Parents tank...

[lambitron]

My parents have a salt water tank. Please excuse me for knowing nothing about it, or salt water- I don't live with them, and have only freshwater myself.

I don't know the size of the tank, or what kind of fish, and other stuff they have.

All I know is their blue tang has ich. It's the first time they are dealing with ich in a saltwater tank... and they don't know what to do. The local saltwater store they go to isn't open on Mondays and Tuesdays, and obviously they don't want to wait to do anything until Wednesday.

What do you do for ich in a saltwater tank? I know what to do with freshwater, but I highly doubt that it's the same.

Thanks for the help in advance. My mom is freaking out.

 

[BWI]

My parents have a salt water tank. Please excuse me for knowing nothing about it, or salt water- I don't live with them, and have only freshwater myself.

I don't know the size of the tank, or what kind of fish, and other stuff they have.

All I know is their blue tang has ich. It's the first time they are dealing with ich in a saltwater tank... and they don't know what to do. The local saltwater store they go to isn't open on Mondays and Tuesdays, and obviously they don't want to wait to do anything until Wednesday.

What do you do for ich in a saltwater tank? I know what to do with freshwater, but I highly doubt that it's the same.

Thanks for the help in advance. My mom is freaking out.

soak its food in garlic and make sure it keeps eating!!! You have to keep feeding it so that it can fight it off its self. Once it takes over they stop eating and then they die. So make sure you keep them fat for the next week or so. Soaking the food in garlic does something to the fishes taste buds i guess and keeps them wanting more food.

 

[Catpicklesdog]

Ideally, you need to get all the fish into a quarantine tank and let the display tank go fallow for 8 weeks.

Ich can be treated with hyposalinity. Doing this in the main tank is NOT recommended.

 

[1wizz]

First of all find out what brought about the attack of ich, poor water quality, a new tank mate or maybe some other disturbance?
If you can hazard a guess as to the cause then it gives you a head up on treatment.
Most would suggest you remove the Tang to a hospital tank and treat with hypo-salinity.
I would first reason a cause.

 

[atruheo]

I agree with both cat and wizz up above, A quarantine tank is always a necessity, especially if you want to use treatments (such as hyposalinity). But it won’t do you any good until you fix the source of the problem (why you have ich). Tell your parents to check the parameters of their tank. Also, before they introduce new fish into their system, use to quarantine tank to observe them for a few weeks to make sure they’re healthy! (another way to fix the source of your problem) The tank doesn’t have to be huge, but still allow your fish to be comfortable.

As for garlic, it’s a great little food additive that I always blend with the mix of my SW food (which consists of shiners, brine shrimp, blood worms, krill, seaweed, and yes, garlic, as well as other ingredients). I would go with All of the above posts! Good luck!

 

[lambitron]

Not to sound ungrateful, because I am... But not everyone has the money to set up and run an empty tank or room to have one. I know personally with my fresh, we don't have room in our tiny apartment for another tank. I'm not sure if my parents have the extra money right this moment.. but doesn't it have to be cycled before it can even be used has a quarantine tank anyway?

Is the garlic healthy for all fish?

My mom is pretty sure the source was from a new fish. They just added a new fish right before they noticed the ich.

They test their tank pretty regular, and although I don't know what the parameters are (or even what normal is for salt), I know that they are where they should be. They test their own water, and before they purchase any new fish, they get it tested at the lfs.

Should they treat all of the fish? Even tho the rest aren't showing any signs of ich?

Thanks.

 

[Ace25]

Blue Tangs=Ich Magnets. I used to freak out about ich like most people before I started working at a LFS.. now I understand it isn't nearly as bad as I once thought, especially in certain fish like Blue (Hippo) tangs and Powder Blue tangs. I used to watch the powder blue tang in the 400G reef tank get ich daily, but it would always fight it off by itself. If the fish is acting normal, the ich isn't that bad (less than 12 spots) and doesn't get worse then the only thing I would recommend is a garlic suppliment. I would not QT or Hypo it. The powder blue would start off in the morning with no spots, then throughout the day would slowly show about a dozen spots by the end of the day, this went of for over a month but the fish always ate and acted normal, now it looks as healthy as a powder blue can. Most people, myself included until recently, would spot one little white spot of ich and freak out trying to stop it, and this usually causes more stress on the fish which in turn made it die much quicker.

Now if the fish is "salted", or really covered in white spots, then more drastic action must be taken, first being get that fish out of the display tank. Usually this means certain death if it has got that far, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth trying to save because you may be the 1 out of 1000 that saves the fish if it is that far gone.

It also depends on the size tank they have, the size of the fish, amount of fish in the tank, sump setup, water change schedule.. lots of things come into play. To answer your last question, yes, most fish seem to have ich with them even if it isn't showing. The first part of ich is an internal parasite.. the white spots you see the a later stage in the life cycle of ich, so if you are seeing the spots, that means the fish has had ich for a while now.

 

[cav]

A few comments in red for you:

but doesn't it have to be cycled before it can even be used has a quarantine tank anyway?

Yes, otherwise the tank will cycle with the fish in it and cause more stress

Is the garlic healthy for all fish?

For tropicals yes as there digestive systems are used to eating terrestrial plant lipids. For marine fish no! It can be used short term for picky eaters but long term use of garlic can cause heart and liver lesions in marine fish due to the inability to digest terestrial plant lipids

My mom is pretty sure the source was from a new fish.

It will of been, marine whitespot (it's not ich, ich is a freshwater disease) doesn't just appear in tanks and has nothing to do with poor water quality, whitespot needs good quality water too.

They just added a new fish right before they noticed the ich.

They test their tank pretty regular, and although I don't know what the parameters are (or even what normal is for salt), I know that they are where they should be. They test their own water, and before they purchase any new fish, they get it tested at the lfs.

Should they treat all of the fish? Even tho the rest aren't showing any signs of ich?

Yes, chances are the other fish will have contracted it but are not yet showing. If the tank contains live rock and sand they will have to be removed to a hospital tank in order to be treated as copper can not be used.

Thanks.