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Ich on Powder Brown Tang


JLJ2188

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I hope someone out there can help me! I have a 120 reef that I wouldn't be able to get all the fish out to quarantine. There are too many rocks and corals. I have a 9w turbo twist sterilizer running on it now, would adding another one temporarily work? What can I do to save this fish and keep it from spreading to my other fish. I have had all of these fish in there for about 6 months no issues. I believe the ich came from putting in a coral?..... If so how can I prevent this? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

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Brown's are really tough, short if impossible, to keep ich free from almost every account I've ever read. I think they're in the running if not unanimously the top spot for ich in tangs. It may not have been an addition at all but just an opportunistic situation where the other fish have enough resistance built up not to get sick. I haven't seen a formal study on it, but I've read more than one reputable person who thinks that ich and other pathogens are almost always present in tanks which is why fish sometimes get them months or years after the most recent additions to the tank.

Do you have the ability to use a fish trap and catch him?

UV isn't very reliable for treating any specific pathogen. In that tank size, I think you would need significantly more to have any chance at it being effective, probably more like 50 or 60W. I've heard garlic can help in addition to UV but I really think these methods are a coin toss compared to a hospital tank and either hyposalinity or using copper or another proven medication.

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Brown's are really tough, short if impossible, to keep ich free from almost every account I've ever read. I think they're in the running if not unanimously the top spot for ich in tangs. It may not have been an addition at all but just an opportunistic situation where the other fish have enough resistance built up not to get sick. I haven't seen a formal study on it, but I've read more than one reputable person who thinks that ich and other pathogens are almost always present in tanks which is why fish sometimes get them months or years after the most recent additions to the tank.

Do you have the ability to use a fish trap and catch him?

UV isn't very reliable for treating any specific pathogen. In that tank size, I think you would need significantly more to have any chance at it being effective, probably more like 50 or 60W. I've heard garlic can help in addition to UV but I really think these methods are a coin toss compared to a hospital tank and either hyposalinity or using copper or another proven medication.

Thank you so much for the response. Yes I feel that I would need one that size as well to stand a chance. I had completely left my tank fish free for 8 weeks and quarantined all my fish with copper for 6 weeks and still got ich! Like you said near impossible. My other fish don't have it at the moment but I have some fragile fish.... I am most Afriad of my purple tang getting sick. I do not have a trap. I guess I could try that.
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+1 to what Jestep said. Just my opinion only, but I feel like it's like trying to keep the common cold out of your house. Ich can come on a drop of water from any new addition. The odds of being that sterile with all your additions is just even exhausting just thinking about it.

Naturally healthy fish will recover from it. Like Jestep said, garlic soaked food may help out. Dr. G'S medicated food I heard was helpful too... all of this may be anecdotal but it doesn't hurt to try. I think you'll do more harm trying to catch it out, putting it in a QT, and medicating it then just letting it get over it in the tank.

A nice, healthy, and happy fish should be able to fight it off and not succumb to it next time around.

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I would recommend that you keep him (and the others) well fed. So long as they keep eating, I have had great success helping them through it. The only time I lost one was when I took a tang out and put him in quarantine. The stress of catching him, transferring to a new tank and medicating him caused him to stop eating and he essentially starved. If you decide to catch yours, the easiest way I found was to put the veggie clip high in the tank. I then used a large net and quickly scooped him out (don't hesitate). Good luck and don't panic!

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I've had my PBT for about a year now. In that time he's had Ich twice and both times cured within a week. All of my research says that diet is the most important way to keep them Ich free. It will raise your phosphates but I would offer seaweed every day or every other day. Take any uneaten portion out at night. A Cleaner Shrimp wouldn't hurt, but it's not a fail safe bet by any means. Even if you introduced one today, that doesn't mean he'll just go right to work cleaning. It could take days for him to establish himself, but anything is worth a try. I keep one in my tank and I like him a lot.

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