Which Tangs are most prone to Ich!

[kschew1498]

Hi

Earlier a month+ ago, my new tank was infested by ich......its started infesting my PowerBrown. I had 6 tangs, PowerBrown, Brown, Blue, Yellow, Kole and Sailfin.

Soon after the rest of the tangs were infected.

Tried all ways and means to eradicate it, medication by using "kill ich", blacking the whole tank after photo period, make water change regularly but to no avail!

First the PB dies....than follow by Brown, Kole and then Yellow.......besides the tangs, my anthias, golden angel and bi-color benny all died one after another as well......all this within 4-5 weeks!!!!

Now my tank is left with these survivors...... benny, salifin and blue tangs.......SIGH!

Its been 4th day since my last victim, Yellow tang died on me.

Last night, I went to a couple of LFS to buy some corals.....and I saw this beautiful Sohal.....which was a fish I had always wanted. I try to refrain myself from buying as I wish to let my tank settle down for a while after stocking up with fishes again......

Now the question to all tangs lover .........can anybody advise is Sohal tang very prone to ich! (contemplating to buy it ) I guess I may have to re-phase.......which are the tangs which is most easilest infectious to ich........

IMO......Power Brown and Power Blue......

Would appreciate you guys advise, suggestion, opinion....anything......

[bum]

All tangs are ich magnets esp the Powder tangs...

i would take a look at your water parameters and tank conditions though.

6 tangs? how big is your tank?

i'd say you need at least a 5ft or 500L tank

also take into account the space needed for them,

do you have enough rocks and hiding/resting places?

tangs of the same genus are also not compatible,

it depends on which was introduced first and established its territory.

also different tangs have different aggresive levels,

a regal tang or ocean surgeon are relatively milder...

a sohal or AT would be considered very agressive so a late addition

is not so bad.

If a sohal was the first tang introduced....

it might just hit out at all later additions.

tangs also poo a lot,

so your NNR and nutrient export would have to be above average to

accomadate a large number of tangs

[Chris]

Think there is an epidemic in your tank with so many rapid deaths in such short time. I advise you don't add anything for the next 2-3 months. Check parameters and keep water good. Wait for the ich bacteria to die out in 1-2 months time.

[Chris]

All the powder type of tangs are very prone but also very agressive. Best to decide how many tangs your tank can accommodate, then shortlist the ones you like, and when the tank is settled, introduce them into the tank together.

[hwcheong]

Any way to check if the water is infested bby ich before we actually introduce the fish?

[kschew1498]

Hi Bum

I have a 5 footer with 100+kg of live rocks and tongas........my water condition is reasonably ok.......except the NO3 at 12.5ppm. My dkh also swings a bit as well.........sometimes as bad as 7.....by the way my tank is only 3 month+ old.......I suspect it could be new tank syndrom???

hmmm....I guess I can only add a Sohal later.......

I have to confess.....last evening......I bought another benny, goby and dottyback....... ......all small small fishes.......

Guess I better take you guys advise.....ENDURE ENDURE for 1-2months !!!

Hi hmcheong......ich comes from the fishes ......not from the water.......and is usually due to us stressing the fishes.....be it transportation, bully by tank mates or poor water quality......

[tineng]

You might want to do a QT. No3 at 12.5 should not kill fish...i used to have it at 100 and my blue tang and angel seems to be doing well (grew by 50% in fact)....

Main reasons for stress could be it is not strong enough to compete with the other fish....doing a QT until its strong enough to compete for food with the other fishes should improve its chances....strong and healthy tang should improve its chances of fighting againts ich....

[kschew1498]

You might want to do a QT. No3 at 12.5 should not kill fish...i used to have it at 100 and my blue tang and angel seems to be doing well (grew by 50% in fact)....

Main reasons for stress could be it is not strong enough to compete with the other fish....doing a QT until its strong enough to compete for food with the other fishes should improve its chances....strong and healthy tang should improve its chances of fighting againts ich....

Thanks tineng.........was wondering if I can QT my fishes in my refugium before introducing to the main tank ....I am just plain lazy to QT my fishes.....SIGH!

My sump is 4 ft and the refugium is 2 ft by 1.5ft.......

[AlfaRomeo]

Bro, you cant put a tang in a 2x1.5, seems more like a torture chamber more than a QT. It will stress the tang more and will lead to a very unhealthy tang.

Anyway, QT should be totally separate from the main display tank system.

[DeepBlue]

Roidan's 4ft Q tank is quite good...not too wide..but length is pretty goood...

[AlfaRomeo]

Additionally, IMHO, a Q-tank should have very good water quality matching your display tank parameters to prevent added stress when the LS migrates from the QT to the display tank.

[roidan]

Roidan's 4ft Q tank is quite good...not too wide..but length is pretty goood...

u mean this? hehehe

can you spot Prof X? no prizes though

[alanseah]

Hi hmcheong......ich comes from the fishes ......not from the water.......and is usually due to us stressing the fishes.....be it transportation, bully by tank mates or poor water quality......

what hmcheong telling to tell u is that because ich has a cycle... during their first few cycle they r infact swimming in the water... be4 they will go and find host..

so having your tank fishless u r killing all the existing ich in your tank...

and after 2-3 months when u finally decide to get fish, you will do QT and add copper into the QT to kill any ich that is on the fish be4 adding into your tank..

in this way your tank will be ich free...

this method work well.. but alot find it troublesome and lazy to do it..

[lvcap]

yo KSchew..

went thru the same thing as u some time back.....dun think its the water conditions of your tank lah...12.5no3 okie mah.....some senior reefers told me alr can keep sps....

maybe the source of the fish?

the stress we cause?

cos we keep checking on them to see if they are okie..to see if they feed..

for my current batch...i tried to minimize my movement ard the tank...only hr for 2 hrs of lights on..

othertimes..they are swimming with no one disturbing them at all..

still fighting ick....but sometimes its luck bah..

even the most established tangs can die of ick or other factors..

do let the tank "fallow" awhile loh..

hope my spelling correct...

[Dispar_Anthias]

hmm IMO powder tangs and achilles are very prone to ich.. so is blue tang..... yellow, purple and rest of zebrasoma not that prone but may still get infected.. so far strongest is naso family

[kschew1498]

what hmcheong telling to tell u is that because ich has a cycle... during their first few cycle they r infact swimming in the water... be4 they will go and find host..

so having your tank fishless u r killing all the existing ich in your tank...

and after 2-3 months when u finally decide to get fish, you will do QT and add copper into the QT to kill any ich that is on the fish be4 adding into your tank..

in this way your tank will be ich free...

this method work well.. but alot find it troublesome and lazy to do it..

ooorrrr.......

Allan, thanks for clearing up.....

[kschew1498]

hmm IMO powder tangs and achilles are very prone to ich.. so is blue tang..... yellow, purple and rest of zebrasoma not that prone but may still get infected.. so far strongest is naso family

Thanks DA....anybody second that??? Very very tempted to get the Sohal....thats why required all this advise.........

Hi lvcap.....hope your tangs can pull through.......mine......sigh! .....###### luck la......really really lose faith on the tangs........

[hamannbmw]

i had 3 tangs in my tank now, yellow, PBT and sohal. Yellow had been with me for almost 6 month liao (transfered from previous tank) PBT got ich for about 3 days, but recover fast......... as for the sohal no ich at all, with me for 4 days only... maybe becos i got it from a dispplay tank....... seasoned liao ...

[weileong]

An easy way if you want to test if ich is present in your tank is to get some molly.. convert them to salt water then add into your tank for 1 day. After that remove them and put in low salinity water then observe for 1 week to see if they get the white spots.

Like what DA has said. AT and those powder xxxx tangs are super prone to ich. The blue tang also very prone to ich but not as bad as the power xxxx tangs. The rest of the tang are not so bad

kschew my advise for you is to just forget abt adding any tangs for the next 2-3 months until the ich problem settles down. Just endure for the sake of your existing tangs. I know very difficult but just don't go LFS lor. Let your pocket rest as well

[AlfaRomeo]

Weileong/kschew, that is exactly what am I doing... it has been 3 weeks and counting since the death of the AT from ICH and I will wait for at least 2 months after the last spots dissapear from my other surviving tangsbefore I add any other fish to the system. Hope the bloody Ich will rear its ugly head again...

[kschew1498]

An easy way if you want to test if ich is present in your tank is to get some molly.. convert them to salt water then add into your tank for 1 day. After that remove them and put in low salinity water then observe for 1 week to see if they get the white spots.

Like what DA has said. AT and those powder xxxx tangs are super prone to ich. The blue tang also very prone to ich but not as bad as the power xxxx tangs. The rest of the tang are not so bad

kschew my advise for you is to just forget abt adding any tangs for the next 2-3 months until the ich problem settles down. Just endure for the sake of your existing tangs. I know very difficult but just don't go LFS lor. Let your pocket rest as well

Hi Weileong....thats a damn good reason for me to stop buying tangs.....but small small fish can or not???? ....like gobies??? .......ENDURE ENDURE......Slap you if you buy some more......

hamannbmw....I too think that Sohal is not that prone to ich.......guess I am giving excuses to myself to get that fish.....sigh!!!!

[weileong]

kschew, better just play safe and not add anything Play safe mar. If you cannot stop buying fish then buy for me tank

Concentrate more on your exisiting tang... feed them fat fat like what I am doing now They will appreciate your kindness.

[alanseah]

kschew my advise for you is to just forget abt adding any tangs for the next 2-3 months until the ich problem settles down. Just endure for the sake of your existing tangs. I know very difficult but just don't go LFS lor. Let your pocket rest as well

weileong,

what I dont agree is, ich dont only find and belong to the tang, so long your tank got fish, and there is already ich exist in your tank... you can never get rid of the ich be it if the other fish suffer from ich or not...

ich can be only totally remove only when there is not fish in your tank... since in kschew1498 case impossible as there r still fish in it...

so even for 1-2 months or many yrs down the road he never buy any fish or tang, he will still face the ich problem when he put in tang...

cause u only see in tang as they r easily attach by ich and show sign of ich which u never see it in other hardly fish but it does not rule out they r ich free...

[AlfaRomeo]

Alanseah, you are right to a certain extent but that is only true if the fishes have partial immunity to ICH and they are harboring the parasite without visual indications. If they have full immunity, they will not be harboring the ICH parasite.

but the difficulty is determining if the fishes have partial or full immunity.. can only be done by looking at the gills of the fishes under a microscope....

Furthermore, in controlled lab conditions conducted in the US, if there are no additions to the tank made in a yr, it has been observed that the parasites will no longer be present and the system will be ich free. This happens according to the natural tendency of organism dieing off (sumthing to do with DNA etc etc which is too complicted for me to understnad...maybe Tanzy can enlighten us on this point)

This natural dieing off phenomenon can be accelerated with the correct application of UV to the system water (correct UV in terms of wattage, exposure time and turnover rate of the system water thru the UV sterilizer)

[alanseah]

Alanseah, you are right to a certain extent but that is only true if the fishes have partial immunity to ICH and they are harboring the parasite without visual indications. If they have full immunity, they will not be harboring the ICH parasite.

but the difficulty is determining if the fishes have partial or full immunity.. can only be done by looking at the gills of the fishes under a microscope....

yes I know AlfaRomeo,

what I'm point out now is not the other fish from any other LFS.. but the fish already in kschew1498 tank which he tank is already a carrier of ich...