ich problem and teaming with unidentified ?

idahodirtgirl

Help please, My 125gal salt-tank has 140lbs of live rock and sand. 3 months new. all my animals seem to be happy and doing fine. I have 1 blue tang that has developed white spots,have tiny white star-likebut some have alot more legs than others all over the walls of my tank (about 1000). My tank has stayed a steady 80 degrees and I have got all the bottles of additives to provide a good eco-system. I have started to get dark red and green algae growing and the tank wall I have not cleaned in 2 weeks because of the vast population living on them . Help I just don't know what to do to get things back to normal or maybe this is a normal start???????

dawgfan1

Hi Idaho,

Don't know if it is much help, but sounds like water change is in order, sounds like nitrates are high, have you tested your water, if so what are the readings? Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, Ph, yada-yada? Sure sounds like you need a major water change = 25% + also sounds like an ich outbreak, perhaps time for a QT?

Tommy G, Chi T, UJ, Cowboyfan; Opinions?

gm333

Algae is normal in all new tanks. Dawgfan does have a point with nitrate levels you need to make sure to keep these low as it is one of the key ingredients for algae growth. I would not worry about the life on your tank walls, if they dont fall to the bottom of the tank they will repopulate quickly.
As far as the ich, it is definitly a good idea to have a QT tank to treat for disease without affecting the other inhabitants of the tank.
Hippo"blue" tangs are one of the most ich magnets of the tang species. It would be best to keep a cleaner shrimp in your tank if you house on of these fish.
I have found treating the tank with Kordon "Ich attack" works very well and does not have affects on your bio system.
You can always frshwater dip to kill the ich, but it puts an extreme amount of stress on the fish and should only be a last resort.

CBRrider

Gm333 is absolutely correct in stateing that Hippo tangs are VERY suceptable to Ich more so than most tangs.. But please do some reading on the proper way to do a freshwater dip. Many things can go wrong with those. I am not a big fan of them and have watched my friends lose their sick fish in doing so. QT with proper copper levels will work just fine.

unclejed

Those little "creatures" are star fish. Probably came from the rock and or sand. They won't harm anything, but, they will keep multiplying and overrun the tank. I had an outbreak once and lfs said to add a Harlequin shrimp. They may be hard to find though. I used them and within a week or so it ate the all! Tangs are notorious for ick (thin slime coat) If you can get some Marine-Max quick, start adding that, it boosts their immune system to help fight off diseases.

Loman

My apologies for focusing on one statement of concern but you happened upon one of my biggest areas of concern.

A truly good eco-system does not need bottles of additives. How many "treatments" do they put into the ocean. I strongly recommend people fully understand the positive and negative impact of additives and meds before using them. All too often people are willing to turn the tank into a giant chemistry experiment mixing all sort of things together

CAMDIDDY

I dont mean to thread jack, but yesterday I noticed my powder blue had developed a serious case of ich. He has white spots completely covering his body! He is in a brand new 20 gallon tank with a 6 line wrasse and coral banded shrimp. (all very small) I treated him with some ich medicine (formaldihyde) yesterday, about 1.5 tsp. and removed the carbon from the small filter. Hope Im doing it right.

I was wondering if the disease can be trasfered on equipment?
because I took a power head from the 20 gallon (where the tang is) and stuck it in my 85 gallon. Anyone know if I should be worried?

Loman

Generally I would believe it transfered on a fish but if there was water on the tools it is theoretically possible. The ich life cycle goes through a stage where the parasites are free swimming in the water and not detectable to the human eye. If enough water was transfered quickly enough that the parasites stayed free swimming I guess it could transfer. Tangs are a susceptible to ich from what I understand.

Dr.Fragenstein

The stars are probably asterina spp. small stars that will multiply like crazy. Usually they are totally harmless and will graze on microscopic algae. I would offer the most food possible while maintaining pristine H20 quality,(sounds like an oxymoron, huh?) thats one natural way to help the tang. Try garlic enhanced food, make sure he eats alot of greens and if that fails look for a good reef safe medication. Kick Ick is pretty effective.