Ich in the Reef

[adamp]

I've got a 90 gallon reef system with four stable fish who have been there forever: large sailfin tang, yellow tang, blue damsel & cardinal. All have no signs of disease and are eating (and growing well).

Also have some corals, an anenome and zoos.

Water's clean. Tank's well established.

New fish that are introduced seem to get ich within 2-5 days of introduction and die (clowns, mandarin goby, blue tang). I know that some level of ich lives in all aquariums and that when fish are stressed, they are more susceptible to it. Seems strange, however, that the older fish are symptom free.

Q: Do you think that the scale-type of clowns, gobys might be more susceptible to ich? Blue tangs are high targets for ich, so that one doesn't surprise me.

Q: Can't use copper. Any other ideas to help? Other suggestions.

Appreciate it.
Adam

[Rob]

Originally Posted by adamp

Q: Do you think that the scale-type of clowns, gobys might be more susceptible to ich? Blue tangs are high targets for ich, so that one doesn't surprise me.

almost.. clowns and gobies are susceptible to Ick, tangs are very susceptible, however, the Mandarin is a dragonet not a goby (common misclassification) and dragonetts have a very good protective slime coat on them. this make that almost completely immune to Ick.

Q: Can't use copper. Any other ideas to help? Other suggestions.

from your description you might not be dealing with Ick, but maybe some type of bacterial or fungal infection. these can look similar and are often confused with saltwater Ick.

as far as the older fish not being affected, i dont have a 100% answer for you, i could speculate, but i try to refrain from that. what i can say, is this situation is not uncommon..

first recommendation is the key thing i dont see here, and that would be to quarantine the new fish for at least 6 weeks before introducing it to the tank. if the fish have ick, you will see it in the QT within 4 weeks, and can treat as needed.

hope that helps, let me know if you have more questions..

[gwen_o_lyn]

Adam, Welcome to TR

Ok here is how I see it. You have a 90 gal tank with TWO tangs and you are adding a third tang? IMO, 2 tangs is too many and that third one is gonna be so stressed out, he will die of something. The fish already there "own" that tank and when you add more, they are gonna be bullied since they is no room left for the new guy- all the current fish are dominant over that space.

I have heard yellow tangs being very aggressive and not allowing any new fish to be added. Same thing with your damsel. This is my opinion on your situation. Take some fish back if you wanna add more to your system.

If I were you, I'd take back one tang *the most aggressive* and the damsel and maybe introduce a goby, wrasse, clown, or blenny. Consider moving the rocks around when you add the new fish so no one is owning their space and it's like a new tank.

[adamp]

Thanks Gwen, Rob.

Took the big sailfin back to the fish store, which only leaves the following fish:

-Small Yellow Tang
-Yellow-tailed Damsel - Can't catch the SOB, so he's doomed to stay there unless I rip the tank apart.
-Cardinal - Loner and leaves everyone alone.

All of these fish are doing well. I'm going to not add ANY fish for 30 days, which should (according to the articles I've read) allow for any ich to die that may be waiting to develop.

I just can't get the wife to allow me to have even more space for a quarantine tank.

Next fish on the plate is a 6-line wrasse.

Appreciate everyone's advise.

[pham411]

umm whats your water parameters adamp? maybe thats a good start

[Rob]

sixines are great fish.. very cool to watch.
they take some time to adjust, and will likely hide for at least a month or so.

an important thing to watch with these fish is to make sure they eat prepared foods. many are "live food" eaters and will need a pod population like a mandarin would. but its more common to find these fish eating prepared foods. so when you do go get it, make sure you have them feed it o see if it will eat flake foods.