Help! Blue tang with ick:(

Glissfish21 · Jun 28, 2016

I got a blue tang about a month ago, and knowing they are very susceptible to ick, I tried to prevent it by soaking the food in GarlicGuard and adding StressGuard to the tank for about a week. I had thought that did the trick, but a couple weeks ago it came back. Now he's covered with spots and he has a bunch of marks and scrapes from rubbing against the rocks, he also has what looks like a small hole through one of his fins, which I assume was from a shrimp trying to clean him. He is acting very distressed and agitated, however he's eating lots and I've been feeding more that I usually do to try to help keep the stress down. I'm also treating the tank with a reef-safe herbal ick treatment, StessGuard, GarlicGuard, and I was adding ginger as well but stopped when it didn't seem to be making a difference.
I really want to help this little blue tang, but I'm not sure what else to do cause he doesn't seem to be getting any better:( Any suggestions? Is there maybe a treatment I haven't tried yet?

cmcoker · Jun 28, 2016

There is no effective reef safe treatment for ich. The stuff that says you can use in a display tank does not kill ich.
The only way to rid him and your display of the disease is to:
Remove him (and all other fish) from the tank and run him through tank transfer method or treat with copper or CP in a hospital tank.
All the fish would need to be removed from the display for a fallow period of 76 days.

After fallow period and treating current fish they can be returned to the display. All future livestock would need to be quarantined to prevent bringing ich back into the system.

Also, pictures of the fish would be helpful to have. Some other diseases can cause white spots and it helps to know which to treat for.

What other fish are in your tank?

Humblefish · Jun 28, 2016

^^Agree with @cmcoker. More info on ich here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ich-cryptocaryon-irritans.191226/

Glissfish21 · Jun 28, 2016

Thanks for the reply!
Unfortunately, it's extremely difficult to get any closeup pictures of him as he darts into the rocks as soon as I hold the camera up. The best I could get was very blurry and didn't show anything:/
Upon closer inspection, the spots appear very fine and dust-like, and his skin has a slight mucusy texture. Is that normal for ick?
At one point I was worried that he might have Velvet. However, after lots of reading and research, it doesn't seem to match up as he is acting relatively normal (aside from the agitation and rubbing against rocks) and is eating great. I'm still not sure though, do you think it might be Velvet?
I've got a yellow tang, 2 clowns, 2 damsels, a pajama cardinal, a bangii cardinal, a pearly jawfish, a firefish, a mandarin goby, a ruby red dragonet, and of course the blue tang.
Unfortunately, I don't think I'd be able to catch some of the fish without pulling the whole tank apart:( I could maybe manage to get the blue tang out if I use food to trap him, but other fish like the jawfish, goby, and dragonet I would imagine would be nearly impossible.

Humblefish · Jun 28, 2016

@Glissfish21 What you are describing sounds a lot like velvet. Below is a pic of a Hippo Tang with ich for comparison purposes:

Glissfish21 · Jun 28, 2016

His spots seem to look a little smaller than the ones in the picture, but it's hard to tell because of all his scrapes.
If it is Velvet, what do I do?

Glissfish21 · Jun 28, 2016

If I take him out and put him in quarantine, can I treat for both ick and Velvet at the same time?

cmcoker · Jun 28, 2016

Ick and velvet can both be treated with copper or CP, but velvet has some extra steps, like using medicated baths during treatment.
You will have to pull all the fish though... Otherwise it will be able to persist in the tank on them, if it's velvet it is highly likely to kill the fish if left in the display. If it is velvet and the disease is not caught early, then mortality can be high even when attempting treatment. So need to get going on treating ASAP any time velvet is suspected

There's no "velvet management", like you can try to do for a tank with ich

Nick92515 · Jun 28, 2016

I would get him out asap, whatever it is its a ticking time bomb before others get infected. Now other fish may be already infected but not showing any signs yet. the only way to remove ich is to remove all fish to a qt, but your going to need a big quarantine tank for that. Just for reference what size is your display and quarantine tank?
Even if one fish is removed and treated the disease will still be in the display untill left fallow. All those other reef safe treatments is just going to gunk up your water.

Humblefish · Jun 28, 2016

I have seen a few cases where velvet was managed by herbal remedies for a short amount of time. More info on that here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/a-discussion-regarding-herbal-remedies.251560/

But it is very likely velvet will kill all/most of your fish if left unchecked. This is how I treat velvet: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/velvet-amyloodinium-ocellatum.217570/#post-2499437

Glissfish21 · Jun 28, 2016

Ok, I don't think it's velvet then. This has been going on for at least 2-3 weeks now on and off, seems more like ick to me, but I could be wrong.
Nick92515, my DT is 110g. As for quarantine, I only have a 35g, 20g (frag tank), and a 10g that could be used for quarantine, so I would have to get a bigger tank.

Nick92515 · Jun 28, 2016

Well looking at your stocking list, this could be the cause of ich, if that's what it is. I'm not trying to tell you what to do, but with out a 180 gal or at least a 6ft tank. which is what is recommended, these fish will be stressed constantly. That's a lot of fish for a 110. Especially the tangs. Without letting the tank fallow. You will get ich again and again, it's a ich prone fish in a small tank.

Humblefish · Jun 28, 2016

Glissfish21 said:
Ok, I don't think it's velvet then. This has been going on for at least 2-3 weeks now on and off, seems more like ick to me, but I could be wrong.
Nick92515, my DT is 110g. As for quarantine, I only have a 35g, 20g (frag tank), and a 10g that could be used for quarantine, so I would have to get a bigger tank.

I just came from Petco, and they are including up to 75 gal tanks in their $ per gallon sale. Until Aug 5 (I believe).

Glissfish21 · Jun 28, 2016

Nick92515, when I got the tangs I knew that within a year I was going to try to upgrade to a 200g. They are quite small still and fit nicely in the 110g for now, but I have already been looking into getting a bigger tank:)
Thanks Humblefish, I'll have to check that out:)
Does anyone happen to have any tips on catching jawfish and dragonets? I'm not exactly sure how I'm gonna catch those guys.