Tangs ?

Hi,
All the fish in my tanks look pretty good except the tang he has a few ick critters on him, I hoped the cleaner shrimp would clean him up.
Are tangs more sensative to ich than other species.
Doug

 

Yes they have, how long has it had it? Your entire tank is infected likely.

 

Tangs are especially sensitive to ich...for two reasons IMO!
The first being that they don't have scales-
The second way is their temperment and being aggressive/ and stress out
easily!

 

If its an established and eating well I'd not worry about it and if its a new fish it should be fine also if its eating OK and not being bullied by another. You can turn up the heat to 80F and let it ride for a few day it will fall off and the fish will be fine ..All of mine are after this type of treatment .. The major problem with tangs is water quality and dissolved O'2 levels these fish require as good of water as any coral for long term health and life..

 

Tangster, no offense, but that sounds like something somebody at petco would say or somebody who works at a bad LFS who is just wanting repeat business.

 

If one fish as ich, they all will have ich. They are suffering from parasites. You wouldnt let your dog or cat run around covered in ticks would you? ESPECIALLY in your house!

 

raising the water temperture only speeds up their life cycle. As result, you will have more parasites faster.

 

I have a small blue hippo tang that gets ich when I do a water change or anything with the tang and they go away in a couple of days. The other 2 fish have gone through an ich attack and made it and show no signs of reoccuring ich like the Blue Hippo. He eats well, looks healthy all the time except the spots. Seems like he gets stressed and spots appear -- few days later they leave.

 

unless you keep your tank fishless for atleast a month, ich will continue to be in your tank. If ich has no host, it dies. Its life cycle is 21 days. So you may not see it on your fish, but it has to be feeding on them for it to stay in your tank.

 

Ich is present in your tank always. I agree with Tangster. I saw some white spots on my tang when I was doing water changes every other day for my nitrates. I never treated it because I knew it was due to the stress. I limited my water changes to weekly and the white spots are gone and no other fish has had ich. It is actually really good advice seeing as to removing the tang and treating it may cause more stress and a untimely death. The proper thing to do is try to figure out the cause, watch the fish for any other signs of distress. If in a few days nothing improves, then quarentine and medicate. You know you have a problem when the fish isn't eating, is listless, and the ich further develops. Too many people jump the gun and medicate which can lead to more health concerns. Tangs are prone to ich and any stress can cause them to have it.