my tang died of ich suddenly, how long should i wait?

[fungia]

my naso tang died of ich suddenly, it was fine for many years but when i added some new corals i think there was ich in the water and my tang got it really bad. i feel terrible.

how long should i wait before i add another tang? i dont want it to die of ich. i have 11 other fish in my 100 gallon and they are doing great.

 

[FB]

I'm new to this ICH thing myself. From what I've read your are going to have to treat the tank or the other fish will possibly get ICH in the next life cycle.

This is a greatly debated topic.

You can read the following thread that I started about the topic

http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.p ... highlight=

FB

 

[Gaffes]

More experienced aquarists will probably answer after this, but here is my two cents...

Your tank seems stocked pretty heavily, and the rest of the fish almost certainly have ich to a certain degree. The ich goes through two phases in its lifecycle, a dormant phase and a parasitic phase where it attaches to a host fish. They also reproduce like rabbits.

If you slowly increase the temperature a bit, you can speed up the lifecycle, and if you slowly lower the salinity a bit you will make conditions more favorable to the fish and less favorable to the ich.

Personally, I wouldn't add another fish for a long time, if ever. Your whole tank is a delicate balance bwtween the ich and the fish, and once the ich population gets beyond a certain point, the situation gets exponentially worse. The ich cannot live through the parasitic phase without a host, so the fewer fish the better.

My advice: Don't add any more fish, slowly increase temp & lower salinity, and try to maintain excellent water quality.

Good luck!

 

[fungia]

thank you guys. i want another tang to control the algae. it is my only big fish, the other ones are small fish like dwarf angel, pseudochromis, and gobies. will the ich go away even if i have fish in the tank? the other fish dont have any ich on them.

 

[Gaffes]

I'm still hoping someone more experience will reply , but you might want to read this.

It says to remove your live rock, but I never did. Do you have anything besides LR and softcorals in the tank? Any inverts? I also lowered my salinity much slower than suggested.

I am pretty sure some of you other fish have a mild case of ich at least. A bit of ich here and there is not too bad, but once it hits critical mass you have problems. In the ocean, alot of the fish have an ich parasite or two, but since it isn't a closed system, they maintain only one or two parasites. In an aquarium, it can explode. The main idea is to keep them under control.

Hope this helps a bit...

 

[Meloco14]

Gaffes has the right idea, but you need to lower the salinity a lot, and most inverts will not survive this. Look up threads on hyposalinity. In an ideal case you should take your fish out and perform the hypo treatment in quarantine. This treatment will safely and effectively kill any ich on your fish. Your display can be left alone, with corals and inverts and normal conditions. The ich needs a fish as a host to reproduce, so without fish in the tank the ich will eventually die off. This normally takes 6-8 weeks IIRC. In your tank ich is still present. It may not be visible on your fish because they are healthy enough to fight it off. But if you add another fish, especially a tang, I would say there's a 95% chance the new fish would get ich from the stress. Some people believe that tanks always have ich in them, but if you keep the fish healthy enough it will never be a problem. Personally I believe it's better to rid your tank of it, but it does require time and effort. The desicion is yours to make. Good luck.

 

[fyrefysh]

The ich goes through two phases in its lifecycle

Actually, ich goes through 4 phases in it's lifecycle. :wink:

Anyways, I currently have ich in my tank as well (what a bummer :? ) I have noticed that only the fish that are stressed have it, the others don't. If you think about it, this is a good way to naturally weed out the weak. I figure that if ich lives in the ocean, why don't all fish have it (and die from it)? I guess only the strong survive. Anyways, taking your fish out of your display tank is not always the easiest bout. I preferring to wait it out, but next time i'll be SURE to quarantine.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I don't mean to rain on your parade, but I doubt you'll have much long-term success with any Tang in a 100 gallon with 11 other fish.

Aside from the fact that your bioload is high, the population density is also too high. Wherever the Tang swims it will be very close to other fish. This leads to stress, especially in fish that prefer open swimming space, like tangs. This stress makes the already very ich-prone tangs even more likely to get ich.

You mentioned an algae problem. I'd suggest trying to solve that first by finding a way to export more nutrients, maybe more waterchanges, better skimming, adding a refugium, feeding less, having fewer fish or any combination of these.

The thing is: You could keep a tang in your tank! But you'd have better luck if you made a few changes to 1st improve water quality and clarity (tangs need super-clear water.) amd 2nd do some evections to make more room.

Good Luck!
Jh