Help Quick

ConstantNRG · 08-15-2006, 08:22 PM

I think that my new regal angel has ich. I see small white dots, about four of them on his top back fin. He also has one dot on his right fin. So far he is the only fish in the tank that has any signs of it, and i want to treat it before it gets worse. My best estimation of why he has contracted ich is because his immune sstem must be shot. I droped him in the tank last wednesday. That night he had a fighting bout with my sailfin tang over territories. After i moved some rocks, they get along fine, but the regal angel spent a lot of time in hiding. As of sunday he has started to swim more openly in the tank, but will still hide if anyone comes near him. The other big problem is that i still have yet to see him eat. All of my other fish have readily accepted the frozen shrimp, formula one, or lettuce( for the tang).

do you think that i should remove the angel from this tank and read him his last rights before the ich reproduces and spreads to other fish. Please let me know what you think would be the best solution. I would absolutely hate to have to do that to the regal angel, but i would rather chop off one finger than lose my whole arm.

bozothereefer · 08-15-2006, 08:33 PM

what else is in your tank. do you have live rock invertabraes etc. if you have a reef it probably would be better to set up a qt tank and treat him with hyposalinity. if it is a fish only then a medication could possibly be used.

ConstantNRG · 08-15-2006, 08:37 PM

i have a inverts, so medication is a no no. As far as the QT goes, i dont know if the effort/expense of setting it up is worth it right now. I got the regal for 25 at my lfs, and so i might just be willing to accept the loss and move on

ConstantNRG · 08-15-2006, 08:38 PM

oh yes, and i do have lots of live rock as well

BGJ223 · 08-15-2006, 08:40 PM

It is kinda early I think for hypo salinity or ich treatment. I would try feeding it some food enriched with garlic.
Also can you tell us a little about your tank? How many gallons, reef tank? and other inhabitants?

ConstantNRG · 08-15-2006, 08:44 PM

i tried garlic already. good news is every else seemed to love it. but the regal would still not eat.

The tank is a 55g with live rock, 20g sump w/ refugium, uv light.

other inhabitants are cleaner shrimp, emerald crab, astrea snails, 2 clowns, royal gramma, 3 green chromis, 1 bulb tip anemone, 2 feather dusters, sailfin tang, and the sickly regal angel

BGJ223 · 08-15-2006, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ConstantNRG

i tried garlic already. good news is every else seemed to love it. but the regal would still not eat.

The tank is a 55g with live rock, 20g sump w/ refugium, uv light.

other inhabitants are cleaner shrimp, emerald crab, astrea snails, 2 clowns, royal gramma, 3 green chromis, 1 bulb tip anemone, 2 feather dusters, sailfin tang, and the sickly regal angel

does the regal angel look like this

http://padens.com/Fiji_Diving/pages/regal%20angel.htm

Or like this
http://www.divegallery.com/blue_tang2.htm

ConstantNRG · 08-15-2006, 08:51 PM

he is yellow with white stripes outlined in blue. and has blue fins

BGJ223 · 08-15-2006, 08:56 PM

well to fix this problem you have a few options.
You can setup a QT tank, which is easy if you have a spare tank laying around. In this tank you can treat it for ich

You could try an hypo salinity treatment on it in a large bucket.

Or wait a day or 2 and see if the Ich goes away. If it only has a couple dots, you might not have a problem.

JennM · 08-16-2006, 07:56 AM

If it's just a few spots, I concur with the advice to add garlic to the food... however if it's not eating that's a problem.

Did you see the fish eat at the store? How long did the store have it? Where is it from? Red Sea is good, but Phillippines *can* be bad, depending on capture method. Not making any assumptions or accusations - just stating the fact that this can be a problem specie from that part of the world.

Make sure you have a cleaner shrimp available, watch and see. If it gets worse, or if he doesn't start eating you have a problem.

And while the life of the fish may not be worth the trouble of quarantine, for the $25 you spent on him

if he transmits that parasite to others in the tank you could have a bigger problem.

Jenn

hng · 08-16-2006, 09:23 AM

Jenn, what kind of cleaner shrimp would you recommend? Would a peppermint work?

JennM · 08-16-2006, 09:28 AM

Get a skunk cleaner shrimp - Lysmata amboinensis.

A peppermint *might* clean but you've got better odds with the former.

Jenn

hng · 08-16-2006, 09:34 AM

Thanks Jenn. I had bought a peppermint, hoping it would clean fish - the Caribbean cleaner shrimp label got me sold on it. I knew they were known to eat aiptasia, but I was hoping they would do both for me. No problem though, time for another shrimp!

partobe · 08-16-2006, 09:37 AM

Try live Brine if you can get your hands on any.

zxcv123 · 08-16-2006, 09:38 AM

When I had the same problem the tang wouldnt go near the shrimp