Help Help!

[N1z]

ok my stats are.
ammonia 0.0
nitrite <0.3
nitrate<0.3
ph 8.3
saltness 1.025
its gill parasite cos the clean shrimp cleans the dwarf angle but also my clarkii is scratching its gills, also they have stopped breathing fast now as ive puts of of air into the tank.

 

[Navarre]

OK lets try and get to the bottom of this rather than dancing around the subject.

First of all i dont think you have oodinium, its more likely to be Ich. If your fish had oodinium then its highly likely the entire tank would be dead within 1 week.

The symptoms of the Ich parasite and the oodinium parasite are very similar but the oodinium parasite id far more resistant to treatments and far more deadly (faster acting) than ich.

The only sure fire way of defeating either parasite is copper but as you have corals this simply cannot be added to the tank.
When anyone keeps tang i alway recomend preventative treatments as they are almost destined to catch ich at some point in their lifetime.
So although its easy to close the door after the horse has bolted (so to speak) I would recomend the following before a fish was added to your system (especially the tang).

UV filter
Ozone filter (better than a UV IMO)


Once the fish are in you should feed a diet that is treated with garlic.

And if the fish come down with the parasite then i recomend the following treatments that can be used in the tank.

Oodinex
Octozin


Ok so you are now limited on your options...
If you want to keep the fish inb the tank i would recomend that you start to feed with garlic and treat the tank with the above treatments. Add a UV sterilizer of an Ozone unit asap to help kill off any free swimming parasites.


If you were in a better position i would recomend this to deal with the parasite (I had to take this route when my tank was nearly wiped out with Oodinium).

Remove all fish and place them in a quarentine tank. Make sure you have some liverock or a very well mature filter that you are willing to sacrifice as it will not be able to be put back into the main system.

Dose the Quarentine tank with a copper based product, run a UV sterilizer in the Quarentine tank also if possible. Keep the fish in here until the main tank is ready.


The main tank needs an Ozone unit or UV system running on it. Raise the temperature of the tank (mine was running at 30-32 degrees from its usual 26 degrees)
Lower the salinity of the tank as low as you dare. I set my salinity to 1.018 which is as low as i dared to go. This did kill my sps corals such as acroporas but my clams softies and lps all surived this.

Then simply leave the tank alone and wait.


and wait




and wait






and wait some more.


I waited between 5 and 6 weeks before i was satisfied that the parasite was starved out and no longer a threat to my fish.



Once this was done i increased the salinity again, lowered the water temperature and finally added the fish back into the system. Before doing this however i did purchase 2 chromis and palced them in the quarentine tank so that the liverock (now imbedded with copper) would keep its bacteria colony well established if i ever had to introduce fish in an emergency once more.


My wifes Nano system recently got oodinium and suffered ghastly losses (the entire tank crashed within 24 hours). She wouldnt take my advice and re-introduced more fish within 1 week. They died within 24 hours

She finally relented and followed my advice and after 5 weeks she started re-stocking. She now has her nano looking batter than ever with very healthy and happy looking fish.


Sadly, Ich and Oodinium are very difficult parasites to fight in a reef system. They can be defeated but its gonna take time, patience and effort.


Lastly...
Im not sure on the size of your tank but it looks far too small for a tang wich really needs 100 gallons or more.
Considering tangs are highly stressed fish at the best of times its probably the initial reason why your tank came down with the parasite.

 

[N1z]

thanks nav, ok well my tang is fine no iching wot so ever yet.. but i used to feed them all the time on garlic guard and vit enriched foods to keep the imune system at a high and it did work didnt have any probs.
Thing is as im only 17 im always strapped for cash as it were despite working in a freshwater fish shop
But im upgrading to a 55g on sunday (hoping) but my mum is wanting to help so i thght i would buy a 15w uv and wack the garlic on again but also when transfering the fish ill give them fresh water baths in hope it knocks them out. But i was hoping to use my water and new water so i wldnt have to cycle the tank again as much really but you think that could just intoduce more problems?

OR

I do what i say fil the new tank up half way then use my old tank for a while as a hospital tank then that way i cld just dip my corals in iodine to clean them and maybe with the live rock so while im treating the tank im healing the fish? But only question is im selling my tank to a m8 who wnts to do marine but like only live rock and a shrimp with some nano fish if i rinsed out the tank proper good wld it be safe for him to use?

And i understand ur concern for the fish and tbh i feel that it wld be ok in one, as im not as dumb as most ppl becuase ive seen people put a purple,yellow and a regal in the same tank, same size and ofcourse they get along but i know thats a bit too unfair. Plus every where i read the yellow in the smallest tang and so it can go in a 55 min which is also backed up by seeing many people do it. i mean if i cld have a 100 gallon or ur 200 i wish! i wld feel happy but mines been with me for over half a year now so just to loose him in a bigger tank wld be a big upset for me

Cheers for help

 

[jen20147]

You can obviously do whatever you want but youre being told that the tank is not big enough. Even your upgrade to a 55 would be half what the tang needs to be happy. They might start out small but they get pretty big and youre not going to be able to keep him at that point so why not let him go now so he can stop being stressed out, because guarunteed hes stressed out right now in your tank.

 

[Mr Miagi]

And i understand ur concern for the fish and tbh i feel that it wld be ok in one, as im not as dumb as most ppl becuase ive seen people put a purple,yellow and a regal in the same tank, same size and ofcourse they get along but i know thats a bit too unfair. Plus every where i read the yellow in the smallest tang and so it can go in a 55 min which is also backed up by seeing many people do it. i mean if i cld have a 100 gallon or ur 200 i wish! i wld feel happy but mines been with me for over half a year now so just to loose him in a bigger tank wld be a big upset for me

I would personally buy the new tank, use some water from my old tank, get the params right, chuck a UV on, and have the fish only QT for 4-6 weeks minimum as mentioned previously.

Just because "someone else does it" doesnt make it right to do it yourselves people!!!! Ive seen mandarins in nanos, seahorses in 5 gal picos, a nurse shark in a 8ft tank. That does NOT mean its ok, and fair on the animals, its NOT giving them a suitable habitat because "someone esle did it". You might not be as "dumb" as some people, im sure your not. But that doesnt make your current fish choice for a 55 gallon tank smarter than the avergae hobbyist.

Several people have voiced their opinions about that, so I probably shouldnt have continued, but it wasnt directed all towards you mate, its a general fault by many hobbyists.

EDIT: I should have added, I think the best choice is to get those fish on their own if possible. Garlic and a UV sounds like a good idea if you cant afford that new tank.

 

[Navarre]

The comment about the tang was not a dig at you at all, you seem a very caring hobbiest so this is a good thing. However the tang is definately not the smallest tang out there as these fish can grow over 10 inches across ( my purple tangs which are the same fish just different colour) are now very large indeed and they havent stopped growing yet).

If you want a tang in a 55 gallon system then you would be better with a bristletooth as these tend to be more content in smaller tanks. I still feel its too small for a tang but at least its volume would be closer to the needs of hte fish.

However it is your tank and your fish and ultimately its down to you to decide what action to take. I will of course remind you that tangs are easily stressed and will catch ich in a blink of an eye.
Lastly... Just because the tang doesnt show signs of parasites doesnt mean its not carrying them. Yellow and purple tangs often becomes extremly resistant to parasites yet they still carry them. For some reason the parasitite simply doesnt seem to effect the tang after a while.

 

[N1z]

ok thats fair enough but for now i cnt really sell a tang with ich on it lol. So wots better option one or too the treat the fish?

 

[Mr Miagi]

So wots better option one or too the treat the fish?

Either

 

[N1z]

right, im going to take back my yellow tang, cardinal and 2 green chromosis, but i have informed about the ich problem dw. and hopfully ill get some live rock for them.
thanks for the help.