Black Ich Tank Infestation. Calling on Jerel's Expertise

[digital_dragon]

I have two Yellow tangs one in my 40 Gallon Refugium and another in my 90 Gallon AGA Reef Ready Main Tank and they keep getting infested with little black dots. I have fresh water dipped them to remove the infestation once and that was a stressful exercise for both me and the fish.(Catching the little monsters is a real pain in the arse. ) I talked to TDWyatt and he forwarded me to ask Jerel for his advise on how to remove this parasite from my tank. I have sand polyps, Yellow Polyps a few mushrooms, 6 peppermint shrimp, 26 Astrea Snails, 2 porcelian crabs, 6 emerald mithrax crabs, and 26 Scarlet Hermits and lots of pods and I don't want to nuke the tank now that my parameters are stable and my DSB is maturing. I am assuming that this parasite came in on my live rock because my yellow tangs where FW Dipped and parasite free when introduced to my tank. Any information in helping me to rid my tank and sump of this parasite would be most appreciated. I am getting some skunk cleaner shrimp and a neon goby to do parasite cleaning and I am wondering if this would help to control or decimate the population or am I just spitting in the wind. Thanks in advance Jerel and anyone with experience in fighting thos little black dots.

Earl

[clyde]

spitting in the wind, 3 tangs and 2 in a 40, I would bring the tangs to a LFS for credit, or trade it in, lessen the stress factors, 2 in a 40 thats major stress factors I think, I do hope you will be able to defeat this thing.

ich is'nt funny.

[Spanky]

LOL I like the spitting in the wind part. That's the problem when you have parasites and hosts in a confined space. The parasites have the advantage.

Earl, don't add the neon. Won't help, they don't like Paravortex and can be a host too.

What other fish do you have in there? Can you board them out for a month? Let the tank go host free for a month. If not, can you catch the tangs and put them in the refug with a divider so you can get to them easier?

Reason being, you need to do a series of FW baths timed about 2-3 days apart. That way as they hatch and attach to the host, you're cleaning them off. Sort of like using the tangs as bait.

Here's the animal you're dealing with. Paravortex's (platyhelminth) life cycle at normal tank temps (76-80) and salinity goes like this. Stays on host for about 6 days, drops off, attaches to substrate, divides (+/- 200), ruptures in about 5 days, looks for host.

Usually a series of FW baths spread out over a week or two will do it. Some times we use Scarlet cleaners (be sure they are small about 1"). Be careful with the baths and make sure the fish have NO open wounds. Use RO/DI water 1-2 degrees warmer than the tank buffered to the same Ph. Keep a close eye on the fish, if they flip or spaz out (medical term) get them back into salt water (1-2 degrees warmer again) immediately. A 20-30 minute bath is about normal.

Jerel

[Minnreefer]

I don't like being called a tang police but sometimes I am. I would also recomend finding a new home for the tang in the 40. The 40 will hold the tang but it is small. Do you have a UV, I would assume not. Are any of the fish fighting?, or do you have any other fish in the tank?, do you feed the food with garlic? Do you have a quarentine tank that you can put one in? I am not an expert on quarenting fish, I would recomend finding a new home for the tang in the 40 and getting a 10 or 20 gallon tank and put the other tang in that. Make the quarentine tank black and do lots of water changes in both tanks.

Do a search for quarentine and garlic and listen to everyone's advice.

HTH

Jon

Also Listen to Jerel

[digital_dragon]

Thank you Jerel. To clear up the misunderstanding I only have two tangs. The one in the main tank is about 6 inches and the one in the sump is about 3 inches was a rescue and now in good health. I am currently trying to find him a good home. So hold off on the Tang Police. The one in the sump/refugium has always been a temporary solution.

Jerel if I pulled both fish out and farmed them out for a while do the black ich leave cysts behind like white ich or will they die off after so many weeks from not having any hosts and not come back unless reintroduced via infected fish or rock?

The dipping thing is going to be a real pain in the butt.

I have some small to medium Scarlet Cleaner shrimp on their way from Marine Depot Live and will be here Friday. Will they help but not cure or is it possible that they will pick all off the Tangs as they attach and clean the tank that way.

Earl

[Spanky]

Earl, I swear I thought I heard sirens and saw flashing lights there for a minute!

If you let the tank go fallow (host free) for a month, you should have them beat. No fish in the tank at all.

It actually takes a lot of shrimp to beat these guys when they get a foot hold. Best bet is to empty the tank of hosts and let it sit for a while.

And you're right about the dipping. It's usually equally traumatic to both hosts.

[digital_dragon]

Jerel,

Does this pathogen like hosts other than fish or it that it's only host? I just don't want them to take a fancy for shrimp cocktail, deviled crab, and escargo.

Earl

[TerryB10]

Hi Jerel,
Do you ever use formalin dips rather than FW dips for this? I find formalin to work quicker and a series of three dips about every third day works well. Do you have any experience with treating "black ich" with hyposalinity? I am sure that you have seen fish that are suffering from ich and this worm at the same time.
Terry B

[Spanky]

Earl,

You funny! LOL Don't worry, it's a fish parasite only.

Terry,

All the formalin will do is kill them in the bottom of the bucket. They're off the fish by then and the fresh water did that. Formalin solutions are rough on fish and this time you don't need it.
You can still treat with hypo and dip at the same time too. Only difference is that I would be sure and have two Q-tanks set up and place them in a new tank each time you dip. That would just make the process quicker and work better.
Now if they had Brook or something else that responds well to formalin, I would use a formalin bath.
Guess it just depends.

Jerel

[digital_dragon]

Jerel,

Thank you for all of your help and information. I am originally from Miami, FL and have only been to the Keys once on my honeymoon cruise. When I lived there I would drive down and make it as far as the 7 mile bridge. The only reason I never made it down is that I never new anyone down there to visit and I had the beaches at Key Biscane to sail out from.

I am going to set up two 44 Gallon Rubbermaid Rough Neck quarantine container to house each fish for a month until the tank goes fallow since I can't find anyone to farm them out to. I will update you on the success of this exercise. Thank you again for all of your help.

Earl

[Spanky]

Earl, you won't believe how the Keys have changed since then. We have a multi-plex movie theatre in Tavernier now!

Keep us posted.

Jerel