Sick Tang

[firecrackerbob]

Hi Guys,

Picked up a tang this week at HOT. its doing OK overall, but is rubbing on rocks quite a bit with a whitish\grayish spot on his side. I figured ick or some other issue may be going on and added a cleaner shrimp today-but it doesn't seen to want to do any cleaning yet.

 

HOT also recommended using a product called Rally and claimed it is reef safe.

 

What is the best course of action here?? hope that the cleaner does his job? dose some rally to the display? or QT the tang and dose some rally or other product???

THANKS!!!

[hlem]

QT the tang and dose some rally or other product???

 

asap

[Nate]

Always quarantine your fish. I treat with copper on all new tangs. They are so susceptible to ick.

[davelin315]

Some questions for you.

 

What is HOT?

 

On to the Tang.

 

What kind of tang is it? Some are not good candidates for copper treatment. Copper can wreck their intestinal bacteria and cause digestive issues in some of them, so be careful of what you treat and closely monitor the levels.

 

As far as Rally being reef safe, it says it is, but in my experience with these products, it's hit or miss. I have used kick ich with my reef tanks in the past and had mixed results, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but when it did, I always did more than the prescribed remedy. That said, I do still have ich in my tank, it just helped the fish overcome it. Also, it has had an adverse effect in some people's tanks is what I hear.

 

In general, the number one solution to a tang's health woes is good diet and low stress. What kind of system do you have and what other fish do you have?

 

As far as the cleaner shrimp, there's mixed evidence on whether they help or not, but in my opinion and experience, they can help only with some of the symptoms and do not help with any of the problem except in very minor cases.

[firecrackerbob]

thanks for the responses!!!

 

Davelin- HOT is house of tropicals. store in glen burnie MD. worth checking out if you are ever up this way.

the tang was sold to me as a powered brown, but I think he could also possibly be a white cheek. he is a juvenile either way.

my tank is a mixed reef with an open layout. there are two damsels in with him and he has already established dominance over them, so he seems to be the alpha.

 

the tang seems to be doing OK overall, he is eating like a pig and swimming happily. he appears to be breathing normally so whatever he has doesn't seem to have impacted his circulation system too bad yet... I generally prefer to quarantine, but since I moved to an apartment, space is limited. plus with just two other damsels as tank mates I decided to just put him into the display where he would be the least stressed out and water quality could be kept the best.

 

I did some more research on Rally last night and most people claimed it was reef safe without problems. I decided to dose a half dose and see how the tank did. today all sps polyps are still extended so I will probably go for a full dose today.

 

I really want to be proactive about the tangs health. I don't think he is too far along with the velvet(if that is what he has) and am hoping that the steps I am taking will take care of it before it gets too bad.

[Jon Lazar]

thanks for the responses!!!

I really want to be proactive about the tangs health. I don't think he is too far along with the velvet(if that is what he has) and am hoping that the steps I am taking will take care of it before it gets too bad.

 

firecrackerbob,

 

If your tang is presenting white spots and scratching behaviour, it's far more likely that it has ich than velvet.

 

"When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras." Unless you live in the Serengeti; then the opposite is true.

 

Also, keep in mind that by adding the PBT to your DT, you now definitely have ich in your DT if you didn't already. Even if you put the PBT in quarantine now, the ich will continue to exist at a very low level in the DT, although your fish will probably be asymptomatic until some event causes stress in your fish. At which point you might have a big outbreak. So, strive to keep the fish well-fed and healthy so the ich won't regain a foothold.

 

Good luck.

 

Jon