recommend you do that. Just wanted to share my thought that ick management is possible. Daily I feed 4 sheets of Nori, LRS frozen, Spirulina flakes and NLS pellets all soaked with selcon and vitachem and it's worked for me. Best of luck to your tank.

That's all fine, but you're the exception to the rule. Also, it sounds like you have a very large tank, that tips the scale in your favor!

I want to see photos of your tank though, sounds beautiful!

 

[4FordFamily]

Ditto

Good choice, that is what I prefer to use.

 

[Humblefish]

That's all fine, but you're the exception to the rule. Also, it sounds like you have a very large tank, that tips the scale in your favor!

I want to see photos of your tank though, sounds beautiful!

+1 The more water volume you have, the more it dilutes the number of free swimmers. Running a UV zaps free swimmers as well. The Achilles' heel for that Achilles Tang's survival would be a prolonged power loss, so I highly recommend keeping a generator on standby.

 

[Brew12]

As promised, here is my fish QT, freshly set up for getting new fish this weekend.

 

[ohiojeffsreef]

ok, if it were me I would put off a fish for the moment. your QT has absolutely no bio filter at all. a QT can be done this way, but it drives you nuts trying to keep the water quality decent. in my case I have developed a protocol I use for new fish. They are going to spend at least 6 weeks in there. Especially if you like Tangs, I like to treat everything new like it has ick. All new fish start with 14 days of copper. It isn't ideal, but I was losing almost a third of my orders before I started it. Since my losses are small. Once the copper is done they spend 4 weeks isolated so I can make sure nothing comes back. If it does, then the whole process starts all over again. That is what the Powder Brown is going through now. He has finished his 14 days and is back in the observation tank, but you can do it all in one tank. I just have batches of fish to deal with and I also have the room for more. I keep sponges soaked in my sump for the QT, this way there is a bacteria bed to keep the water decent. Again before I started this, it was hard to keep good water in the QT. Now the ammonia stays at only a trace all the time.

 

[Brew12]

Especially if you like Tangs, I like to treat everything new like it has ick.

Couldn't agree more!

your QT has absolutely no bio filter at all. a QT can be done this way, but it drives you nuts trying to keep the water quality decent.

I have had good success using Biospira to seed my QT. I haven't had an ammonia issue yet but using a sponge seeded in the DT is a better idea if you plan far enough ahead.

He has finished his 14 days and is back in the observation tank, but you can do it all in one tank.

I also prefer the 14 day treatment with transfer to a clean tank. If you need to keep the fish in the same tank the entire time it is best to treat with copper for a full 30 days.

 

[kevsqn]

This is my coral/invert QT. I'll be setting up my fish QT again tomorrow so will take a picture when it is back up.

Hi. would just like to ask how long do you qt the inverts/corals for? and do you add anything to them? thanks

 

[melypr1985]

Hi. would just like to ask how long do you qt the inverts/corals for? and do you add anything to them? thanks

Corals and inverts should be QTd in a fishless environment for 76 days.

 

[Brooks Ross]

Is that when adding new corals/ inverts o any system? Or just when dealing with Ich?

 

[Brew12]

Hi. would just like to ask how long do you qt the inverts/corals for? and do you add anything to them? thanks

I dip my corals in Bayer prior to putting them in the tank. A week later I dip them in H2O2. For the inverts, they just go in. 72 days is typically my goal but longer is better.

 

[Brew12]

Is that when adding new corals/ inverts o any system? Or just when dealing with Ich?

I do it when adding any new corals or inverts. That way I don't have to deal with Ich.

 

[Brooks Ross]

I dip my corals in Bayer prior to putting them in the tank. A week later I dip them in H2O2. For the inverts, they just go in. 72 days is typically my goal but longer is better.

So you'll QT any corals for 72 days before adding to DT?